Squeegee or not?

[alfredian]

Distilled water swishy-dip, then dripdry

Distilled water swishy-dip, then dripdry

I just use (film only) a final post-wash dip in a plastic 1-liter container of distilled or deionized water. Leave the film on the reel, then dunk & swish-swirl, dip it in & out a few times, the shake the drops off. The only water on the film is distilled water, which leaves no spots at all, then hang-dry.

Eventually the distilled water gets crufty, so I discard it. Here in USA I can get 1-gallon (4-lite) plastic jugs of the stuff at, various times, the grocery, the pharmacy or (once) an appliance store.

Squeegee? waaay back in the '60s I had one of those for negs - a pincer thing with an interlocking pair of squeeges on either side - a thing o' beauty. Useless. I did get a giggle out of the photomag set who used to write about the perils of "silver particles" left over from the fixing stage. Using what electron microscope did they spot the dissolved silver thiocyanates? --alfredian

 

[Ronald M]

A squeegee, sponge, or fingers will pick up some foreign material sooner or later.

Run that debris down the film and you get a scratch.

You can be lucky 10,000 times but you will get bit.

Hang the film up, fill a small ear syringe with distilled water and wetting agent, and rise the film with the spray. It should have already had a wetting agent rinse.

Put a print tray under the catch the water.

 

[Rico]

I use distilled water as final rinse in the tank, then hang film dripping wet: drop-dead easy. Water is reused. Even with the world's hardest tap water, my results have been perfect.

 

[marcr1230]

I photoflo , then rinse in distilled water, then shake out the reel, then hang
I used to squeegee after rinsing the squeegee in photoflo from the tank or distilled water whatever my last rinse was. never had problem w squeegee scratches

I had a long thread about scratches from "archival" negative holders a few years back - haven't resolved that other than not to use them or not to pixel-peep scans

 

[Roger Hicks]

A squeegee, sponge, or fingers will pick up some foreign material sooner or later.

Run that debris down the film and you get a scratch.

You can be lucky 10,000 times but you will get bit.

Hang the film up, fill a small ear syringe with distilled water and wetting agent, and rise the film with the spray. It should have already had a wetting agent rinse.

Put a print tray under the catch the water.

Dear Ronald,

First para: so keep it/them clean!

Third para: No, it's not luck. If you're sloppy and filthy, yes, you'll get debris on the film or the squeegee. If gritty water comes out of the tap, you may get debris on the film or the squeegee, though a distilled water rinse after development will usually wash off anything big enough to cause a scratch. But if you run your fingertip along a squeegee, you can feel if there's any grit on it.

You can repeat as often as you like that I've been lucky, and of course I can't prove that I haven't; but there comes a point when luck starts to look remarkably similar to knowing and understanding what you are doing.

See also Post 97: The argument in favour of wiping films is the greatly reduced incidence of drying marks, and slightly speeded drying times. Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice. Please don't come back with the argument that you can't get drying marks from distilled water. You can. In fact, I find that I get drying marks with B+W film if I use warm air in my drying cabinet, but not if I use cool air. There's a lot of alchemy in photography, alongside the chemistry.

Cheers,

R.

 

[2wenty]

Been doing it with my fingers but get some water spots, even using photo flo and distilled water. I just started developing c41 and its even worse. Going to try a paterson film squeegee next time. Im thinking of wetting the squeegee before using it. Otherwise I could see how it would scratch. I may even soak it in warm water to soften the rubber.

 

[FujiLove]

I live in a very hard water area, and have had trouble with water spots. I solved it by using filtered water for the final rinse (from a Brita water jug) and giving the film 30 seconds in a salad spinner. No problems with water spots any more.

Also works for C41 and E6.

...and obviously it goes without saying, use a separate spinner for your food!

 

[unixrevolution]

I live in a very hard water area, and have had trouble with water spots. I solved it by using filtered water for the final rinse (from a Brita water jug) and giving the film 30 seconds in a salad spinner. No problems with water spots any more.

Also works for C41 and E6.

...and obviously it goes without saying, use a separate spinner for your food!

