How important is to pre wash film before develop it?

marciofs · Jun 4, 2013

Is the pre wash just to make the film at the same temperature of the developer before developing? Or is it also important to take out the film chemistry residues before developing?

I developed a couple of time without soaking the in to water and I didn't notice any difference.

Ian Grant · Jun 4, 2013

It's not recommended by Ilford, it's not necessary.

Some like to pre-wash, others don't, it can help with rotary processing.

Ian

David Allen · Jun 4, 2013

For every photographer you ask, you will get a different answer about pre-washing.

I use a pre-wash for two reasons:

I use a (re-usable) two-bath developer and I do not like Bath A becoming full of the dye.

A long time ago I had some problems with uneven development (streaking on 35mm film) and pre-soaking solved this.

Whenever, a friend who does not pre-soak comes to me with streaking or other development problem, I always recommend pre-washing and this always solves the problem.

Bests,

David
www.dsallen.de

Newt_on_Swings · Jun 4, 2013

I don't do a prewash, but I did try it in the past.

For the people who routinely use a prewash, do you find that since the film has absorbed water from that step, instead of developer, does the development slow and do you compensate with more time, higher temp, or more concentrated developer? Would that bit of water from carry over in the film, and probably a little bit in the tank/reels affect your development in other words?

Jim Taylor · Jun 4, 2013

David Allen said:
A long time ago I had some problems with uneven development (streaking on 35mm film) and pre-soaking solved this.

I use a pre-wash to solve streaking issues as above, and also to equilibrate developer and film temperature. I've never modified my dev time/conc and I haven't noticed any ill effects...

Terry Christian · Jun 4, 2013

As Ian said above, some do a pre-wash, some don't. It washes off the anti-halation dye and I find that it promotes more even development, especially with sheet film. I do it, but if I happen to forget it, I don't worry about it too much. And no, you don't have to compensate for anything in development. If there's any real difference in the film either way, it isn't enough to be concerned about.

R.Gould · Jun 4, 2013

In more years than I care to remember, and over what must be thousands of films over the years, I have never pre washed my films, I have never seen the need,it is not nessary,
Richard

doughowk · Jun 4, 2013

If using 2 bath or divided developer, a pre-soak is not recommended (see Anchell). I rotary process all sheet film , and find a pre-soak helpful for one shot developers.

bvy · Jun 4, 2013

I prewash lith film as I was regularly getting streaks and uneven development. But I develop this by safelight in trays. And I recently introduced a prewash to my C-41 processing. But regular black and white film -- no.

removed account4 · Jun 4, 2013

i pre-wash only out of habit, some habits are hard to break.
when i tray process, one thing i do after i finish developing is pour the pre wash tray
INTO the developer tray, and the dark dye magically disappears.

yeah, i get pretty bored sometimes.

Roger Cole · Jun 4, 2013

jnanian said:
i pre-wash only out of habit, some habits are hard to break.
when i tray process, one thing i do after i finish developing is pour the pre wash tray
INTO the developer tray, and the dark dye magically disappears.

yeah, i get pretty bored sometimes.

I've noticed the same effect when I drain the (one shot) developer from my Jobo into the holding pan that has the dye laden pre-wash water in it.

As others above, I do and do not. I do prewash with my Jobo. It's recommended by Jobo for rotary processing a few reasons. I also use Diafine for roll film sometimes in regular tanks and do not, as the maker of Diafine recommends against it. When I develop 4x5 in deep tanks with hangers, sometimes I have and sometimes I haven't and I really can't say as I could tell any difference.

marciofs · Jun 4, 2013

I think I will continuous pre washing my films then.
Thank you.

tron_ · Jun 4, 2013

Just my $0.02 but I always pre-wash all my film wether it be color or B&W to get rid of the anti-halation layer. I think it's more important with my C-41 film since development times are so short (usually 3m30s) that a pre-wash helps promote more even development.

That plus I like seeing the pretty colors the dye makes the water

marciofs · Jun 4, 2013

tron_ said:
That plus I like seeing the pretty colors the dye makes the water

Me too.
I don't know why. lol

Mainecoonmaniac · Jun 4, 2013

I agree with Christian

Terry Christian said:
As Ian said above, some do a pre-wash, some don't. It washes off the anti-halation dye and I find that it promotes more even development, especially with sheet film. I do it, but if I happen to forget it, I don't worry about it too much. And no, you don't have to compensate for anything in development. If there's any real difference in the film either way, it isn't enough to be concerned about.

