How to flatten / straighten film

[thisispants]

Hey, Ive taken some shots and the film is still quite "rolly" or curvey after getting it back from the lab. Just wondering if you know of any method to straighten or flatten the films so they're not curvy....

Thanks.

 

[nickstreme]

One time i had this gnarly roll of tri x that just wouldnt straighten out.

It was already cut into six strips, so i used 6 different 35mm developing reels and loaded the strips the opposite direction of the curl, put them in my bathroom and ran a hot steamy shower for a half hour, then just sealed the room and let them sit in the remaining steam for another half hour.

Worked pretty good.

 

[Neal]

Dear thisispants,

Put the film in some negative storage pages (after printing the one you want of course ;>) ) and they will flatten nicely over time.

Neal Wydra

 

[PeteZ8]

Yep once they are in the archival sleeves just give them time. If you're in a hurry (relatively speaking) throw the sleeve between a couple of heavy, smooth books, or a stack of magazines. They will be flat as a pancake in a few days.

 

[baad5eed]

I usually put them in archival sleeves then I wrap and tape the sleeves onto a cylinder (5cm diameter) for 1 day.

 

[Herzeleid]

It also depends on the film brand. I have some curved orwo films supposedly they are rebranded forte films. They never get straight, I tried lots of things.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The color of the box the film comes in seems to have a lot to do with the problem...

Film curls after processing because the emulsion gelatin shrinks when it dries. Kodak and Ilford both backcoat the film with another emulsion of pure gelatin - this equalizes the stresses on the film and gets it to lie reasonably flat right after it dries. Kodak uses a pre-hardened gelatin that does less swelling when wet and correspondingly less shrinking when it dries.

Film from the east-block is only coated on the emulsion side and is coated with soft gelatin that does a lot of shrinking. As a result the film curls like the dickens when it dries. Curling into a spiral isn't that bad, but sometimes the film curls into a long tight tube that is impossible to handle.

The film will flatten with time because the gelatin will slowly stretch to relieve the stress imposed on it by film base trying to lie flat. Putting the film under books to hold it flat will speed up the stretching, as will backwinding the film on a processing reel. But in all cases the gelatin will take time to stretch.

The best near term fix is to use Kodak or Ilford film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

What they said => archival storage pages will do the trick.

Steve

 

[oscroft]

As soon as my films are dry, I reverse-wind them back on to developing spools, and leave them like that for 24 hours or so. It's the best way I've ever found of doing it, and it's much quicker than putting them in archival sleeves and leaving them for months. (The only film I don't need to flatten at all is ERA-100 - it just dries flat).

Best,
Alan

 

[DutchShooter]

If I leave my film to hang for some time after they are already dry (with weighted film clips) the curl is also considerably less.
My worst curling film is fomapan 200, the least curling is ilford delta 3200 (very flat, even if the above procedure is not followed).

 

[bobwysiwyg]

The color of the box the film comes in seems to have a lot to do with the problem...

Film curls after processing because the emulsion gelatin shrinks when it dries. Kodak and Ilford both backcoat the film with another emulsion of pure gelatin - this equalizes the stresses on the film and gets it to lie reasonably flat right after it dries. Kodak uses a pre-hardened gelatin that does less swelling when wet and correspondingly less shrinking when it dries.

Film from the east-block is only coated on the emulsion side and is coated with soft gelatin that does a lot of shrinking. As a result the film curls like the dickens when it dries. Curling into a spiral isn't that bad, but sometimes the film curls into a long tight tube that is impossible to handle.

The film will flatten with time because the gelatin will slowly stretch to relieve the stress imposed on it by film base trying to lie flat. Putting the film under books to hold it flat will speed up the stretching, as will backwinding the film on a processing reel. But in all cases the gelatin will take time to stretch.

The best near term fix is to use Kodak or Ilford film.

Makes a good deal of sense, thanks.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The color of the box the film comes in seems to have a lot to do with the problem...

Film curls after processing because the emulsion gelatin shrinks when it dries. Kodak and Ilford both backcoat the film with another emulsion of pure gelatin - this equalizes the stresses on the film and gets it to lie reasonably flat right after it dries. Kodak uses a pre-hardened gelatin that does less swelling when wet and correspondingly less shrinking when it dries.

Film from the east-block is only coated on the emulsion side and is coated with soft gelatin that does a lot of shrinking. As a result the film curls like the dickens when it dries. Curling into a spiral isn't that bad, but sometimes the film curls into a long tight tube that is impossible to handle.

The film will flatten with time because the gelatin will slowly stretch to relieve the stress imposed on it by film base trying to lie flat. Putting the film under books to hold it flat will speed up the stretching, as will backwinding the film on a processing reel. But in all cases the gelatin will take time to stretch.

The best near term fix is to use Kodak or Ilford film.

That is why I use Kodak, Ilford and Fuji.

Steve

 

[fotch]

That is why I use Kodak, Ilford and Fuji.

Steve

You get what you pay for.

 

[DutchShooter]

I actually find kodak tri-x to be one of the worse in the curling department, especially because it curls to a tube (as opposed to curl back to the shape in the canister, don't know how to describe it better)

 

[Sirius Glass]

I actually find kodak tri-x to be one of the worse in the curling department, especially because it curls to a tube (as opposed to curl back to the shape in the canister, don't know how to describe it better)

The word you want is longitudinally as in "I actually find Kodak Tri-x to be one of the worse in the curling department, especially because it curls to a longitudinally"

Yes, there is a tendency for that but it is not a problem loading it on the the reel and once dry, the archival page storage takes care of that.

Steve

 

[clayne]

Never had a problem with Tri-X.

As previously mentioned, tension between the emulsion and base combined with humidity levels is what makes film curl. You can attach all the 200 lb barbells to it you want, but it's not going to have long-lasting results.

Slow drying of film in humid environments helps.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Never had a problem with Tri-X.

As previously mentioned, tension between the emulsion and base combined with humidity levels is what makes film curl. You can attach all the 200 lb barbells to it you want, but it's not going to have long-lasting results.

Slow drying of film in humid environments helps.

I think the heart of the problem/solution is relative humidity.

Steve

 

[aldevo]

What they said => archival storage pages will do the trick.

Steve

Not necessarily.

Last evening I attempted to scan some BRF 200 120 film strips that had been stored in archival sleeves, in a full binder, under two hefty phone books since 2005.

That strip was just as curly as the day I dried it.

I suppose you have to admire that sort of persistence.

My 400TX 120 negs stored in the same binder, on the other hand, which had some curl after drying seemed to be perfectly flat.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I suppose you have to admire that sort of persistence.

No, I neither admire the persistence nor like the curling.

Please feel free to have an opinion counter to mine. [You can keep to curling too, please. ]

Steve