Obviously! You don't want food in your chemistry! 😀

I'd like to see how you place the film in the spinner.

 

[:: Mark]

More than squeegee, I found that making the final rinse with distilled water + photoflow (mirasol) solved most of my water smear problems. I wonder how many of the different results people seem to have are the result of their water supply...

 

[FujiLove]

Obviously! You don't want food in your chemistry! 😀

I'd like to see how you place the film in the spinner.

I put two reels opposite each other to keep the spinner balanced (one empty if I'm only processing a single roll). The basket has vertical ridges down the inside which gradually get closer together, so by sliding the reels down from the top they lock in place. The centripetal force helps to hold them in place while its spinning.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Photo-Flo for thirty seconds, then hang it. Never had a problem.

 

[FujiLove]

More than squeegee, I found that making the final rinse with distilled water + photoflow (mirasol) solved most of my water smear problems. I wonder how many of the different results people seem to have are the result of their water supply...

I think water quality and hardness is the deciding factor. I imagine if you live in a soft, high quality (meaning low particulate) water area, then you could probably hang the film without any rinse aid, squeegee or anything else. the rest of us have to be really careful.

 

[rybolt]

LFN in distilled water. I still have a stock of Photo Chamois which I store wet and change the water on every time I process. I've used windshield wiper blades (new, not used) as well as dedicated film squeegees and never had a scratch.
Also, distilled water is extremely important for this step unless you have massively filtered water.

 

[2wenty]

Got a squeeze now. Used it for the last 20 rolls I've done and not even a hint of a scratch. Works perfect. The fingers might work for you guys but its been bull**** for me. Always leaves spots regardless of distilled water and photo flo.

 

[Big Ursus]

Back in the day, I hung my negs, after a foto-flo bath. Then, I wiped them with a regularly replaced lint free J-cloth. They were the cat's pyjamas!

When I got any stubborn water spots, I removed them with ether - those were the days.🙂

 

[DoctorSLR]

I squeegee my film, but I found that Tri-X scratches really easily and some of my rolls have lines running through them now, whereas HP5 doesn't, so I now let Tri-X drip and squeegee everything else.

 

[Ronald M]

Age old dispute. Use two rinses of distilled water and photoflood. Shade so water flows to short dimension, unspool, hang to dry.

 

[Jake Mongey]

Wetting agent and then drip dry, too many scratched negs...

 

[narsuitus]

To avoid problems with scratches, water spots, and dust, I...

1. Keep the film wet time as short as possible
2. Use distilled water as the last rinse
3. Do not touch the wet emulsion with anything
4. Shake excess water off the film (I will have to try the salad spinner technique)
5. Air dry film in a dust-free cabinet with a light bulb heater and no fan.

 

[randy stewart]

Film drying debate

Film drying debate

"1. Keep the film wet time as short as possible
2. Use distilled water as the last rinse
3. Do not touch the wet emulsion with anything
4. Shake excess water off the film (I will have to try the salad spinner technique)
5. Air dry film in a dust-free cabinet with a light bulb heater and no fan."
_______________________

Rules to collectively process film by!

Some asked whether it is impossible for people to just let their film dry before touching the emulsion (or not as it works out). For many of this community, the sad answer appears to be, Yes. In the 1960s, I had spots, drying marks, and scratches from wiping wet film, whether squeegee or with fingers. Then, I stopped doing that. In the 1970s, I moved to an area where the water is so hard that it has now destroyed my water temp regulating mixing valve. I added the final rinse with filtered water and a half strength concentration of Photoflo. In the 1990s, I added a drying cabinet with warmed, filtered, low-flow air exchange. You do not have to spend large sums to do this. It totally eliminates these problems. I can wait to look at my film when it is dry, because I get no adverse surprises. By comparison, consider the time, money and personal energy to shoot a roll of film, wasted when you screw up its processing. This never-ending debate is one of the dumbest undertakings I've seen. If someone is so persistent and determined to squeegee wet film, it's an emotional issue for them now, and they aren't going to surrender their position.