How many times can you re-wash?

Jimi and Jim and Janis · Oct 16, 2009

How many times can you re-wash a roll of film before it gets damaged. Ive heard of people saying that it warp your film or make it too soft or things of that nature. T'is this true? whats the limit

nickandre · Oct 16, 2009

I wouldn't go out of your way to re wash your film many times but I don't think you're going to injure your film rewashing. If you need to rewash, by all means do.

Kirk Keyes · Oct 17, 2009

Why would you ever need to do it more than twice? If the first time was insufficient, then make sure the second is sufficient, and you're done.

Vaughn · Oct 17, 2009

I agree -- the less you handle your film, the better. Accidents happen. Other than that I doubt re-washing ten times will actually hurt your film...especially the newer films that contain their own hardeners (assuming 70F washes -- not 120F!)

Vaughn

Jimi and Jim and Janis · Oct 17, 2009

im struggling on getting nice stainless negatives so Im trying to see what works best for me

Martin Aislabie · Oct 17, 2009

Washing film does not need huge amounts of water.

Because the film base is inert it doesn't need the extensive washing that fibre based paper requires.

The film emulsion does need time for the process chemicals to diffuse out into the wash water

Quote from the Ilford HP5 film processing data sheet :-

After fixing, fill the spiral tank with water at the
same temperature, +/– 5ºC (9ºF), as the
processing solutions and invert it five times. Drain
the water away and refill. Invert the tank ten times.
Once more drain the water away and refill.
Finally, invert the tank twenty times and drain the
water away.

It is worth always filtering the water for photography for particles (I sometimes get sand and/or scale from the pipes) but otherwise most water is fine

Ilfords Web Site - http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/default.asp

Good luck

Martin

bdial · Oct 17, 2009

If the drying marks/water spots/whatever don't go away in one re-wash attempt, more washing rounds aren't likely to help, unfortunately. Best to chalk it up to learning experience and work around the problem negatives.
Learning what works best for you will probably take several rolls, but the successes will become more frequent.

nickandre · Oct 17, 2009

Jimi said:
im struggling on getting nice stainless negatives so Im trying to see what works best for me

I believe the trick to getting rid of the gunk is to use the recommended amount of surfactant (photo flo) in distilled water rather than reduce the amount of photoflo in tap water.

Jeff Kubach · Oct 17, 2009

If the first time doesn't work throw the film in the washing machine!

Jeff

Q.G. · Oct 17, 2009

Jeff Kubach said:
If the first time doesn't work throw the film in the washing machine!

Yes ... you can laugh, but ...

I used to put 35 film, straight out of the tank, still on the spiral, in a laundry centrifuge and give it a short but good whirl.

Never had film fly out of the spiral, though i guess it could have happened.
So don't try this at home and come blame me when it goes horribly wrong!
Worked for me though.

The film always came out clean and without spots.

When in a hurry, i used to hang it horizontally (that is: still 'on end', but clamped at several points along the upper perforation) after the centrifuge, and it would be dry in no time too.

(All in past tense, because i don't use 35 mm film anymore. Wouldn't dare put a spiral loaded with roll film in a centrifuge, for it certainly would fly out.)

Martin Aislabie · Oct 18, 2009

Q.G. said:
Yes ... you can laugh, but ...

I used to put 35 film, straight out of the tank, still on the spiral, in a laundry centrifuge and give it a short but good whirl.

Never had film fly out of the spiral, though i guess it could have happened.
So don't try this at home and come blame me when it goes horribly wrong!
Worked for me though.

The film always came out clean and without spots.

When in a hurry, i used to hang it horizontally (that is: still 'on end', but clamped at several points along the upper perforation) after the centrifuge, and it would be dry in no time too.

(All in past tense, because i don't use 35 mm film anymore. Wouldn't dare put a spiral loaded with roll film in a centrifuge, for it certainly would fly out.)

I have heard of people putting their wet loaded spirals into a manual Salad Spinner to loose as much water as possible - and I think they were doing it with 120 film too.

When you then hang the film out to dry the reduced amount of water gives quicker drying times and less problems with water marks

Martin

How many times can you re-wash?

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