Household replacement for Photoflo?

[Dave Krueger]

Edwal LFN for me. Photo-Flo always left streaks on my negs. Don't know why. LFN leaves the film pristine.

Patrick

It seems like anything that doesn't evaporate completely would leave some residue. That's one thing about liquid dish washing detergent. Anyone who's ever spilled that stuff can tell you it does not evaporate. It just slowly turns into a thick gummy crud. Maybe I should put some Photo-Flo in a dish and see if it evaoporates completely.

I've never tried Edwal LFN. I tried their "no-scratch" stuff on a marginally playable DVD once, though. I thought I was being so clever, but it didn't work, so I used their film cleaner to clean it off. Bad idea. It's no longer marginal.

 

[Ed Sukach]

Edwal LFN for me. Photo-Flo always left streaks on my negs. Don't know why. LFN leaves the film pristine.

I agree. For some reason, the Photo-Flo streaks were bulletproof as well.
I've never had trouble with LFN.

 

[Photo Engineer]

I suspect that Photo Flo does not fully evaporate. However, if you use it as directed it will be sufficient to absorb into the emulsion and vanish when dry.

Photo Flo is mainly the nonionic surfactant called Triton X 100 and either propylene glycol (PF200) or ethylene glycol (PF600). The dilution ratios are different for these versions of Photo Flo, so if you mess up it will leave a residue.

PE

 

[gainer]

I don't know the dynamics of negative washing. I'm pretty sure certain substances that are in my well water are not well absorbed by the gelatin, because when I get the surface water off I have no indication on the negatives that the water was anything but distilled. If there is any absorption into the emulsion of the calcium-magnesium compounds that make my water hard, I doubt that a surface rinse would remove it any more completely than a surface wipe. These wiped negatives have been kept for over 30 years with no sign of anything but film base, emulsion and silver. The only times I got any streaking were when I did NOT wipe the negatives. There was a time when I used a sponge squeegee, but found a soft clean cloth to be better. Old-fashioned cloth diapers are my current favorite.

 

[Larry.Manuel]

"Photo-Flo always left streaks on my negs. "

To avoid streaks, Roger Hicks recommends hanging the film so that water drains to the sprocket holes on one side. It works fine for me. I haven't had to put sprocket holes in my 120 film.