Low humidty: Need moister envrioment to dry negs in?

This is not rocket science! Fill the Nikkor reel tub with stabilizer and give it a couple of minutes after the wash is done. Then hang the roll to dry as usual, and with two photo sponges wet with stabilizer and squeezed out, run these down the length of the film to remove the excess from both sides. Clip a weight on the bottom of the hanging film and let it dry in a dust free spot. I use a line strung above the darkroom sink and have no problems with drying spots.

I use stabilizer after washing with both B&W and color, although it isn't needed for B&W because silver serves to inhibit bacterial growth. Likewise it isn't needed for newer color films that have a bacterial growth inhibitor incorporated with the emulsion, but of course it does not hurt to add more. Stabilizer is photo-flo with 5 ml/l formalin added. I keep a single liter and use it until it no longer has any formalin odor, signaling that you need a new mix. Rinse out the Nikkor reel and tub with tap water.

bvy said:

There's no kit or package, but Unique Photo sells and ships all of the chemicals required -- four pieces to be exact. They work for me, and others here will testify that they work for them. Kodak doesn't market these for home use, so, yes, it can be confusing. Other people are doing different things, and that's great. I know that this works though. You'll probably have to copy and paste the links.

C-41 Developer Replenisher ($13.95)
http://www.uniquephoto.com/product/c-41-dev-repl-lorr-tm-5l-ek-kodak-xhaz-hazsp1-832-0608-8231672/

C-41 Developer Starter ($13.00)
http://www.uniquephoto.com/product/kodak-c-41-dev-starter-lorr-1-2l-6601074/

Separate Bleach and Fix ($34.00)
http://www.uniquephoto.com/product/...sing-unit-f2-for-color-negative-film-1173319/

Final Rinse ($2.95)
http://www.uniquephoto.com/product/kodak-flexicolor-sm-c-41sm-tank-final-rinse-1925254/

That said, you can buy just the final rinse and use it to supplement your Arista kit if you like. I would ditch the stabilizer entirely.

Click to expand...

Two things.
1.) At first glance this list may LOOK complicated and not worth it but trust me, it is. If I CAN make it work...anyone can.

2.) Have you tried my "salad spinner" method of keeping drying marks away from your negatives? I bought a salad spinner (to spin water off of lettuce after washing it so it won't wilt) and it works great on negatives. You just put the wet roll into the salad spinner, give the rip cord about 15 or 20 yanks and there is NO water left on the negs. then you dry them as you like (I use a Kleen-Dry film dryer)
The only difference between how this guy does it and how I do it is that I put a counterbalancing reel on the opposite side.

I don't do color dev but do live in SoCal where it's very dry and my negs curl... unless I hang a squeezed out washcloth next to the film in my makeshift drying cabinet. The washcloth water slowly evaporates into the air and gets the relative humidity closer to where it should be, and I don't have to worry about my 2 small kids finding and playing with my negs in the bathroom.