Reticulation

[roy]

Following a darkroom mishap, I have a reticulated 120 film. I would rather it were not so and therefore wonder whether it is possible to minimise the effect by applying or soaking the film in gelatin I use for alt.process paper. Any opinions please and strengths of liquid.

 

[William Levitt]

I cannot imagine that having any effect on the structure/texture of the image. You might susceed in making the negative thicker overall, but not much more.

But it looks like it's up to you Roy to give it a shot and keep us informed. Funny though, usually there are questions from people looking to achieve reticulation and not repair it...

 

[avandesande]

Maybe you could cut off the ends and experiment before you commit your roll...

 

[David Vickery]

Hello, I am curious if you have tried this. It seems to me that since the gelatin is supposed to be optically pure, adding more would make no difference. What you need is a way to move the original gelatin back to the way it was when the film was first exposed. I don't know of any way to do that.

 

[gainer]

The worst thing about this reticulation is that the gelatin, when it cracks and shrinks, carries grain particles with it. Filling in the cracks with clear gelatin might help, but I expect that the deformation of the grain patterns would remain, with the result that the negative would still have the appearance of very coarse grain. OTOH i don't see that you have much to lose by trying.

Pat Gainer