Topic: Washing and drying negatives, what do you do.

[eddie]

Returned from Barcelona and made a dogs dinner of two rolls of film. It not something i normally get wrong but i made one mistake after another while washing and drying them. I normally filter the water but got lazy and ended with some bits on the negs. Rewashed them and made them worse, i even scratched them. Nightmare stuff.

Anyway lets know how you  wash and dry your negatives,  so I can come up with a best practice model for myself. Thanks in advance.

Eddie
http://eddiemallin.my-expressions.com/

[lauraburlton]

I do my own but I do them in a lab by hand so I am not sure if the water is filtered. I do know it is temp  controlled though. First I roll the film, do a 1 min pre wet in 68f water, develope in 68f developer for appropriate time, stop 1min, fix 3 mins rinse 3 times in 68f water, hypo for 1 min, wash 10 mins in 68f water, wetting agent 1 min, sponge dry then hang in a dryer for 10 mins, cut, sleeve and I am done, no spots. BUT I am not sure if the water is filtered or not....i do know the wetting agent is supposed to help keep away spots...

[LT]

I have a bowl of water a few degrees higher than my developer temperature that I use as a temperature bath.  After stopping and fixing, I use this to wash the negs.  I follow the ilford method of fill, invert 5 times, dump.  then fill, invert 10 times, dump. Fill, invert 20 times, dump.  Fill, invert40 times, dump.  I then add another fill invert 20 times, dump stage just to be carefull.  And finally, fill and add a few drops of ilford ilfotol wetting agent, soak for 30-60 secs then hang to dry.  I havent had any problems with poorly washed negs ....... yet.

No need for hypoclear with negs, and using this method helps to save on the already dire water situation hear in the south east.  The water here is very very chalky but I dont bother filtering it.  I find that making sure equipment is clean goes a lot further to getting rid of spots - and whats wrong with a bit of spotting now and then

[Tammy]

I follow Leon's method for washing.  My final wash is done with distilled water in the tank, and only a couple of drops of wetting agent, if any at all.  The distilled water helps with drying spots much more than anything.  Hang to dry in a lint free area, cut and sleeve with gloves.

Before using distilled water, I had a horrible time with spots and streaks.  The wetting agent in combination with tap water is a nightmare- Use just a wee bit of wetting agent.  I also use wetted fingers to squeegie off the film before hanging.  Never a sponge or a cloth.

Hope that helps.

Tammy 

[Francois]

I must say I am quite lucky as in all the labs I had a chance to use, we always had top notch tap water. So, for rinsing, I just let water pour at a good rate through the center of the reels. Once this was done, 1 I put 1 cap of Foto-Flo for each reel... and gently turn your reels in the tank. I don't want to make any bubbles, so I go really gently. I then gently pull the reels out. Now comes the strange part. For this, you must have good air quality also (as in not too much dust in the room). I take the reel in my hand and just "whip out" the water in a single good swing. Water just flies off the film and, for some odd reason, dust almost never sticks on it (either luck, good air quality, or the get reel gathers the dust while preventing it from sticking on the film). The good thing about this method is that you can't scratch the film. I never liked wipers and shammy cloth for those reasons. Fingers would probably also be a good bet. The biggest problem for me is the drying process. I made a drying cabinet out of a clothes storage bag but it's too short for my taste. I keep it slightly warmer than room temperature (since hot air absorbs more moisture than cold air, the film dries a bit faster... thus fewer chances of dust spots)

Up to now, I've been lucky. Never a scratch, never a waterspot, only a few rare dust specks.

[Susan B.]

I have a bowl of water a few degrees higher than my developer temperature that I use as a temperature bath.  After stopping and fixing, I use this to wash the negs.  I follow the ilford method of fill, invert 5 times, dump.  then fill, invert 10 times, dump. Fill, invert 20 times, dump.  Fill, invert40 times, dump.  I then add another fill invert 20 times, dump stage just to be carefull.  And finally, fill and add a few drops of ilford ilfotol wetting agent, soak for 30-60 secs then hang to dry.  I havent had any problems with poorly washed negs ....... yet.

