Which 120 films dry flattest?

[benderscameracorner]

[snip] it can be curly if you don't let it hang with a weight for a few days. I've never needed a glass carrier with it.

Hmmm, I wonder if that's the key? I generally just let my film dry overnight (or at least until I need to use the shower, lol!)

Interestingly, I don't seem much if any difference in curl between fresh and 20-30 year old rolls of Ilford films. I've been mixing up rolls (35mm and 120) of new-in-the-box Pan F with stuff dated from the mid to late 2000s lately, you're actually hard pressed to tell which is which from the negatives.

 

[brian steinberger]

Any recommendations for the thickest 120 b+w film would be appreciated

I just started using TMY again after years without. I normally shoot HP5. The TMY is a tad thicker IMO.

 

[Sirius Glass]

As an experiment I bought a few rolls of 120 Foma 400 film. It dried with a bad enough curl that I had a hard time getting the strips into a Print-File sleeve, even when I cut off the corners. The ambient conditions and process were the same as when I develop my usual 120 Kentmere 400 which dries a lot flatter. Does anybody here have enough experience with different 120 films to comment on which are the best and the worst as regards drying flat?

You are letting the films get too dry, so they tend to curl. If you hang film to dry and a shower stall after a steamy shower, the film will not completely dry out and it will lay flat.

 

[Rick A]

Hmmm, I wonder if that's the key? I generally just let my film dry overnight (or at least until I need to use the shower, lol!)

Interestingly, I don't seem much if any difference in curl between fresh and 20-30 year old rolls of Ilford films. I've been mixing up rolls (35mm and 120) of new-in-the-box Pan F with stuff dated from the mid to late 2000s lately, you're actually hard pressed to tell which is which from the negatives.

Foma 100 developed Saturday May 23, pulled the weighted clip for the photo. Slight cupping, dead straight lengthwise.

 

[abruzzi]

Foma 100 developed Saturday May 23, pulled the weighted clip for the photo. Slight cupping, dead straight lengthwise.

View attachment 399555

wow, Foma does not do that for me, even if I hang it with a weight for a week. It is so curly it is genuinely difficult to insert into printfile sleeves. I swore off Foma 120 for this reason alone (I really like Foma 100). What kind of environment are you in? I live in the desert with very low humidity. My home has central air and central heat, so temps in the house range from 68-77 depending on time of year.

(I do use Foma a lot in sheet film since it doesn't have curl issues.)

 

[Rick A]

wow, Foma does not do that for me, even if I hang it with a weight for a week. It is so curly it is genuinely difficult to insert into printfile sleeves. I swore off Foma 120 for this reason alone (I really like Foma 100). What kind of environment are you in? I live in the desert with very low humidity. My home has central air and central heat, so temps in the house range from 68-77 depending on time of year.

(I do use Foma a lot in sheet film since it doesn't have curl issues.)

Maybe due to the RH in my dark room, Usually around 60-65%rh.

 

[thinkbrown]

I'm in the same boat. I've tried drying in my living room where it's dry, the bathroom where the air is still and generally more moist, I've never had results that flat from foma

 

[John Wiegerink]

I've hung it vertical, horizontal, upside down and right side up and have never had it come out flat. I will admit that it is sometimes better than other times when it comes to curl, but never ever flat.

 

[qqphot]

Tmax and Delta films have been the flattest in my experience.

 

[abruzzi]

Maybe due to the RH in my dark room, Usually around 60-65%rh.

It’s rarely above 20% in the area I live, and frequently lower. I should try hanging a roll in my bathrooms, and take excessive showers to see it it affects the curl.

 

[John Wiegerink]

It’s rarely above 20% in the area I live, and frequently lower. I should try hanging a roll in my bathrooms, and take excessive showers to see it it affects the curl.

I'd rather take a shower with my wife, but some folks might prefer showering with a roll of film I guess.

 

[thinkbrown]

I'd rather take a shower with my wife, but some folks might prefer showering with a roll of film I guess.

 

[John Wiegerink]

View attachment 399619

Because my wife just barely lets me in the shower with her. If I were to drag a roll of film in, both me and the film would be lying on the bathroom floor.

 

[MattKing]

Moderator hat on:
That will be enough of that guys.

 

[John Wiegerink]

Moderator hat on:
That will be enough of that guys.

Sir, yes sir! 🫡

 

[Slixtiesix]

The Agfa Aviphot films, which are sold under various brands, dry nicely flat, as they are polyester based. Even better than Kodak and Ilford, without saying the latter are bad.

 

[Sanug]

This is not my experience. Adox HR-50 (which is a somehow modified Aviphot 80) curls more than any other material.

 

[loccdor]

This is not my experience. Adox HR-50 (which is a somehow modified Aviphot 80) curls more than any other material.

I haven't found the Scala 50 I've been processing notably curly.

 

[abruzzi]

Its kind of funny--there are a lot of completely opposing experiences on this thread. That suggests that either people are having experiences from different batches of the same film (the outside turns of the master roll aren't as sharp as the inside turns, maybe?) or its partly environmental or process.

 

[John Wiegerink]

I can work around a little curl from some films that I use, but when a film has heavy curl and cupping on top of that it makes for more than a little cussing. My little curl is a big curl to somebody else and my big curl could be a little curl to other folks. That might explain the difference people see in the amount of curl.

 

[john_s]

It seems that there are varied experiences.

Humidity seems to play a part, and rapidity of drying.

I wonder if the tanning and hardening produced by pyrogallol and pyrocatechol developers affects curling? Would an acidic fixer harden more than a more neutral one?

 

[qqphot]

It seems that there are varied experiences.

Humidity seems to play a part, and rapidity of drying.

I wonder if the tanning and hardening produced by pyrogallol and pyrocatechol developers affects curling? Would an acidic fixer harden more than a more neutral one?

Even better, since the tanning is proportional to developed density, pictures of brightly lit scenes should curl more than pictures of dark scenes!

 

[thinkbrown]

Maybe a somewhat "water is wet" observation but I also suspect film age plays a part in some emulsions. Definitely doesn't affect all the same way though because I've got some 2023 expired tmax that still dries flat as can be

 

[Rick A]

It seems that there are varied experiences.

Humidity seems to play a part, and rapidity of drying.

I wonder if the tanning and hardening produced by pyrogallol and pyrocatechol developers affects curling? Would an acidic fixer harden more than a more neutral one?

I use HC-110 and PMK, same results.

 

[Fuji_Bro]

The worst film curving and curling I know of is when desperate students adjust the humidistat on the film drying cabinets in effort to get their negatives dry more quickly. One student will find their negatives had been caused to curl by another student cramming 15 hours of work after 2 am to have dry-mounted fiber prints for an 8 am critique. Argument ensues. Accusations fly. Someone gets drowned in the print holding bath. All because of removing moisture too quickly from the film...

Last month I used and developed 5 rolls of Neopan 100 Acros that I bought in 2013 (they expired 2015) and the tight curling made them NASTY to work with. Loading them onto reels for developing tested my ability to stay rational in front of my dog who thinks I'm a good person except when my arms are inside "the black bag".

I am donating my remaining expired Acros. Will never touch expired Acros again. Expired Acros can be recycled for all I care.

My FP4+ negatives are gangster flat when I pull them from their glassine sleeves. When I go to work with one, I smile at how handsomely heavy it seems, with gravity helping the ends of the strip bounce so the emulsion glints its graphite-shine in the light - they're my most breathtakingly flat negatives.

Of low-cost films, I remember trying rolls of Kentmere and not having curling/curving issues.