Squeegee film?

gareth harper · May 13, 2005

"how did you get the distilled water (now if that is a stupid question)?"

I work in a power station. We run once through boilers (no drums) so they have to run on ultra pure water. It's a 1350MW plant so we have quite a bit of the stuff kicking about.
Beware of some stuff sold as distilled water, particulary if it's marked battery top up water, sometimes they put aditives in there.
If you can find a good supply of good distilled water mix all your chemicals in it, they will last much much longer.

Cholentpot · Jun 17, 2019

To revive this old thread.

I swore off squeegees a while back but recently have had to reemploy the device.

With 35mm film or larger a few drying marks here or there can be huffed off. I started shooting and developing 110 and 16mm recently and noticed the water will not run off no matter what I try. Filtered, distilled, no matter I'm getting nasty drying marks. Out comes the squeeg. Seems to have done the job with minimal scratching. I've not scanned yet but the negative looks better than my other 16mm rolls I've done before.

koraks · Jun 17, 2019

I tend to wipe the shiny side of 35mm dry with some folded paper towel. Prevents all water spots and does not give me any scratches. I'm never ever again going to touch the emulsion with a squeegee after having tried it once or twice in the past. A total nightmare and as far as I'm concerned totally unnecessary.

Rick A · Jun 17, 2019

I stopped using a squeegee some 50 years ago. I use a mix of distilled water with a drop of Edwal LFN and a capful of 91% isopropyl alcohol, soak film for at least one minute, then (for roll film), shake the excess off while the film is still in the reel prior to hanging to dry. I haven't had spots or streaks since I learned to do this. For cut film, I just soak then hang to dry, the sheeting action of the final rinse leaves the film spotless. No Squeegees, no fingers, no sponge or wiping of any kind.

RalphLambrecht · Jun 17, 2019

Wmcgowin said:
Hi all. I am new to developing (or actually back after a long-20 yr.-hiatus).

I am having a problem with water spots on my negatives. I am using photo flo. What I want to know is whether I should squeegee my negatives as well, or do I run a risk of scratching them? I simply can't remember what I did the first time around.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

you can squeezgee film but, only use the sqeegee God gave you(running the film between teo fingers;others will scratch your film eventually.Also, use less Fotoflow than Kodak indicates;Fotoflow200 works just fine at 1+400 in a distilled water bath.

bernard_L · Jun 17, 2019

No squeegee. One speck of stuff ==> a small white spot on one frame
With squeegee. One speck of stuff ==> a white line across all the remaining frames.
Your choice.

Rick A · Jun 17, 2019

bernard_L said:
No squeegee. One speck of stuff ==> a small white spot on one frame
With squeegee. One speck of stuff ==> a white line across all the remaining frames.
Your choice.

+1

BradS · Jun 17, 2019

As Ralph suggests, (post #30 above) I only use the squeegee that I was born with.

Kino · Jun 17, 2019

Oh boy, a new dead horse to beat!

Let's see if we can keep this new thread going for several years!

Andrew O'Neill · Jun 17, 2019

Cholentpot · Jun 17, 2019

Rick A said:
I stopped using a squeegee some 50 years ago. I use a mix of distilled water with a drop of Edwal LFN and a capful of 91% isopropyl alcohol, soak film for at least one minute, then (for roll film), shake the excess off while the film is still in the reel prior to hanging to dry. I haven't had spots or streaks since I learned to do this. For cut film, I just soak then hang to dry, the sheeting action of the final rinse leaves the film spotless. No Squeegees, no fingers, no sponge or wiping of any kind.

RalphLambrecht said:
you can squeezgee film but, only use the sqeegee God gave you(running the film between teo fingers;others will scratch your film eventually.Also, use less Fotoflow than Kodak indicates;Fotoflow200 works just fine at 1+400 in a distilled water bath.

bernard_L said:
No squeegee. One speck of stuff ==> a small white spot on one frame
With squeegee. One speck of stuff ==> a white line across all the remaining frames.
Your choice.

Yes, I agree with all this.

However, there are situations where nothing else worked.

I have a full house water filter system, plus an extra activated carbon system on the kitchen sink. All the bells and whistles you can want for water. Can't get any cleaner than what I got going through my pipes (It came with the house, I'm not dropping 10k on cleaning water that's already good enough). My 35mm and 120 come out spotless.

HOWEVER.

My 16mm film - of all emulsions - does not want to drip dry without help. I've tried distilled water, distilled water with photoflow, distilled water with alcohol, distilled water with dishsoap, super double filtered water with photoflo squeegeed with fingers, super double distilled photoflo with glasses cloth, super clean distilled activated ion free ultrasounded water and anything else.

