Great! Dropped Film After Washing

RattyMouse · May 1, 2015

Just great! I finished developing a roll of 35mm (36 exp) film and dropped it on the floor as I was hanging it up. It was only on the floor 2 seconds but god knows how much dust it picked up. I hung it up properly as I have no idea what corrective action could be done to get it re-cleaned. I see no way to get a wet roll of film onto my Paterson reel, and the film is so long that it seems destructive to just dump it into my tiny sink.

What's done is done, this roll is damaged for sure. I'd appreciate comments from anyone on what they would do in this situation.

Of course the dropped roll is one from my trip to Kyoto, priceless, not one of my China rolls that could burn to ash for no loss.

Sigh....

Pioneer · May 1, 2015

Sorry to hear that RattyMouse. Just fill the sink and dunk it again. No need to try and get it back on the reel. A lot of the old timers developed roll film by holding the film strip on each end and running it back and forth in the various solutions.

RattyMouse · May 1, 2015

Pioneer said:
Sorry to hear that RattyMouse. Just fill the sink and dunk it again. No need to try and get it back on the reel. A lot of the old timers developed roll film by holding the film strip on each end and running it back and forth in the various solutions.

Thank you for your quick reply. Based on your feedback I did as you suggested, filled the sink and ran the film through it a few times. Not much agitation due to how long the film is. I didnt want to bend it much so I just ended up dipping it into the fresh water several times and then re-hung it. Maybe that will help a bit.

Appreciate your help.

gone · May 1, 2015

Like Pioneer said. Hold it under the tap w/ some good pressure to blast off any crap, put some Photo-Flo into a bowl or wide gradient, and holding it by the end, let it curl into the bowl, then pull it out. Whip it like a whip a couple of times to get the excess wetness off, and hang it up to dry.

That's the two tips I learned to help things along. The whip process gets the film dried off much faster, which takes care of any residue that might be left behind w/ a more wet strip, and never use the Photo-Flo in the developing tank, use the dunk method. That way you don't have to scrub the reels w/ a toothbrush in hot water to get the Photo-Flo agent that dries on the reels and causes issues when you load them again.

Ansel Adams had a great photo of Georgia O'Keeffe and Orville Cox that he dropped in the darkroom and stepped on. He said it required a lot of work to get a good print from it, but Ansel being Ansel, he pulled off a real winner.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepa...er/2010/12/a-second-note-from-new-mexico.html

Ko.Fe. · May 1, 2015

Us, who do color cine film at home, have no problems to re-reel
If it is too long to put it back into the reel, which isn't really a problem because it went in dry initially, cut it in half.

LarsAC · May 2, 2015

If you submerge film and reel in a water bath, you can easily re-reel.

Lars

hacked - sepiareverb · Jul 6, 2017

A darkroom tray with water, followed by another tray with photoflo

Cholentpot · Jul 6, 2017

Ko.Fe. said:
Us, who do color cine film at home, have no problems to re-reel
If it is too long to put it back into the reel, which isn't really a problem because it went in dry initially, cut it in half.

Hello fellow X-process ECN-2. I'm typing this with remjet stained fingers!

Never had a problem re-rolling the film on the reel. And yes, I've dropped the washed stuff many times. A quick rinse and a fotoflow soaked glasses rag run down the film work every time.

vdonovan · Jul 6, 2017

"Ansel Adams had a great photo of Georgia O'Keeffe and Orville Cox that he dropped in the darkroom and stepped on. He said it required a lot of work to get a good print from it, but Ansel being Ansel, he pulled off a real winner."

I love that story about Ansel Adams. it always make me feel better when I do something stupid photographically. I've dropped many wet negatives, but I've never stepped on one, so I've got him beat in that department at least.

RattyMouse · Jul 6, 2017

Two year old thread people....two years old.

Sirius Glass · Jul 6, 2017

Re-rinse the film and dip in PhotoFlo.

eddie · Jul 6, 2017

RattyMouse said:
Two year old thread people....two years old.

The negatives should be dry by now...

Andrew O'Neill · Jul 6, 2017

Theo Sulphate · Jul 6, 2017

RattyMouse said:
Two year old thread people....two years old.

I propose, as an enhancement to APUG, a change in the background color for all posts in a thread that are six months or more in the past.

I would suggest an "old parchment" background.

This way, the first person to reply to an older thread will see the difference in color. Even the first few who follow afterwards will notice it's an old thread.

RattyMouse · Jul 7, 2017

Theo Sulphate said:
I propose, as an enhancement to APUG, a change in the background color for all posts in a thread that are six months or more in the past.

I would suggest an "old parchment" background.

This way, the first person to reply to an older thread will see the difference in color. Even the first few who follow afterwards will notice it's an old thread.

Beautiful idea!

Kevin Caulfield · Jul 7, 2017

RattyMouse said:
Two year old thread people....two years old.

Yeah, but now we all want to know what happened. Is it dry yet? Scratched?

removed account4 · Jul 7, 2017

i've got butter fingers sometimes too, i just re-reel rewash and refotoflo
or use a tray like sepiarevrerb says to rewash and refotoflo

Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2017

Theo Sulphate said:
I propose, as an enhancement to APUG, a change in the background color for all posts in a thread that are six months or more in the past.

I would suggest an "old parchment" background.

This way, the first person to reply to an older thread will see the difference in color. Even the first few who follow afterwards will notice it's an old thread.

+1

Great! Dropped Film After Washing

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency