Cleaning up negatives - Help!!

[Colin1974]

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After 6 months' rest, I've come back to darkroom work with a fresh pair of eyes. I need some advice on a teething problem:

I'm still getting particles on my negatives!

I'm using a 6ft by 6ft space with limited ventilation. I also live in a hard water area.

I've started using a water filter and have had several goes at cleaning the negative culprits, but with limited success.

Is it a good idea to accept, within reason, the imperfections of analogue prints, or are there some idiot-proof methods for looking after negatives?

 

 

Colin.

 

  

[pico]

Hard water is actually good for washing, but must use distilled water and your choice of wetting agent for the final soak.

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[Michael Hiles]

I am careful about drying. I use a cupboard with no ventilation. Moving air carries dust, no exceptions. I let evaporation do the job, usually over night.

[chris_livsey]

I am careful about drying. I use a cupboard with no ventilation. Moving air carries dust, no exceptions. I let evaporation do the job, usually over night.

 

All air carries dust ( unless a clean room of exceptional class) and that dust will be attracted by electrostatic forces, studies have shown running a shower head and using that (often recommended) also is an issue as the water vapour tends to aggregate the dust into larger, more visible, particles rather than "settling" it. The humidity created may be more relevant to good results, in some cases.

The trade off of no ventilation is a slower drying time giving more time for the dust to accumulate. I do wish there was a really good answer to this issue but I have yet to read of one that has been validated, personal experience of your conditions means many workers have what works best for them arrived at by trial end error but may not necessarily transfer well nor withstand scientific scrutiny.

 

On imperfections: the re-issue of "the Decisive Moment" was digitally cleaned, very visible if you compare the two editions, I prefer the the flaws in the original, part of the organic nature of that medium.

[pico]

I have used Senrac dryers since 1972 with outstanding results. More recently developed flexible filter material has made them even better. I use a wrap-in sheet in two layers.

 

[gsgary]

For drying try a length of 4" plastic waste pipe cut longer than your strip of negatives and a short length of dowel 5" long to hang your negatives off,  stand the length of pipe in the bath spray a mist of water in the pipe to reduce the dust then hang the strip of negatives in the piece in the pipe hanging from the dowel and cover top of pipe with a damp cloth

Edited September 21, 2016 by gsgary

[Colin1974]

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I'm always amazed at the quality of advice on this forum - thanks!

I'll try the pipe method and see how it goes. Once spots are bedded down on the negative, they are almost impossible to remove.

I think this is the most difficult aspect of darkroom work, looking after the negatives.

Anyway, thanks for all your advice, guys, and any further tips are always welcome.

 

Colin.

 

[gsgary]

I'm always amazed at the quality of advice on this forum - thanks!

I'll try the pipe method and see how it goes. Once spots are bedded down on the negative, they are almost impossible to remove.

I think this is the most difficult aspect of darkroom work, looking after the negatives.

Anyway, thanks for all your advice, guys, and any further tips are always welcome.

 

Colin.

I use these if I have any marks after printing

http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/spotpen-retouching-pen-set-b-w/p1873

 

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

[pico]

I'm always amazed at the quality of advice on this forum - thanks!

I'll try the pipe method and see how it goes. Once spots are bedded down on the negative, they are almost impossible to remove.

 

Not true, my friend. This will seem counter-intuitive but put those negatives back into a developer. Dektol will do! Then wash and rinse in the distilled water method I mentioned.

 

Hang in there. We have been solving these issues for 100 years!

 

Oh, BTW, I lived in Oxford and it worked there.

 

Very good to correspond to an olde fellow.

Edited September 21, 2016 by pico

[Frase]

are you scanning or enlarging the reason I ask is the light in an enlarger is much more forgiving in the case of a dusty neg, I did have a drying cabinet but it took up a lot of space so now use a Ross Electronics film dryer which spins the film on the reel while drying works much better. Good luck its always a battle with dust!

