fraggle101
Not a mermaid
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- Name
- Tony
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is that something you have put together ypurself? could be handy..
How do you dry your negs??
How do you dry your negs??
and please use their services
Going to have a go at home developing
- Thread starter Freester
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- Mark
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They are quite wasteful and in fact Ilford recommend washing film in several changes of water at the same temperature as the rest of the chemicals. This is easily achieved with a bowl of water.
If you use a negative washer like the Paterson, then unless you have a supply that's temperature controlled, you also run the risk of using water that's too cold (assuming you use cold water - hot water isn't good for film either.) and this isn't as effective at getting the fixer out of the film emulsion. Another reasons why the water change method is better is that it's not always possible to get enough turbulence in the water going past the film, so again, there's no guarantee that it will get the fix out of the emulsion.
All you need to do is fill the tank with water at say 21 degrees C, put the lid on and make five inversions. Then change the water, do ten inversions, then change, twenty inversions. Finally, finish with another change and forty inversions. Then a final rinse in water with some wetting agent in it. It's worth leaving the film to soak in this final rinse for a minute or so before taking it out and hanging it up.
This method guarantees that all of the fixer is taken out of the emulsion and it's also much, much quicker than using running water. It takes about five minutes to wash film using this method.
As far as using wetting agent is concerned, all you need is literally one or two drops of the stuff. I'm still using a bottle of Ilfotol that I bought in 1999. All it's there for is to reduce the surface tension of the water so it runs off the film more easily.
Squeegees are a personal thing. I use one for 35mm and MF film, but LF film is just left to dry. I had some film scratched with a second hand paterson squeegie, but (touch wood) the Jobo one I use now is fine.
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- Mike
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We'll have to have a master class around yours then!! i shall expect a new thread in meeting place!! lol.. open to all filmers..
One sure way to kill small groups of film-lovers... have 'em visit my neighbourhood (Stamford Hill) - oy vey!
Just kidding (for anyone else who lives in Smfd H), it's actually a lovely place
OP
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- Mark
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Hi people.
I really appreciate your help so far. I developed another film today - my 1st roll of Delta 400. Really pleased with the results, quality, grain and sharpness but I am still getting really bad drying marks. I rinse according to Ilford recommendations:
Rinse 1 - invert 5 times and drain
Rinse 2 - invert 10 times and drain
Rinse 3 - invert 20 times and drain
Finally I do another rinse this time with Brita filtered (!) water and wetting agent before hanging to dry.
This time the marks were really bad. Unfortunately I hadn't noticed until after I'd cut the negs into strips of 6 :bang:
In the end I re-rinsed the strips in some demineralised water + wetting agent which got rid of the worst marks.
Somehow though I don't think I am removing the excess water properly. I could see the marks were forming where there were some drops remaining on the negs even after the demineralised water rinse. Thing is I thought the wetting agent was supposed to stop this. Am I using too much / too little wetting agent?
Or should I be a bit more thorough when I remove excess water (have tried a squeegee and the good old '2 finger' method)? I read somewhere someone recommending a Chamois type material - I guess the same as drying your car after washing to stop the drying marks? Currently I just do 1 gentle wipe with squeegee or fingers. Should I be more rigorous whilst still taking care not to scratch the negs?
Any advice gratefully received...
I really appreciate your help so far. I developed another film today - my 1st roll of Delta 400. Really pleased with the results, quality, grain and sharpness but I am still getting really bad drying marks. I rinse according to Ilford recommendations:
Rinse 1 - invert 5 times and drain
Rinse 2 - invert 10 times and drain
Rinse 3 - invert 20 times and drain
Finally I do another rinse this time with Brita filtered (!) water and wetting agent before hanging to dry.
This time the marks were really bad. Unfortunately I hadn't noticed until after I'd cut the negs into strips of 6 :bang:
In the end I re-rinsed the strips in some demineralised water + wetting agent which got rid of the worst marks.
Somehow though I don't think I am removing the excess water properly. I could see the marks were forming where there were some drops remaining on the negs even after the demineralised water rinse. Thing is I thought the wetting agent was supposed to stop this. Am I using too much / too little wetting agent?
Or should I be a bit more thorough when I remove excess water (have tried a squeegee and the good old '2 finger' method)? I read somewhere someone recommending a Chamois type material - I guess the same as drying your car after washing to stop the drying marks? Currently I just do 1 gentle wipe with squeegee or fingers. Should I be more rigorous whilst still taking care not to scratch the negs?
Any advice gratefully received...