Is it safe to leave film in water for 10 hours?

agenkin

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
49
Location
Toronto, Ont
Format
35mm
Is it safe to leave developed and fixed film (HP5 if it matters) in a tankful of water for about 10-12 hours? What are possible problems?

I can't dry it right away, so I'm hoping I can just let it soak until later in the day.

Thanks!
 

BWGirl

Member
Joined
May 15, 2004
Messages
3,049
Location
Wisconsin, U
Format
Multi Format
I guess I personally wouldn't. I wold think that the emulsion would soften. But I'm not a chemist!
 

Ian Grant

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Messages
23,244
Location
West Midland
Format
Multi Format
Not really, the emulsion may start to soften and be attacked by bacteria in the water. You might be lucky & get away with it but you'rse taking to big a risk.

If you can use your computer to post here then you are in a room where you can hang the film to dry

Ian
 

mjs

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2005
Messages
1,123
Location
Elkhart, Ind
Format
Multi Format
In the old days, that was one way to destroy negatives. Lifted the emusion right off the substrate. Modern films? Let us know what happens -- inquiring minds want to know!

Mike
 
OP
OP

agenkin

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
49
Location
Toronto, Ont
Format
35mm
Ian Grant said:
If you can use your computer to post here then you are in a room where you can hang the film to dry
Click to expand...

I left the film to dry overnight, but it fell and got wet, so I decided to rinse and dry it again. The catch is that the bath tub is a shared commodity, so it would be best if I could postpone drying it until next night.

Anyways, I guess that my wife will have to do without shower today.
 

naeroscatu

Subscriber
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
1,031
Location
Newmarket On
Format
Multi Format
I left the film to dry overnight, but it fell and got wet, so I decided to rinse and dry it again.
Click to expand...
As stated by others leaving film in the water overnight is not a good idea.
If you say that film still feels wet after being hanged to dry overnight then you have a problem, the room is not ventilated enough (I assume you try to dry the film in the bathroom where humidity in the air is pretty high). Find a different place to dry the film, perhaps a storage room.
 
OP
OP

agenkin

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
49
Location
Toronto, Ont
Format
35mm
naeroscatu said:
If you say that film still feels wet after being hanged to dry overnight then you have a problem, the room is not ventilated enough
Click to expand...

You misunderstood me. I do use the bathroom ,but the film gets dry pretty quickly. Today's problem is that the suction cup that was holding one end of the line, on which the film was hanging, let go, and the film fell into the tub. The tub was still a little wet, and so some areas of the film got wet again. I guess it's a bad thing that it stayed partially wet like this for the night, but there was nothing I could do about it.

So, in the morning, I had to rinse and dry it once more.

Thanks for all your replies, everyone!
 

jim appleyard

Subscriber
Joined
Nov 21, 2004
Messages
2,413
Format
Multi Format
Yes, you can do this. You can also drive @ 100MPH on the highway, but neither is a good idea.

Having said that, I did leave a roll overnight in water after a thorough fix and wash just to see what would happen. Nothing did happen, the film was fine. I don't think I'd try this with an Efke or other older style emulsion. I tried it with a newer emulsion film.
 

jordanstarr

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2007
Messages
781
Location
Ontario
Format
Multi Format
I have a bad memory and often leave my film in the water for too long. It's really bad with older, expired films and the emulsion will mark up really easily and that was just for a few hours. I've left new, fresh film in there overnight before and it was fine, but that was with 35mm. I think it's much worse with sheet film and 120 film.
 

FilmIs4Ever

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2004
Messages
377
Location
Cleveland, O
BAD IDEA!

Worse idea? 10 hours in hot water.

The emulsion will slough right off the film. Even "modern" emuslions will do this, though I personally don't see anything modern about any B&W film. . .

What's so bad about 100MPH (That's ~161kph for our non-Imperial friends.) though? It's actually nowhere near as big a deal as "Black Rob" makes it either, changing' lanes like woah, or otherwise :-D

Personally, I like to think of it as a measly 146'8"- (or ~44.7m) /sec.
 

dpurdy

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2006
Messages
2,673
Location
Portland OR
Format
8x10 Format
I left a strip of 35mm agfa 100 in water over night once and the next day it was blank film. The emulsion came completely off.
 

Maris

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2006
Messages
1,565
Location
Noosa, Australia
Format
Multi Format
Film can stay wet for a long time but the emulsion gets tender.

Years ago I used to shoot Tri-X 35mm at an EI of 3200 by developing for 24 hours. The film would go on the reel, in the tank, get 30 seconds agitation in D76 1+3 at room temperature and then get abandoned undisturbed for a day. The emulsion never fell off the film base.

That was in the days when my contemporaries were young lads with cameras and king of the hill was the guy who could push his film the furthest.
 

mike c

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
2,863
Location
Los Angeles
Format
Multi Format
agenkin said:
Anyways, I guess that my wife will have to do without shower today.
Click to expand...

Man you've got a lot of huevos my friend. My wife would wrapped that film around my nick and hanged me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

clayne

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
2,764
Location
San Francisc
Format
Multi Format
Just throw up a line somewhere else and dry it. It doesn't *have* to be in the bathroom.
 

removed-user-1

Here's something to try - make your own film dryer out of a hair dryer and a tube of some fairly heat resistant material (you also might think about putting an air filter in front of the blower end). I can't remember the name of this old product but a lot of traditional labs had them, it was basically a big heating element with a fan, and a tube the right size to hold film reels with a metal clip at the bottom to hold them in. It actually looked like an over-sized hairdryer, mounted on the wall, and would dry film in about 10 minutes. I know they stopped making the real thing about ten or fifteen years ago but I don't see why someone couldn't build one at home.

A more dust-prone method is just to turn on the hair dryer and close the bathroom door...

About lines falling down with film still attached - get a metal clothes hanger, turn the hook 90 degrees, hang it from the shower curtain rod, and clip your film onto the bottom of the hanger. Works for me!
 

Elapid

Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
37
Location
Indianapolis
Format
4x5 Format
Yes, it's a really bad idea to leave film in the water any longer than necessary for complete washing. Prolonges soaking softens the emulsion so that you are more likely to get scratches which will show up when you dry and print the film. If you soak it long enough the emulsion will come completely off.
 

Tom Stanworth

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Messages
2,021
Format
Multi Format
wow... there have been times that I have been really tired and almost left it overnight. Guess I wont be doing that!

Sometimes I have had film that has had dirt in the water (Afghanistan...) and I have had to re-rinse etc, or left for ages to try and get rid of anti-halation dye. I have done maybe 5 hours....
 

Kirk Keyes

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2004
Messages
3,234
Location
Portland, OR
Format
4x5 Format
FilmIs4Ever said:
Haha, so *you're* the a-hole in the Corvette that was racing me at 110 the other day! You made my speed regulator kick in about 5 times ;-)
Click to expand...

110 - that's all? My stock '90 Jetta goes that fast...
 

tim_bessell

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
186
Format
4x5 Format
agenkin said:
Is it safe to leave developed and fixed film (HP5 if it matters) in a tankful of water for about 10-12 hours? What are possible problems?

I can't dry it right away, so I'm hoping I can just let it soak until later in the day.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Sorry to revive this thread, but...

I can confirm that the emulsion will float right off of Arista.EDU Ultra after four days in room temp water. Just a little test with a junk neg.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…