questions about handling film during winding onto reels.

[pico]

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I shopped around and got a home distiller for about $50 USD. I run it twice a day and store the output in a big blue plastic water tank. NOTE that all such tanks are not impervious; contents can evaporate! Plastics can admit air in and exhale moisture.

[philipus]

Funny, I've never had scratches on my negs after running the wet film between my fingers to remove excess water before hanging them to try in the shower.

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[ReeceCross]

Though Partially De-mineralised , you still get a great amount of pure water through Brita Filters for cleaning reels. 

[250swb]

Decades ago I used a bottle of "Yankee film drier" (I believe mainly IPA) as a final rinse. The film dried in seconds, minimizing time for dust to adhere to the wet film. I began using it when I needed to submit reportage shots as soon as possible but continued when I lost my "clean" darkroom and had a dustier setup.

 

The newspaper darkrooms I have worked in wouldn't spend the money on IPA so used methylated spirit which works the same as a final rinse, almost instant drying with a slight amount of heat. 

 

 

Steve

[fotohuis]

But films with a soft emulsion were drying to fast and hence damaged by reticulation using this fast drying method.

[philipus]

Would using a bit of IPA in the final rinse reduce the risk of drying stains? If so, how much is a "safe" amount?

[jaapv]

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I always used a drop of dishwashing detergent to prevent drying stains. IPA won't help. You want to reduce surface tension, not increase drying speed, to reduce staining.Using demineralized water for  the last rinse will help as well.

[Martin B]

During the whole process you have a chance of scratches. In the film camera when dust or sand or even a small partical is somewhere on the pressure plate.

When you have a dirty cassette in the front mouth.

Loading on the reel not carefully. But most scratches are generated on a wet film by touching the film with fingers or a film squeegee. NEVER touch a wet film surface, after the wetting agent just hang out to dry.

 

When you bulk load you have also more chance of scratches, especially when using old cassettes. Or when you forget to open the loader opening (Watson type) with AP Bobinquick not possible because this loader opens automatically when mounting the level for transport.

 

This is an interesting advice - how do I avoid getting some droplet residues/stains on the drying film if I don't use a squeegee first? It happened to me twice that I got scratches on my developed film by using the squeegee. I am also using LFN wetting agent in the last washing step, but I am not sure if this is sufficient to avoid stains. After removing water residues on the film surface with a squeegee, the film is fully dry after 2 hours hanging.

 

Edit: answered by jaapv above - I will try to use Britta-filtered water in the last washing process with LFN wetting agent to avoid stain formation on the drying film.

Edited July 18, 2016 by Martin B

[Martin B]

I am using technical grade ethanol added onto a clean microfiber cloth to remove dust from the negative before digitizing it. It removes dust to the most part.

[pico]

This is an interesting advice - how do I avoid getting some droplet residues/stains on the drying film if I don't use a squeegee first?

 

Photo-Flo 200, diluted 1:200 (hence the name). I use distilled water.

Don't soak it longer than a couple minutes, max.

 

After the soak, I remove the film from the reel and gently pass the film through the Photo-Flo, and hang it to dry with no squeegee, but sometimes with a gentle pass of two fingers over the film but only when it is soaking wet with the flow. Have not had any worries with the technique.

[250swb]

But films with a soft emulsion were drying to fast and hence damaged by reticulation using this fast drying method.

 

Surprisingly reticulation wasn't a problem even with slow films (rarely used), it was the 30 seconds in the fixer and wash to meet a deadline that ruined the film unless it was re-fixed and properly washed later, but news only lasts a day. I wouldn't recommend using methylated spirit or any flash drying technique, it is barbarous.

 

Steve

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

 

NEVER touch a wet film surface, after the wetting agent just hang out to dry.

 

 

 

Sh!t, I've been using a squeegee since it came with my developing kit. as of now I haven't really seen any scratches.............should I quit using the squeeze ????

I also use car windscreen soap in the final since and my negs don't have any watermarks or scratches

Edited October 8, 2016 by Neil D

[Martin B]

Sh!t, I've been using a squeegee since it came with my developing kit. as of now I haven't really seen any scratches.............should I quit using the squeeze ????

I also use car windscreen soap in the final since and my negs don't have any watermarks or scratches

 

I also continue to use the squeegee for my developed films. I only had an issue once with scratches when a tiny piece of tape (which came off from one of the ends of the developed self-rolled film) was stuck on the rubber of the squeegee. Since then I always rinse the squeegee with water before using it to make sure no dust/debris particles stick on the rubber, and I look closely if something else like tape is on the rubber gasket. No problems with the squeegee since. 

 

I didn't see a difference between different soaps used in the final wash - I currently use the commercial LFN wetting agent, but I also used a few drops of Palmolive detergent which was as effective. 

[TomB_tx]

I also have used a (tong type) squeegee since the 1960's, almost never scratching film. I do a final dip in demineralized water with a couple drops of flo, and wet a finger in this solution and wipe the lips of the squeegee with it. Then hang and immediately squeegee.

For decades I used Kodak Rapid Fixer with hardener for film, but lately use Eco-pro non-hardening, and still no scratches.