Curling Neg Help

Bobbo · Mar 20, 2006

I'm having problems with my ngatives curling in on themselves. The curling is making my shots hard to scan.

I am shooting Tri-X 400 for 35mm and processing it in HC-110 for 4 minutes at 68F, stoping it with water, using standard kodak fixer, and hypo clear. I don't use normal stop bath or photo-flo. I dry them by hanging the strip up in my closet...no drying cabinets or the such.

Is there something I can change in my processing or my drying, or should I just put them in their sleeves and leave them under a dictionary for a week before scanning them?

Thank you,
Bob Clark

kaiyen · Mar 20, 2006

Are these curly length-wise or width-wise?

Curl is usually the result of a lack of humidity while drying. Do you hang a weight at the bottom, or even just a clothespin? It is important to hang the pin right at the middle of the roll, I find, and to have it hang straight down. Sometimes if I hang it at an angle I'll get a weird twisting going on.

allan

Konical · Mar 20, 2006

Good Evening, Bob,

I'm surprised you're having curling problems with Tri-X, expecially in 35mm. My experience with both Kodak and Ilford is that they have mimimal curling problems. You might try replacing the film (after it is completely dry) onto the processing reel, but in reversed position, i. e. emulsion side out. That approach has helped when I've had a similar problem with 120 Fomapan.

Konical

ijsbeer · Mar 21, 2006

here you can find a solution so "repair"you bent negs. on the site of Dante Stella http://www.dantestella.com/technical/bentnegs.html

Greets
RJ

hka · Mar 21, 2006

Les dramatic method is to put the negs in a sleeve lay this on a flat surface and put some books on it. After a day or two the negs are flat.

fschifano · Mar 21, 2006

I too am surprised that you're having a curling problem with 35mm Tri-X. It dries with a slight bow lengthwise in toward the emulsion side, but the bowing is not enough to cause a problem for me in the enlarger or scanner. I agree with the other posters about the lack of humidity causing excessive curl. You also need to use a small weight at the bottom of the film strip. I've found that Photoflo is a necessity for me. If I don't use it, or a similar wetting agent, there will be water spots on my film when it dries.

siorai · Mar 21, 2006

hka said:
Les dramatic method is to put the negs in a sleeve lay this on a flat surface and put some books on it. After a day or two the negs are flat.

That's exactly what I've done with mine. Not too much weight either so it is a slower process. Now they're all pretty much well perfectly flat.

rbarker · Mar 21, 2006

I had curling problems when I tried to dry my film too rapidly. Now, I just air dry with a large binder clip to weight the bottom.

Dead Link Removed

The other suggestions for post-drying flattening help, too.

Gerald Koch · Mar 21, 2006

Bobbo said:
I dry them by hanging the strip up in my closet...no drying cabinets or the such.

A closet is not a good place since clothes generate a lot of lint. A shower stall is better since the humidity keeps static and lint down. Run hot water for a minute or so before you hang up the film.

Bobbo · Mar 21, 2006

fschifano said:
It dries with a slight bow lengthwise in toward the emulsion side, but the bowing is not enough to cause a problem for me in the enlarger or scanner.

This is the way my film is curling, but it is so bad that there is a strip in the middle of the negative out of focus everytime I scan.

Come to think of it, it is really dry in here...maybe I'll pick up a cheap humidifier this week and see if that helps.

I'll pick my heaviest/least used textbooks to weigh them down for now.

Thank you all,
Bob Clark

fschifano · Mar 21, 2006

Bobbo said:
Come to think of it, it is really dry in here...maybe I'll pick up a cheap humidifier this week and see if that helps.

No need to buy anything until you know that's the problem, which I'm pretty sure it is. Run the hot shower in the bathroom, steam up the room a bit, hang the film there to dry. Not only will you be adding moisture to the air, most of the dust floating around will have dropped out of the air to boot.

joeyk49 · Mar 21, 2006

I assume that your sanning on a flatbed...with a cover that pushes down on the "document"...they should be laying flat...I'm at a loss...

Jim Jones · Mar 21, 2006

If I have a badly curved film, when scanning on an Epson Perfection 2450 Photo flatbed I put the curved side down so it presses against the scanner glass, even if this means reversing the image after scanning. This could lead to Newton's rings, but I haven't noticed that yet.

rbarker · Mar 22, 2006

If I still have cupping toward the emulsion side (35mm or 120) after the film has been cut and stored in PrintFile sheets long enough to "equalize", I just reverse-curl them for a few hours, as was suggested previously. That usually solves any problem.

Carol · Mar 22, 2006

Hello Bob

I used to have the same problem when I used Tmax 400. I would have to put the negs in a plastic sleeve under heavy books for several days to flatten them out. The odd thing is that since I changed to Tmax 100 I still dry them the same (in the shower) but don't have the problem with curling anymore. Doesn't seem to make sense I know, that's just how it is for me. Good luck.

Curling Neg Help

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