Squeegee or not?

Squeegee or not?

  • Squeegee

    Votes: 93 33.0%
  • Drip-dry

    Votes: 189 67.0%

  • Total voters
    282
In forty plus years of professional and amateur 35mm and 120 black and white processing, this:

I use my fingers, just a quick swipe downwards when film is hung - gets rid of the excess. I do use a drop of Ilfotol "wetting agent" in final rinse. Never felt the need to try a rubber squeegee or chamois leather.
 
1 minute in properly diluted wetting agent as the last stage of the wash, hang to dry in my shower stall: no spots, no scratches, dry and ready to scan in 30 minutes.

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


Same.

Except for the never had a problem part. When I started, I used the "few drops of Photo-flo" that many people continue to recommend, and did get water spots. Now, I use an amount close to the 1:200 recommended on the Photo-flow bottle. That's over 1ml per 35mm film reel, which is more than a few drops. (Actually, about 30 drops, when checked with a Visine dropper.)
 
Final rinse in the Paterson System 4 tank for 35mm and 120 film: 600ml boiled water (or tap water - it's good around here), to which I add an APX100 35mm film-container-capful of Ilfotol, which happens to be 3ml exactly, and agitate by spinning the reel for about ten seconds then standing for about a minute.

Whilst film is in the tank, I run the shower briefly and wash my hands, then hang the film on the shower door top bar. Two fingers once down the film and that's it. Incidentally, I stopped drying the tank with either cloth or paper as I was getting residual chats off the cotton that sometimes appeared on the next film I developed! Just a wash in hot soapy water and dry naturally upside down on the window-sill.
 
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