Flatening rolled-up strips of film

BGriffin23 · Feb 4, 2021

So after developing two rolls recently I wound them back up in their little black bottles for a few weeks before cutting them up into strips for binder sleeves. Now the 5-frame strips are VERY curled and make a mess of the sleeves and even makes it difficult to properly fit into my enlarger's negative carrier. (see picture 1). I tried squeezing them between pages of the heaviest book I have which itself had the second heaviest book I have stacked on top of it and left that way for two weeks. Doesn't seem any flatter.

Any suggestions?

Also My attempts to label the sleeves leaves a lot of smudges (picture 2, which was originally a 5). What should I use instead?

DWThomas · Feb 4, 2021

One possibility might be to roll up the film with the sides reversed (emulsion out vs in) and let them sit for a few days, a week or whatever. Only thing is, that would be easier before you cut the film into short strips. I suspect that behavior varies a lot between film types. I normally cut mine from the film shortly after it has dried hanging vertically with a weight on the end. My experience is that any residual curl following that goes away after some time in the sleeves. Note too that humidity conditions will have some effect on curl.

I generally use either a fine Sharpie pen or a black ballpoint to write on the binder page. The Sharpie ink doesn't dry instantly, but it generally works OK. Ballpoint inks vary a lot -- might take some experimenting. The other pen category -- "roller balls" or "gel pens" I think are too gloppy to use.

MattKing · Feb 4, 2021

Laundry markers are good.

reddesert · Feb 5, 2021

You can try re-humidifying the film - I don't mean soak it, just take it into the bathroom while you take a shower or something. Then take it back out and press it under a stack of large, very flat books (a whole stack, not just the heaviest book) for several days.

Sirius Glass · Feb 5, 2021

reddesert said:
You can try re-humidifying the film - I don't mean soak it, just take it into the bathroom while you take a shower or something. Then take it back out and press it under a stack of large, very flat books (a whole stack, not just the heaviest book) for several days.

He means make a lot of steam.

foc · Feb 6, 2021

DWThomas said:
roll up the film with the sides reversed (emulsion out vs in) and let them sit for a few days,

This is the solution to make them flat.
Failing that, re-soak in water with a drop of wetting agent and then hang each strip to dry. I have, with success, dried cut neg strips by threading a paper clip through the sprocket hole at one end of the strip and another paper clip at the opposite end, opposite side sprocket hole. Then I used a clothes pegs to act as a weight on the bottom and another clothes peg to hang at the top.
Of course, don't roll them up in the first place would be better
I have found that sleeving after the negs have dried is the best solution, as has been suggested above.

pentaxuser · Feb 6, 2021

Sirius Glass said:
He means make a lot of steam.

I use the pre-wet or no pre-wet threads for this but if I have none of this at hand then stand development will work in an emergency

pentaxuser

GRHazelton · Feb 6, 2021

Apropos of this thread, I have a number of rolls of 35mm BW film my father processed at least 70 years ago. As did the OP my Father put them in the metal "cans" that film came in those days. I'm trying to figure out how to remove the rolls of film from the cans without scarring them irreparably. Any ideas?
After that I can try to flatten the curlled film and then try to identify the images.

MattKing · Feb 6, 2021

That film might be flammable - be cautious and check for "safety film" in the edge printing.

GRHazelton · Feb 6, 2021

MattKing said:
That film might be flammable - be cautious and check for "safety film" in the edge printing.

True! My Father, a PhD in ChemEng U of Michigan, found a roll of, IIRC 620 or 120 nitrate film. We went outside and he tacked each end to a 2 x 4 or some such, and then touched a match to one end.....Wowzer! An almost instantaneous flash of flame. I can only imagine the horror of a nitrate movie film going off.....

GRHazelton · Feb 6, 2021

MattKing said:
That film might be flammable - be cautious and check for "safety film" in the edge printing.

True! My Father, a PhD in ChemEng from Michigan, found a roll of, IIRC 620 or 120 nitrate film. We went outside and he tacked each end to a 2 x 4 or some such, and then touched a match to one end.....Wowzer! An almost instantaneous flash of flame. I can only imagine the horror of a nitrate movie film going off.....

pentaxuser · Feb 6, 2021

GR, it sounds as if filling the metal cans with Photoflo and literally floating them out might be worthwhile in terms of getting outer part of the roll away from the cans' edge and elimination of a fire hazard

pentaxuser

GRHazelton · Feb 6, 2021

pentaxuser said:
GR, it sounds as if filling the metal cans with Photoflo and literally floating them out might be worthwhile in terms of getting outer part of the roll away from the cans' edge and elimination of a fire hazard

pentaxuser

Interesting idea! Let me meditate on it. Can I assume that you mean Photoflo diluted as per its usual use as a final rinse in processing?

Patrick Robert James · Feb 7, 2021

GRHazelton said:
Interesting idea! Let me meditate on it. Can I assume that you mean Photoflo diluted as per its usual use as a final rinse in processing?

Don't wet the film in the cans. It could stick to itself.

Flatening rolled-up strips of film

BGriffin23

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