Stupid question about negs and squeegee...

Patrick Latour · Apr 3, 2007

I am doing 135 and 120 films. I hang them to dry and use a squeegee to remove the water. I do not use any hardener. I usually develop with DDX or Ilfosol S. My problem is that each time I use the squeegee, it seems to do a scratch all the way on the strip. I double checked my squeegee to make sure it clean. Any one has a "trick" to remove the water without scratching the strip?

jstraw · Apr 3, 2007

A surfactant and gravity is my choice.

removed account4 · Apr 3, 2007

Patrick Latour said:
I am doing 135 and 120 films. I hang them to dry and use a squeegee to remove the water. I do not use any hardener. I usually develop with DDX or Ilfosol S. My problem is that each time I use the squeegee, it seems to do a scratch all the way on the strip. I double checked my squeegee to make sure it clean. Any one has a "trick" to remove the water without scratching the strip?

hi patrick
i have never used a squeegee because of your experience.
i just use photo-flo ( a few drops in the tank/tray that i process the film in )
and let the photo flo do its thing. i have seen people hang film ( after doing
the photo-flo thing ) and then dip their index+middle fingers into the same water with PF and gliding their fingers down the film as if they were a squeegee. they never had scratches or anything like that ...

good luck!
john

lee · Apr 3, 2007

I shake the film several times while it is still on the reels and I use photo flo and then I remove the film from the reels. After the film in hung up to dry DON'T touch it again until it is dry. Throw the film squeegee away.

lee\c

Marv · Apr 3, 2007

I use photo flo on 35mm. 1 drop, 1 drop only, to 1 litre of water (it is nasty stuff if over used leaving a oily film that's worse than water drops). Stir well and put the film and reel in long enough to wet it, a few seconds. Hang to dry. With 120 and up I just hang to dry, no photo flo. That being said, this works with Iford and Kodak. I have some Arista 4X5 that likes to spot, go figure. There's always a catch it seems!

thebanana · Apr 3, 2007

Lee is right, throw the squeegee away. I often run the film through my fingers with no ill effects. The others are right about not overdoing the photoflo. For best results use distilled water for this process.

FWIW Be careful of the type of squeegee you use for getting excess water off paper as well. There's nothing worse than turning on the lights to find scratches across your prints because of a crappy squeegee

KOG · Apr 3, 2007

I suggest using something like Photo-flo or Edwal LFN, and then while the film is still on the reel - vigorously shake the reel to get the most liquid off the film as possible. Then hang the film up to dry.

Kevin.

Sparky · Apr 3, 2007

fingers.

Steve Smith · Apr 4, 2007

Sparky said:
fingers.

Me too. I used to scratch films with a squeegee, now I take off the excess water by passing the film between two fingers and then let gravity and evaporation do the rest. I also try to shake off as much as possible whilst the film is still on the reel.

Steve.

Roger Hicks · Apr 4, 2007

Steve Smith said:
also try to shake off as much as possible whilst the film is still on the reel.
Steve.

A salad spinner is good for that too.

Cheers,

R.

Daud · Apr 4, 2007

I use De-mineralised water or Distilled water and a drop (eye dropper size) of Photo-flo per litre: soak film Off!!! reel (Photo-flo will build up on reels and eventually make them stick – until I was advised of this I had no end of problems with loading film).
Hang to dry without touching film.

Ho and no question is stupid - if you do not ask you would never know if there is a better way of doing things.

rst · Apr 4, 2007

Usually people do not believe me with my technique, but I never got a scratch on my negs by using this: I do the last bath in deminaralized water and then I use Ilfotol or Tetenal Mirasol. Then, when the negatives are hung up I use a kind of small folded paper towel (not a tissue) to remove water from the negs. The paper towels I use do not fuzz and the negs are dry within 30 minutes, maybe sooner. The sooner they are dry the less is the chance to have dust in the emulsion. That is how it works for me. The only time I had a scratch on the negative was when I did not use a paper towel but my fingers. Fortunately the scratch was not on the emulsion side of the negative. If you give this a try, then do not use an important film to test your paper towels

ciao
-- Ruediger

ijsbeer · Apr 4, 2007

photo-flo and my assistant Mr Gravity wil do an excelent job to dry my negatives properly. I always clean my negs with an anti static cloth before they go into the enlarger. This way i've got minimal dust marks on my print

cheers,

Patrick Latour · Apr 4, 2007

Thanks all for you answers, fingers and photo flo seems the way to go. I never heard of photo flo before. Will give it a try for sure. One thing I know know is I have to put my squeegee in the trash.

photobum · Apr 4, 2007

I too use thinned photo-flo for roll film. When your ready to move up to sheet films, keep them in the hanger then use a trigger powered spray bottle of distilled water.

