Curled Expired 120mm Negatives

[Herzeleid]

I read a few posts on the internet how to straighten the curled negatives, but I did not have much success with them.

I purchased lots of ORWO PAN100 expired in 2004 recently, the negatives are quite ok, but they curl and I can't straighten them. I tried wetting them in photoflo and drying them again, but it didn't help much.

I am quite new to 120mm format so what do you suggest?

 

[Anon Ymous]

Putting a bit more weight when hanging them might help, but don't go too far I don't think rewetting can help, with or without photoflo. Just cut them, file them and put them under some heavy books. Leave them there for a day and see if it helps.

BTW, welcome

 

[Herzeleid]

Now they are cut and filed, one day under heavy books didn't help much
May be a longer time under the books would help, I will try.

Thanks

 

[Claire Senft]

Welcome to APUG. I hope that you find this a good place to visit often. Firstly, I do not know where the designation 120 came from but it certainly is not because the film is 120mm wide, which would be about 4 3/4 inches.

I am afraid that I do not have any advice for you that will be helpful in that I have never had to deal with excessive negative curling. I would imagine that the film should lay usefully flat in a non-glass negative carrier. I could be wrong. I certainly would expect that they should lay flat with either a negative carrier that has a glass or translucent top or a double glass carrier.

It may be that if the negatives were layed flat with pressure on top for a long period of time that they might stay flat. I would be very hesitant to try it myself for fear that the negatives could become damaged by either being scratched, having foreign matter pressed into the surface or the film sticking either together or to another surface.

 

[bdial]

Rumor has it that several days under books may help. It hasn't worked for me with some of my Efke film, months or even years under weight maybe.
Other than that, my best advice is to switch to Ilford or Kodak film.

 

[Herzeleid]

Thanks. I'm quite new to this format

I had a few 35mm processed in C-41 an laying rolled and uncut in the containers for a few years I had no problems with them. Just re wetting and hanging straightened them.

These negatives are quite stubborn, they roll back. They may require more radical approach. May be drying in heat?
I purchased quite lot of these films, if I can solve this curling problem it would be great.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

If they are curled the long way - they want to spring into a spiral - then wind them backwards into a spool and let them sit in a warm place for a few days.

If they are curled the short way - they want to form a tube - I haven't found a really good solution. I put them in sleeves and under weights but they don't really improve much.

 

[Konical]

Good Morning,

Nicholas has the right idea. I have the curling problem with 120 Foma 200. I have tried a couple of things. First, loading the dried film back onto a SS processing reel, emulsion side out, and letting it sit for a few days works rather well. Second, doing the same thing but using an empty 120 spool will do the job but just a bit more quickly. Use some masking tape to attach the film to the center of the spool; take a short length of 120 backing paper to surround the wound film and then use a little masking tape to hold it in place. After a day or so, the film's curl should be neutralized. Obviously, some care is required to avoid fingerprints or scratches; anyone but a complete klutz should be able to manage it. As Nicholas indicates, the tubing problem doesn't have an easy, quick solution.

Konical

 

[Jon Shiu]

Someone mentioned a while ago using a dry mount press to flatten. I forget the details but perhaps a search of the past threads might help.

Jon

 

[Herzeleid]

Thanks for your replies. I think I will try reloading the film to the spirals first. It is quite practical to start.

 

[keithwms]

I've had some curly negs that were just too frustrating to deal with at an enlarger.... and didn't uncurl no matter what potion I tried. My attempts included packing them tightly in a bookshelf for months or pressing them extensively in a dry mount press! The thing is, these pressing methods risk damaging a neg, so it's really a last resort.

There are two non-damaging options that will yield excellent results and provide you an easily printable, flat neg to work with:

(1) dupe the neg. Put it emulsion down on a piece of sheet film, e.g. ilford ortho plus, put a piece of good glass over it and dupe it. Dupe it to thick sheet film and be happy. There is a slight risk of damage to the original due to particles on the glass that holds it flat, but you can inspect the glass very carefully, work in a dust-free environment, and in any case the contact is made on the back side of the neg. N.b. this is lensless duping so you are losing very little info and any minor scatter from the glass will very likely be far out of focus. Especially if you use thickish glass, then the top surface can even be scratched and it won't matter. So really there's only one surface to obsess over.

(2) have the neg drum scanned and get an LVT made from it. This is more pricey but you can get res up beyond 3000 dpi so it's excellent resolution that will only barely compromise enlargeability of your neg. And arguably, this method can get more real info out of the neg than optical duping becase the drum is holding the film superflat and the information is being gathered confocally, i.e. without lens abberations coming into effect. I wouldn't argue that it's better than getting a 1st generation print striaght from the original, but it's very, very close. Another thing is that you can have the dupe LVT'd to a larger size so if you want to contact print or have a smaller enlargement factor at your enlarger...

(and I'd like to take this opportunity to pre-emptively reject any assertions that drum+LVT is digital cheating! LVT has been around for a very long time and is a very powerful tool providing extremely high fidelity)

 

[nickandre]

When I dry film I leave a heavy pin or two on the bottom. After it's dry, leave it hanging for a while so it completely settles into being straight. A day or so couldn't hurt. Film produced by larger companies has an anti-curling layer, this makes a big difference.