I was still getting water spots on my 16mm. Generally this is not a problem with 35mm as I would just wipe down. But 16mm is a different beast it seems. Scratches show up more prominently as do water spots. THEREFORE

I broke out the hated squeegee and gave it a nice long soak and meticulously checked the blades from any dirt. Then I rinsed the film and immediately firmly and slowly squeegeed the film. It worked. No waterspots and no scratches that I can tell came from the squeegee.

The moral is,

Sometimes methods that are terrible in 9 out of 10 cases have their niche somehow somewhere.

jedathome · Jun 17, 2019

A suggestion is to use a salad spinner.
Put in the reels after using rinse aid (3 is the best fit, for stability on the one I have, so use empty reels to fill out).
Spin all the water off.
Hang film out to dry.
Use a disposable soft cloth on the backing side to catch any residual water drops.
The emulsion side is tacky almost dry, with no water drops on.

I hope this helps.
This is not my idea, it came from an online photography forum, which quoted a German source.

Zero water marks etc, since adopting this method.

Cholentpot · Jun 17, 2019

jedathome said:
A suggestion is to use a salad spinner.
Put in the reels after using rinse aid (3 is the best fit, for stability on the one I have, so use empty reels to fill out).
Spin all the water off.
Hang film out to dry.
Use a disposable soft cloth on the backing side to catch any residual water drops.
The emulsion side is tacky almost dry, with no water drops on.

I hope this helps.
This is not my idea, it came from an online photography forum, which quoted a German source.

Zero water marks etc, since adopting this method.

I've used this for 35mm and it works fine. Did not work for 110 and 16mm.

foc · Jun 17, 2019

I have used a squeegee for the last 34 years (in commercial processing) and I never scratched one film.

The secret is to have a clean but wet good quality squeegee and the squeegee should just "kiss" the film.

NOT the normal gouging that I have witnessed some people do when trying to use a squeegee.

Also some of the products I have seen advertised described as squeegees are not fit for the job.

I agree fingers are good but a proper squeegee is better.

Cholentpot · Jun 17, 2019

foc said:
I have used a squeegee for the last 34 years (in commercial processing) and I never scratched one film.

The secret is to have a clean but wet good quality squeegee and the squeegee should just "kiss" the film.

NOT the normal gouging that I have witnessed some people do when trying to use a squeegee.

Also some of the products I have seen advertised described as squeegees are not fit for the job.

I agree fingers are good but a proper squeegee is better.

Link me to a good squeegee? Also, the only way I've found that works - at least with my squee - is a firm grip.

Agulliver · Jun 18, 2019

I was taught not to use a squeegee on negatives back in 1986 when I learned film developing in my school dark room. I guess YMMV but I was taught that the squeegee itself may be OK, but any piece of grit or other foreign object caught in it and your negs are irrevocably scratched. That has stayed with me for 33 years. I use Photo-Flo or similar (currently cut with 70% IPA) and the knowledge that *if* my negatives don't dry perfectly I can always wash them again. If I scratch them, the damage is done.

I was, however, taught that a squeegee is good for prints.

foc · Jun 18, 2019

Cholentpot said:
Link me to a good squeegee? Also, the only way I've found that works - at least with my squee - is a firm grip.

My last purchase of a squeegee was a couple of years ago and it had soft flexible blades. It was the AP brand.
You have to clean your squeegee and keep it in good condition, care for it even. It is not something you throw in the corner after use !!!!!
I have a routine for using mine. First I submerge it in a measuring cylinder of warm water (around 38C) with a few drops of ILFOTOL. After a few minutes for the squeegee to warm up, I carefully run my fingers along the blades to check for grip or nicks or anything that feels unusual. Then back into the liquid.

After the final rinse of the film and after I take the film from the reels, I draw the film through the squeegee in one smooth movement ( I keep the squeegee static).

I know a lot of people don't believe in them but this has worked for me for the last 34 years.
Remember squeegees are used a lot of the time in commercial processing either by hand or in machines, and like in any process, they have to be maintained.

Cholentpot · Jun 18, 2019

foc said:
My last purchase of a squeegee was a couple of years ago and it had soft flexible blades. It was the AP brand.
You have to clean your squeegee and keep it in good condition, care for it even. It is not something you throw in the corner after use !!!!!
I have a routine for using mine. First I submerge it in a measuring cylinder of warm water (around 38C) with a few drops of ILFOTOL. After a few minutes for the squeegee to warm up, I carefully run my fingers along the blades to check for grip or nicks or anything that feels unusual. Then back into the liquid.