[tobey bilek]

3 micron water filter.  HEPA air filter.  Clean the darkroom top to bottom.  Ceiling, floor, walls, boxes.  Clean glass bottles.

 

Instant NO PROBLEMS.

[fotohuis]

Only a clean darkroom will help. A Brita filter is a good step to minimize drying marks and stripes in combination with a minimum concentrate of wetting agent in the last step.

If the rest of the environment is dusty then maybe you have to think about a HEPA filter in combination with a tube ventilator.

 

Most alternatives to clean your negatives will harm more then help you. Just letting the negatives to dry overnight and put them directly in the sleeves. When using them in the enlarger, use gloves and only when necessary a stream of clean air.

I can make dust free enlargements from 24x36mm to 40x50cm in my DUNCO II 67 120 pro with Split Grade. I keep my darkroom dust free, use Brita but not any HEPA in use. But I regularly clean my vinyl floor with wet fiber material to remove all dust.

[philipus]

Here's Kodak's recommendation on cleaning photographic materials.

 

http://wwwca.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/cis145/cis145.shtml

[Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS]

I use car windscreen washer soap in the final rince and it has helped a bunch in removing water marks

[EoinC]

I use car windscreen washer soap in the final rince and it has helped a bunch in removing water marks

Hi, Neil - I've got a mental image of you driving down Jalan Dutamas 1 with a bunch of negatives taped to the windscreen of your Cayenne, and the windscreen wipers on full speed...

[Colin1974]

Hello, I'm back.

I've absorbed all this great advice and come up with this:

1) Tie together thin, light metal tubing into a tall, slender frame (around 2 metres in height).

2) Wrap an over-sized shower curtain around the frame, then attach it to the frame using highly adhesive insulation tape, leaving the front flaps as an opening: you now have a make-shift film drying tent.

3) Hang long, narrow wooden poles across the top, tape on 2-4 paper clips which have been straightened out with a hook left on the hanging end.

4) (For hard water use) Use filtered water for all chemical mixes and washes; buy a large water canteen  and use it to store a ready supply.

5) Hang the developed negatives from the hook end of the paper clips (for 35mm, use the uppermost sprocket hole; for M/F film, use a peg of some sort that can be hung up); then close up the front flaps of the curtain, place a damp towel over then top of the frame and stand it on the floor on top of another damp towel.

 

It's too early yet to see whether this is the perfect solution, but my local hardware store will find me to be a very profitable customer!

Once again, thanks to my L-C-F buddies for all this tremendous advice which I wouldn't have otherwise considered.

If there are any further problems, I'll keep you posted.

 

Colin.

 

[Daniel Beacock]

My process for 35mm negs:

 

• Use distilled water throughout developing and washing
• Use a drop of Ilford Infotol in the final rinse
• Place film still in the film spools on their edges into a salad spinner, (no, really), one either side to maintain balance
• Give the salad spinner 50-60 fast turns one way, then same in the opposite direction
• Remove from film spools and hang to dry in a dust free location (shower stall!)
• Guaranteed zero water spots and absolutely minimal dust!

Never fails!

[Doc Henry]

I work like Daniel

final rinse with deionized water if too hard water and with wetting agent
Dry well but before I "kindly" pass 2 times, a clean and dry white cloth cotton 100% on film.

Before print or scan , I use an air compressor to eliminate dust.  

Henry

 

[philipus]

Since I posted earlier in the thread I have begun using distilled water in the final rinse (ie the one where I use the Ilford equivalent of Photoflo, I forget what it's called now). This, I have found, is sufficient to get clean negs. I use tap water for the other rinses (I use the Ilford, not the Kodak, method).

 

Edit: Oh I have also begun using a sallad spinner (much to the amusement of my daughter). It seems to work too.

 

Philip

Edited November 4, 2016 by philipus

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[EoinC]

...I use the Ilford equivalent of Photoflo, I forget what it's called now)...

Ilfotol?