Similar to my putting a paper towel on the lowest corner of the film to draw off water. And it can draw off the excess quickly. Try it, you may like it.
If the water plus Photoflo mixture is more concentrated than the minimum needed to produce foam then there is a potential for streaks.
If the water plus Photoflo mixture dries and stops flowing down the film before all visible traces of it have dripped off the end there is potential for streaks.
Apparently no one but me does this but it seems to work:
Hang the film, as wet as possible, edge on at a 45 degree angle. Now the water plus Photoflo mixture only has to get across the width of the film not down its entire length before it dries.
And if a drying mark should appear it is on the edge of the film and not in the picture area.
I cannot give an ultimate way to wash films, but I can tell you what I do to avoid stains.
I use Reverse Osmosis water (with residual solids of 12-14ppm) for the final rinse/dip (10-15min) with as little "photoflo" (I use the Fujifilm variant) as possible in the tank - probably no more than a drop for a tank of 4 35mm rolls.
just a drop of photoflow in the final wash followed by a short rinse in distilled water. It won't get any better than that!
Shake the spirals well and hang the film in a medium humidity low dust environment (our bathroom) with no further touching.
There will be an occasional streak on the back side but never something that couldn't be removed gently with a lens cleaning cloth if it shows up on a print or a scan - I don't sweat over things I don't see in the final result.
I have also used this method with distilled water and it works the same. For a periode of time I used only a carbonfilter when I lived in a soft water area of Japan - I don't recall that I had particular problems during that period.
For the actual film washing process, I have recently started using ILFORD's recommended way for reducing water waste. (except I use only one drop of wetting agent and RO water as mentioned above). I have not noticed any changes regarding stains on my dried film following that.
If I were you, I would probably first try with Reverse Osmosis or Distilled water in place of DI water to see if that makes a difference, and only as little "photoflo" as possible just to remove the water surface tension. I personally wouldn't mess with additional chemicals.
Like you I use the Tetenal product at the recommended in distilled water and have found this approach works well. Washing is with hard tap water, as is stop bath and fixer, although I do mix developer in distilled water.I use the analogous Tetenal product at recommend dilution, but it only works with demineralised water for me (washing is with somewhat hard tap water).
Conclusion is probably that with filtered water + photoflo there shouldn't be any problems. Strange; that is exactly what I do. There is always some marks on the non-emulsion side no matter what I do.
Here is current statistics of my tap water, is there something suspicious on these?
View attachment 294812
shouldn't the Ph be closer to 7.0?
Before investing in a way to measure the quality of your tap water, check with your water provider.
Hang the film on a diagonal, as Maris mentions above
I agree with the whipping action of the film strip. Just attach the film clips to each end of the strip of negs. Hold on tight and give the film 2 or 3 whips. The larger drops of water on the non-emulsion side are driven off leaving a few pinhead sized droplets which will evaporate quickly. The emulsion side of the film should have an even layer of water still soaking the emulsion.This is what works for me, every time. Do your usual washing, then whip the film strip a little to remove excess water. Hang it to dry in a bathroom that has had the shower run for a while to get it nice and humid. Then spritz both sides of the negs w/ some distilled water from a little sprayer. Lastly, get out of the bathroom and resist the temptation to ck on things for about an hr at least.
The idea is to have the water on the negs dry slowly, and the humid environment does that. Since the distilled water was the last thing to touch the negs, no issues from that. I use the same technique w/ FB and RC prints, no more drying marks on them either.
I still get particle or dust marks even though I filter my water and solutions before use. Not too many and they clone out after scanning.
This is interesting tip. How do you do that?
What is the most ultimate way to wash and clean negatives after developing?
I've tried two different "photoflo" liquids with low concentration, normal and higher concentration. I've tried de-ionized water from optical lab. Nothing seems to end up with 100% clean negatives. The emulsion is typically really clean but the backing side has ugly streaks and dots no matter what I do.
What about keeping the negatives longer in DI-water? Or is this something to do with drying speed? Should I build drying machine?
Should I just post-clean the negatives with for example IPA or other cleaning solution?
So many questions. Please share the most effective way to wash films.
Wow that's interesting, I've only used the Ilford method but don't pause between steps. I'd go a little batty if I had to wait that long while washing so I most likely won't.Bill Troop and Steve Anchell state in the "Film Developing Cookbook" that the "Ilford method" of film washing is essentially is correct IF you add a 5 minute waiting period between tank fill/inversion and the next tank/fill.
Take it for what it is worth; I used the method for years without the 5 minute wait between tank refill and agitation with wash water and my negatives have been fine, but that is up to you.
Oops. Sorry about that but up until the dried negs are cut up and placed into protective sleeves, my points still hold.Remember this is 100% analog forum. Solution to dirty negatives is not to fix things in "post" or digitally here.
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