Thin scratches on negs

[Roger S]

Can anyone help with this?

I've re-started B&W developing after a break of too long. The density on the negs is good, and there are no drying marks, but I'm getting very thin scratches on the shiny side of the strip that show up on my scans. They aren't always linear and parallel, or always on the same place of the strip, so I don't think they can be from the camera. I load the tank in a bag rather than in a darkroom, and I use a squeegee to take the excess water off the film. Could that be the problem? I generally leave the film 12-18 hours before I cut and put the negs in sleeves. Am I giving the film long enough to harden?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[vieri]

Can anyone help with this?

I've re-started B&W developing after a break of too long. The density on the negs is good, and there are no drying marks, but I'm getting very thin scratches on the shiny side of the strip that show up on my scans. They aren't always linear and parallel, or always on the same place of the strip, so I don't think they can be from the camera. I load the tank in a bag rather than in a darkroom, and I use a squeegee to take the excess water off the film. Could that be the problem? I generally leave the film 12-18 hours before I cut and put the negs in sleeves. Am I giving the film long enough to harden?

Any help is appreciated.

Roger, I think the cause lay in the squeegee having small dust particles on it that would scratch the negative with use - many people here would tell you to never ever use one, but I like the convenience of it and found a way to get around the scratches: after my last wash with PhotoFlo (or other similar agent) I drop a few drops in about a lt. of water, and drop my squeegee in it before drying each negative; shake the excess water of it before drying the neg, and there you go. Squeegee works as intended, but you don't get any more scratches... 😀

 

[Austerby]

If the scratches follow the direction and path of the squeegee then it's clearly the prime suspect.

 

[Roger S]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks, both.

I think we're all of a mind on what is the most likely cause. I'll change my process this weekend and see if that improves things.

 

[Max Power]

When I returned to the darkroom a few years ago, I started with a squeegee after the wetting agent as well. Notwithstanding the fact that I rinsed the squeegee in the agent first, I got scratches consistently.
Just go with wetting agent and air dry. If you get drying marks, a lens cleaning cloth will get them out.

 

[ooze]

Transparent plastic (polythylene) film sleeves may also cause scratches as they tend to accumulate static electricity and attract tiny dust particles which can be squeezed along the surface of the negative as you move the neg in or out.
Also, in my experience some films are more easily scratched than others, for example Delta100. In contrast, Tri-X seems to be very robust.

I've been using polythylene Printfile sleeves for a fairly long time and many of my Delta100 negs show hairline scratches on the shiny side (which fortunately don't show on the print if I use a diffusion enlarger. A condenser enlarger does show them though). Before that, my main storage material was glassine sleeves, a softer material. Those older negatives are in perfect shape and I think I'll switch to glassine material again once my stock of Printfile sleeves is used up.

By the way, I don't use a squeegee.

 

[charjohncarter]

I'd go with squeegee too. I just use Photoflo and drip dry. But like ooze says, maybe dry and scan before sleeving if cutting the squeegee doesn't work.

 

[Roger S]

These are all good replies, thanks, and I'll put them to the test this weekend. If it all still fails I guess I'll just have to go digital...(I didn't mean that!!).

 

[Al Kaplan]

If anybody tries to tell you that "Glassines are not archival!" don't berlieve it. I have negatives that have been stored in glassines going back to 1961, and although the glassines have yellowed a bit the negatives are still just fine.

 

[marke]

I just returned to processing my own film also, and was getting the very thin scratches. First I used my finger and thumb wetted in water to squeegee the water off. This resulted in scratches. But my skin isn't the smoothest either, so I'm sure that was a factor. Then I started using a new squeegee, but still got scratches. The last two rolls I process, I just tapped the full reels a few times to get as much water off as possible, then unloaded and hung up. No scratches!