After the final rinse of the film and after I take the film from the reels, I draw the film through the squeegee in one smooth movement ( I keep the squeegee static).

I know a lot of people don't believe in them but this has worked for me for the last 34 years.
Remember squeegees are used a lot of the time in commercial processing either by hand or in machines, and like in any process, they have to be maintained.

Excellent. Some real info.

I wonder how the squee will do for getting rid of REMJET. Something to look into.

So my workflow is the same other than I move the squeege instead of film. I'll try it your way next time though.

You you soak the film in Ilfotol or just the squeegee? I guess if you're squeeing doing a photoflo soak is kind of pointless...

jim10219 · Jun 18, 2019

This is the squeegee I use for sheet film. https://www.waterblade.com/us/product/superflex/

I put the sheet film against a mirror (glass would work, I just have this mirror handy), and run the squeegee down one side. It's so much softer than those old rubber squeegees people used in old days. No wonder they complained of scratches! I've never seen a scratch caused by this squeegee. Not once in all of the years I've used it. Keep it clean though, as well as your glass.

For roll film, I just use my fingers. I don't have rough skin (at least not between my fingers), so once again, scratches have never been an issue. At least not from using my fingers as squeegees. Now dirty film canisters, dirty cameras, trying to process too many sheets of film at once in a tray, etc., have all given me scratches.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jun 18, 2019

I used to used them until they scratched my negs I shot in Cambodia. Every time I print the neg, I spend time spotting out the scratch that runs across the full length of the print. When I used them, I also made it a habit of rinsing the squeegee to wash off grit. I think the rubber got hard and it scratched my neg. I use Trader Joe's kitchen cloths. The fibers don't come off on your negs.
https://www.ebay.com/i/283446826011?chn=ps

MattKing · Jun 18, 2019

Andrew O'Neill said:
View attachment 225466

Andrew,
Those high school students come up with the most amazing approaches, don't they?

mshchem · Jun 18, 2019

Best procedure is to do a final wash in 60°C water. Then using Brown Scotch Brite pads (available at your automobile paint dealer) wrap the clean virgin pad around the film and stroke it up and down until the heat of friction dries your film

mshchem · Jun 18, 2019

Andrew O'Neill said:
View attachment 225466

That looks like Ilford Delta 100. Ilford say's no need for a hardening fixer, films are pre-hardened at the factory. I use this same procedure. Now you know why I use Kodak (Tetenal ) rapid fix WITH HARDENER!

Maris · Jun 18, 2019

If the wet film dries before all the foam and bubbles have had time to run off the bottom end then marks on negatives are pretty well certain. A good squeegee is one solution to the problem but there is a safer way. Hang the film edge-on at a 45 degree angle. The foam now needs to slide across the width of the film, not its length. This takes only a few seconds and if some wetting agent should dry on the film it's out on the edge and not in the picture area.

Cholentpot · Jun 18, 2019

jim10219 said:
This is the squeegee I use for sheet film. https://www.waterblade.com/us/product/superflex/

I put the sheet film against a mirror (glass would work, I just have this mirror handy), and run the squeegee down one side. It's so much softer than those old rubber squeegees people used in old days. No wonder they complained of scratches! I've never seen a scratch caused by this squeegee. Not once in all of the years I've used it. Keep it clean though, as well as your glass.

For roll film, I just use my fingers. I don't have rough skin (at least not between my fingers), so once again, scratches have never been an issue. At least not from using my fingers as squeegees. Now dirty film canisters, dirty cameras, trying to process too many sheets of film at once in a tray, etc., have all given me scratches.

Good idea. I have one of these silicone water blades. Never thought to use it like this.

Maris said:
If the wet film dries before all the foam and bubbles have had time to run off the bottom end then marks on negatives are pretty well certain. A good squeegee is one solution to the problem but there is a safer way. Hang the film edge-on at a 45 degree angle. The foam now needs to slide across the width of the film, not its length. This takes only a few seconds and if some wetting agent should dry on the film it's out on the edge and not in the picture area.

I've read this before and don't have a clue how to do this with roll film. Also, with tiny formats (and the reason why I restarted this discussion) the edge is still the picture area.

Do you have an illustration of how to hang roll film on an angle?

Squeegee film?

gareth harper

Cholentpot

koraks

Moderator

Rick A

RalphLambrecht

bernard_L

Rick A

BradS

Kino

Andrew O'Neill

Moderator

Cholentpot

jedathome

Cholentpot

foc

Cholentpot

Agulliver

foc

Cholentpot

jim10219

Mainecoonmaniac

MattKing

Moderator

mshchem

mshchem

Maris

Cholentpot

Squeegee film?

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Moderator

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