Jon Shiu · Apr 4, 2007

Hi, I use a strip of folded photo wipes (the green kind) to squeegee. You pinch it on either side of the film and move it down very slowly. So that the film does not come off the line, fold the end over the line and secure with clothepin. The photowipe absorbs all the water droplets. I don't like to get any photo flo in my tanks due to foaming.

Jon

jstraw · Apr 4, 2007

I use a Yankee sheet film tank for photoflo.

nicolai · Apr 4, 2007

Another vote for surfactant, shaken reels, and fingers.

Monophoto · Apr 4, 2007

Even fingers can scratch film - a bit of grit, rough skin during the winter.

My solution is photo flow, hang to dry, and be patient.

patrickjames · Apr 4, 2007

i am surprised noone has mentioned Edwal LFN. I never had any luck with photo flo. It always left streaks in on the film that had to be cleaned off. LFN never does this. I just put a few drops in the tank and fill it with filtered water. Negs are always crystal clear.

As an aside, I believe you should never touch your film with anything. One scratch because you are impatient and all your hard work is gone. It is worth the wait to have perfect negs.

Patrick

Bob F. · Apr 4, 2007

Do not over-do the wetting agent. Almost fill the tank with distilled water and drop a few ml of the wetting agent in. Leave the film to soak (do not agitate vigorously ) for 5 mins and then remove it, shake the water off the reel and remove the film and hang up to dry.

I have used a squeegee in the past without problems (wash it in running warm water immediately before use, dip in the wetting agent, shake it and wipe the hanging film) but even though I never had a problem, it made me nervous every time so I rarely use it now...

Good luck, Bob.

PatTrent · Apr 5, 2007

lee said:
I shake the film several times while it is still on the reels and I use photo flo and then I remove the film from the reels. After the film in hung up to dry DON'T touch it again until it is dry. Throw the film squeegee away.

lee\c

This is exactly what I do also. It's all I've ever done since 1975 and I never, ever, have scratched a negative drying film this way. (And I don't use a hardening fixer either ). Nor do I ever get drying spots on my film, as I always use distilled water with the Photo Flo (or Ilford equivalent).

darinwc · Apr 5, 2007

Anything moving over the film can pick up a peice or dust or grit that will scratch the film.

I wash my film completely in distilled water.
Then I hang to dry without wiping them at all. The distilled water drys completely off without leaving any rings or hard water stains etc.

Sometimes I wash the film in tap water, then rinse in distilled water before drying.

The photo-wipes work well, but I found the dry wipes tended to stick on the film sometimes.

radiantdarkroom · Apr 5, 2007

The film squeegee is just dry time enhancer(takes less time). Get a new squeegee if you want to shorten your dry time. Putting your fingers in photo-flo is fine but remember photo-flo is a chemical so don't rub your eyes or suck on your thumb until you have rinsed off your fingers. The best policy is to always use distilled water with photo-flo mixed at the correct dilution and MIXED WELL.

Maris · Apr 5, 2007

An extra trick that works for me with 120 film is to pour about 500ml of diluted photo-flo down the film after the stainless steel clips are attached to its ends. The strong flow sluices away any stray grit or dust.

Immediately after the pour I hold the film up taut and at a 45 degree angle in a vertical plane. The Photo-flo solution then has to carry the grit down only a little further than the width of the film not its length. When the last of the Photo-flo has drained off the bottom edge of the film (or my arms ache too much) I hang it up until the next day.

I hate spotting dust out of photographs and can never do it well enough so that even I cannot see what I did. Since using the sluice plus 45 degree technique I've had minimal dust and can't remember where I put the Spotone.

Stupid question about negs and squeegee...

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