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

[agenkin]

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]

I guess I personally wouldn't. I wold think that the emulsion would soften. But I'm not a chemist!

 

[Ian Grant]

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]

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

 

[agenkin]

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

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.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

No.

 

[naeroscatu]

I left the film to dry overnight, but it fell and got wet, so I decided to rinse and dry it again.

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.

 

[agenkin]

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

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

What's so bad about 100MPH

Well, it's just too damn slow!

 

[dpurdy]

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.

 

[FilmIs4Ever]

Well, it's just too damn slow!

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 ;-)

As much as I *want* a film-themed vanity plate, problem with that is it makes you easier to spot

 

[Maris]

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]

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

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

 

[clayne]

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!

 

[dancqu]

After PhotoFlo I employ an eight blade
film squeegee. Film dries fast. Dan

 

[Elapid]

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.

 

[Matthew Gorringe]

Could you use hardener if you really had to do it?

 

[Tom Stanworth]

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]

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 ;-)

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

 

[FilmIs4Ever]

Actually it's only 108MPH, +/-10% at that speed. So it is possible that that is only 98MPH (158KPH)

 

[tim_bessell]

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!

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.