Flattening D3200

Don't laugh, y'all. I beefed up and had to refix these rolls. Happily, they look fine (dorky sticks aside), humidifier is doing its thing, and I am going to eat a pizza. And drink some wine. Wish me luck!

rubyfalls said:

Don't laugh, y'all. I beefed up and had to refix these rolls. Happily, they look fine (dorky sticks aside), humidifier is doing its thing, and I am going to eat a pizza. And drink some wine. Wish me luck!

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I've done that before with) where I took the spring out of the) and sandwiched the back part that's flat to the film, it took me about six months to realize that this does nothing "extra", and just using the Paterson hangers ended up the best option and easiest option. They are totally worth the money.

I also find that a thorough fix, wash and soak helps the film to dry flatter.

Yeah, the sticks are really just for my own visual enjoyment. The good news is that it was definitely a humidity thing. I placed one strip closer to the humidifier and it is flat. They are both now bone dry, cut, foldered, and resting under my mammoth hardback Plato.


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rubyfalls said:

Yeah, the sticks are really just for my own visual enjoyment. The good news is that it was definitely a humidity thing. I placed one strip closer to the humidifier and it is flat. They are both now bone dry, cut, foldered, and resting under my mammoth hardback Plato.


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That's great to know, thanks for sharing, I'll have to try that humidifier trick next time. Must be that England weather that they never knew it had any problem in the dry climate

rubyfalls said:

Yeah, the sticks are really just for my own visual enjoyment. The good news is that it was definitely a humidity thing. I placed one strip closer to the humidifier and it is flat. They are both now bone dry, cut, foldered, and resting under my mammoth hardback Plato.


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Glad you got it figured out. Humidity does make a big difference.

Just wanted to add that it is important to make sure you are not using a hardening fixer. Dry climate mixed with extra hardener is a recipe for curly negatives. When I was in college my film was always far more stubborn about drying flat than it was at home. Answer was simply ascertained when I asked another student that managed the black and white chemicals if they were adding hardener to the fixer when mixing it. Sure enough, they had been adding it. From that point on I mixed my own fix, like at home, and got film that was easier to deal with.

Here is one of the shots. And a good example of why I love d3200 so much.

Not much light, so I stuck with my 80mm. And not a great shot, but the tones give me a happy feeling. No tinkering required, just a straight scan.


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Chris, I didn't know about the hardening fixer. I use Hypam, and have for many years now, and it is not hardening, I believe.

Yesterday I processed a roll of Delta 3200 in 120, and it dried with slight cupping around the long dimension of the film. But it lies flat in the scanner, and after a couple of days in the sleeves it will be entirely flat. It's fairly dry in my darkroom right now, but not bone dry.