No need for hypoclear with negs, and using this method helps to save on the already dire water situation hear in the south east.  The water here is very very chalky but I dont bother filtering it.  I find that making sure equipment is clean goes a lot further to getting rid of spots - and whats wrong with a bit of spotting now and then

When in doubt, do what Leon does.

I do almost exactly that--
Except my final few washes are in distilled water and I also do a round of hypo, since LA water is horrid and not to be trusted when coming out of pipes in a house that was built in 1919.

[dave miller]

If you use distilled water for the final rinse there is no need to use any form of rinse aid. Just shake the excess water out of the reel after the final rinse, and hang the film up in a dust free environment to dry. No smears, no dust, no dirt; no worries.

[eddie]

Thanks all for your ideas and advice. The water quality in the area is not too good so i think the distilled water in the final wash is something i will use. Leon reference to keeping the equipment clean is something i generally do, I wash all the equipment about an hour before processing. however on checking I have  neglected the film spirals which have built up some dirt in the grooves, I am cleaning these at the moment. 

Regards
Eddie

[outofcontxt]

I guess I'm one of the blessed ones, because I have never had a problem with Chicago water straight from the tap. Must be that pristine Lake Michigan water... Then again, maybe I'm taking my life into my own hands. Maybe I should stop taking chances and at the very least mix my chemicals with distilled water but so far I'm been very fortunate, indeed. Now I do pour back all my chemicals (except for the developer which I use as a one-shot deal) using a filtered funnel to get rid of bits of emulsion and other gunk that may actually be on the film itself but that's about it.

Amost forgot to mention that I use either Edwal 4 to 1 Hypo Eliminator or PermaWash to cut down on the rinse time and then, after the final rinse, I put the film in the recommended dilution of PhotoFlo before drying.

[FrankB]

I fill the sink with water at 20C. I'm in a hard water area and use a Britta jug filter on all processing and washing water (slow but absolutely essential for me) and keep the temperature constant throughout. Processing is done as per the massive dev chart's recommendations. My dev of choice tends to be Paterson Aculux 2.

Washing is by the Ilford 5, 10, 20 inversion method with a couple more 20 cycles thrown in to assuage my paranoia. I then pour in (filtered) water mixed with wetting agent, give it a few more inversions for luck, then remove it from the spool and hang it over the bath with a pair of film clips.

I use plastic Paterson reels and tanks and rinse them immendiately and thoroughly in warm/hot running water to get rid of any residue, then give them a wipe with a towel and put the reels in the airing cupboard to dry properly. I find it's easier to shift leftovers while they're still wet rather than once they've dried on.

Once the film is completely dry it gets cut and stored in neg bags, either clear plastic or translucent paper, whichever I have at the time. I'm fairly picky about the film not touching anything but fingers, scissors and neg bag, and rarely get any dust or particulates.

Works for me, but your mileage may vary!

All the best,

Frank

[Francois]

I do also filter my chemicals before use. But since I don't have a filter funnel, I use a standard funnel with a wad of cotton pressed in... just seems to work fine.

[Susan B.]

If you use distilled water for the final rinse there is no need to use any form of rinse aid. Just shake the excess water out of the reel after the final rinse, and hang the film up in a dust free environment to dry. No smears, no dust, no dirt; no worries.

In concept yes...
I only used one or the other initially.
But it wasn't cutting the mustard due to the ancient pipes in my house mixed with crap LA water.
Once I switched to using both, no more problems.
Guess it depends on your individual circumstances.

[Conrad]

I hang the film strips in the bathroom after I have closed the window and door and run hot water in the shower to steam up the room. The steam helps remove dust particles from the air.

This is a good thread, I have been using the Ilford technique but I never thought to use distilled water for the final rinse. Good one.

I have also found that simply putting the dry film strips into archival envelopes makes them dusty so I try to take the dry film straight from the bathroom to the film scanner.