hair dryers and sheet film

pellicle · Sep 29, 2008

Hi

sorry if this isn't really the right forum, but I was wondering if there is anything detrimental in drying my sheets film with a hair dryer (not too hot).

I pulled a sheet out of the wash today and hung it out for about 10 minutes. I felt impatient to get at it, so seeing my girlfriends hair dryer hanging on the wall, I thought "why not"

nothing seems to have 'gone wrong' with it, and infact there seems to be less dust (just where does this stuff come from!) on the emulsion than other sheets.

so, is drying the sheets with a hair dryer (on its lightest setting) harmful?

(btw I usually hang my sheets in our bathroom, the floor is mopped, I have a shower and wipe down the few things in there which could have dust on the surface and I still get dust)

Konical · Sep 29, 2008

Good Afternoon, Pellicle,

Notwithstanding your apparently dust-free experience, I would have serious qualms about using a hair dryer for film. I'm willing to bet that sooner or later (probably sooner) dust problems would arise. What's the rush? In a low-humidity environment, film is mostly dry within an hour; in high-humidity conditions, only a couple of hours will usually suffice. Should time be really critical, you might consider the approach that some press photographers from decades ago reportedly used and finish a film wash with alcohol, but being in a hurry is not usually part of the LF experience.

Konical

dpurdy · Sep 29, 2008

I have rush dried film like that many times for tests and such and you are really likely to get water spots from the water heating and drying unevenly. I get no dust in my film drying cabinet so there is a better chance that I get dust with the hair dryer. That might change for your situation.

CBG · Sep 29, 2008

Hot turbulent air?

Throwing the dust at wet film?

Noooooooo!

C

Martin Aislabie · Sep 29, 2008

I prefer to dry my negs with a little less excitement and adventure !!!!

I use de-ionised water as my last film wash and let it stand for a few mins before gently shaking off the as many water droplets as I can

I then leave the film to dry SLOWLY in my unheated but force ventilated film drying tent (Durst UT100)

If I try and dry quickly I get drying marks which show up beautifully under the enlarger.

I would have more sympathy if you were using a brand new hairdryer that was to be used for this and this alone

And if you are in the bathroom – watch out for talcum powder – it hangs in the air seemingly forever

Have fun

Martin

two40 · Sep 29, 2008

I would have thought that using a hair dryer will kick around more dust particles around the room.

rmolson · Sep 29, 2008

We routinely dried large sheets of 16x20 5 mil graphic arts masking and separation film with a final wash of Isopropyl alcohol cut with 10% water and squeegeed for quick drying. Waiting for an hour for the masks on camera back masking to dry was not an option. Granted graphic arts film was tough, but dust never seemed to be a problem.

Chuck_P · Sep 29, 2008

I wouldn't do it, I've had bad luck with that method. Hang drying is the safest that I have experienced and more piece of mind as well. I hang dry mine (4x5) in a kitchen cabinet with a string pulled tightly from one end of the other, I gently place them on the clothespins and slowly close the cabinet doors and go do whatever til it's time put them in the sleeves. I rarely, rarely have a dust issue.

fotch · Sep 29, 2008

I used a commercial plastic bag, designed for drying roll film via hanging, and a hair dryer, for years. Still have it although its been quite a while since I last had a darkroom.

Never had a problem with dust, darkroom was in a basement. I think the air power is so low and is coming from the top, blowing down, may be the reason. It would be easy enough to add a piece of air filter to the inlet although I never found that I needed to do that.

pellicle · Sep 30, 2008

Folks

Sorry to make you hair stand on end there. The reason for the haste was that I was lens testing and keen to get it under the magnifier. ADOX is really easy to scratch when its wet, so I was eager to get it dry.

This is certainly not my normal procedure, but since I had such good results I thought I'd ask...

thanks for the replies.

hair dryers and sheet film

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