Tips for very curly negatives?

[ColdEye]

So I am scanning some old negatives with my DSLR + copy stand. I have a few sets of negatives that are really curly. Had them under a few heavy books for a few days and no help. My current negative holder that I am using is the one from an epson v600. Would sandwiching the negative in 2 ANR glass pieces work? Can I use anti glare acrylic? Any other tips for dealing with curled negatives?

 

[Alan9940]

Man, I hope you get a few suggestions here because my EFKE 25 film curls like crazy! I've left a filled PrintFile page until heavy weight for, at least, two weeks and no help. I love this film, but the curling is hard to deal with.

 

[MattKing]

Omega D series enlarger negative holders + post-it notes to help you position the film.

 

[Denverdad]

I've learned that film curl is dependent (at least in part) on the ambient humidity. Here in Colorado where the air is typically very dry, one of my solutions for dealing with excessively curled film has been to run a humidifier in the room where I do my scanning. This worked wonders when I first tried it on one particularly troublesome emulsion that I had been struggling with (sorry I don't recall which one now), completely removing any tension in the film, making it go limp and flat. I worked out just how far I had to go with the humidity to get this to happen, and I also observed that after turning the humidifier off the curl would eventually return. Oddly enough I noticed that some films actually went the other way - i.e., when starting out flat the addition of humidity would make this emulsion start to curl. Anyway, my suggestion would be to experiment with the humidity if you can, using either a humidifier or de-humidifier as most appropriate for the environment in which you live.

 

[ArthurD]

I came across a collection of family B&W negatives (35mm) that have been stored rolled up individually inside their canisters for 35-40 years. They are all severely curled. I did not realize initially how drastic the problem was and proceeded to cut many of them into strips and put them into sleeves, thinking this would force them straight after a while. I was so wrong. Putting them into sleeves did nothing. Some of them were so curled that they would not only curl the sleeves they sat inside of, but also tear the paper of the sleeve. I them realized different measures need to be taken and placed all the sleeved films flat between large hard cover books with a large weight on top. I kept them like this for months, 3 or 4. This had NO effect on the curl.

I then took to the internet to find a solution. I was very confident there is at least one that is guaranteed to work and I was blaming myself for not doing this in the first place. Turns out there is no tried and true method that works consistently to straighten badly curled film. Some people tried heat and claimed it works, others had luck with simply keeping the films flat for a while. I did not want to cook my film in the oven, like others did, and risk to ruin it. What I did was wound the film strips onto a thin glass jar, inside which I put hot water. Not boiling hot but hotter than it would be comfortable to touch. I don't remember the temperature but I know I used a thermometer and was consistent about it. This method had some success but did not cure the curl completely. And I gave up on it because I was worried that the heat will risk to eventually compromise the emulsion, especially since the film was so old.

If you've read this far, know that in the end I tried a solution that worked for me. And it worked unexpectedly well, especially for how simple it is compared to everything else I tried. The trick that worked was rolling the films backwards with a similar tension (aiming for the same diameter of the roll) and keeping them like this for a few months. The films that were still uncut straightened up beautifully with this method. Sometimes I noticed a very moderate reverse curl, which tells me you can overdo this. I have no way of knowing how much time is enough though, so I took a chance.

TLDR: If you haven't yet cut your film into strips, roll it backwards and wait a while. If you did...well, do the same but it's going to be a lot more difficult to do it

Edit: added the film format, which I forgot to mention initially.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

The Epson V850 comes with a 4x5 holder that has and ANR glass on one side to keep it flat. The holder has two leaves that sandwiches the film between them pressing one side of the film against the glass. I suppose you can then turn the holder so the glass is on the light side and photograph the image from the other. The holder are sold by Epson parts suppliers for around $15.

Another thought is Betterscanning holders with ANR glass although I don't know if they have one for 4x5.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

There are similar Epson holders for 35mm film strips and 120 medium format. Betterscanning also has similar holders.

 

[George Collier]

I have 3 rolls from the 1940's, 35mm, that I put into printfile pages, then reverse rolled them onto a paper towel core. 20 years later, no change. I might try Arthur's final solution.

 

[ColdEye]

The Epson V850 comes with a 4x5 holder that has and ANR glass on one side to keep it flat. The holder has two leaves that sandwiches the film between them pressing one side of the film against the glass. I suppose you can then turn the holder so the glass is on the light side and photograph the image from the other. The holder are sold by Epson parts suppliers for around $15.

Another thought is Betterscanning holders with ANR glass although I don't know if they have one for 4x5.

I am going to be shooting 4x5 again, and I did not know that the holder comes with an ANR glass already. I saw some on eBay I might try. Thank you for the suggestion.