I find it does some times promote even development. I think film avoids dry patches and bubbles in the developer. Also with some film, it may be a good idea to pre-wash with heavy dyes in the anti-halation layer. Especially with Foma film and Arista EDU. My developer is a blue-green. I don't think it will cause any harm.

Jeff Kubach · Jun 4, 2013

I've tried both and can't tell the difference.

Jeff

MattKing · Jun 4, 2013

I pre-wash - it keeps my replenished developer from changing colour.

More importantly, it is part of my routine now, and I depend on the repeat-ability of my routine.

Gerald C Koch · Jun 4, 2013

The dyes that some people seem overly concerned about are chosen because they have no effect on development. Pre-washing is not necessary unless you choose to use a very short, < 5 min, developing time. With short times they may be a chance of streaking.

In 60 years of developing film I have never pre-washed and have never experienced any problems. I use Nikor style tanks. With larger tanks greater than 2 35 mm reels I use a lift rod and simply place the reels into the tank filled with developer.

With pre-wash (pre-soak) you may need to extend developing times slightly. The manufacturers of Diafine are very specific about NOT pre-soaking.

Bruce Osgood · Jun 4, 2013

Roger Cole said:
As others above, I do and do not. I do prewash with my Jobo. It's recommended by Jobo for rotary processing a few reasons. I also use Diafine for roll film sometimes in regular tanks and do not, as the maker of Diafine recommends against it. When I develop 4x5 in deep tanks with hangers, sometimes I have and sometimes I haven't and I really can't say as I could tell any difference.

I too use a Jobo for rotary processing 4X5 sheet film and always pre rinsed until I started using Xtol and Delta 100 film.

Jobo has backed off their position of pre washing films developed in Xtol:

Dead Link Removed

A prewetting of the film is not recommended but a pre temperaturing of the tank and dry contents is recommended. It all comes down to there is no absolute single answer for this either.

seadrive · Jun 4, 2013

When developing roll film, I use a pre-wash to get my film/tank to the desired temp for development. If it's 80 deg F in the room, I'll use a one-minute pre-soak at 65 degrees. The closer the room temp is to 68F, the closer my pre-wash is to 68F.

It's part of my routine. However it affects my development time, it's been factored in.

rjbuzzclick · Jun 4, 2013

I normally don't pre-wash, but have started to do it with 4x5 Fomapan 100. I was getting occasional pinholes in the emulsion (I was already using water instead of stop bath), and pre-washing has seemed to mitigate the problem.

grahamp · Jun 4, 2013

I used to pre-wash with the Jobo when I was using a one-shot developer. Not because of the anti-halation dye but because it helps stabilize the tank temperature and evens out the initial flood of developer. Now that I am using a two bath developer, I don't bother. The first bath is low activity, and the temperature does not fluctuate that much.

I never pre-washed with manual tanks. Unless you have a very short developing time, I don't see the benefit as a universal practice. It might help with temperature adjustment.

emjo · Jun 4, 2013

I always prewash with C-41, mostly to get the film and tank to the correct temperature. For B/W I like dev times of around 10-20 minutes and assume there is ample amounts of time for the film to get evenly wet.

cliveh · Jun 4, 2013

I have never pre-washed a film and can't see the point. If anything, I would suggest that a pre-wash delays the ingress of developer into the emulsion and may effect development times.

250swb · Jun 4, 2013

I use a pre-soaking with sheet film and catechol and pyro developers because it is pretty well required, but it does no harm with whatever film or developer you use. There are no downsides to pre-soaking (if concerned about increased development times, well, increase the development time) and plenty of potential upsides. The only time you might have been called an over-careful sissy for pre-soaking a film would have been in a newspaper darkroom, but look what happened to those. The thing is, if something bad can happen, as it does sooner or later, doing something as simple as pre-soaking is a cheap insurance policy, not relying on the ancient 'its never happened to me' motto above the darkroom door.

Steve

How important is to pre wash film before develop it?

marciofs

Ian Grant

David Allen

Newt_on_Swings

Jim Taylor

Terry Christian

R.Gould

doughowk

bvy

removed account4

Roger Cole

marciofs

tron_

marciofs

Mainecoonmaniac

Jeff Kubach

MattKing

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Gerald C Koch

Bruce Osgood

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seadrive

rjbuzzclick

grahamp

emjo

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250swb

How important is to pre wash film before develop it?

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