Film Noob

[DSLR noob]

Okay, I'm taking black and white photography at my school. I've devloped a lot of crappy Arista EDU 400 film and had th esame problem I'm about to describe, but it didn't show up on the enlarger, so it never bothered me. Now, I have just developed a roll of Kodak T-Max 400 professional film for personal use and my teacher said the last step is to swirl it in a tub of photo flow for 1 minute, and hang it to dry. Now, here comes the question. I let it dry for about 30 mins and I took it home with me, I noticed the photo flow residue is on the film, as well as a few finger prints. Now, I just developed it a few hours ago, but I want to know if it is safe to wash under water with a microfiber cloth or if I have to let it "cure" or something for x ammount of day. Or will that take off the layer of photo flow altogether no matter when I wash it (what does the flow even do? the film is already developed after the fix an dI know the hypo kind of "seals" it but what about the flow?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alpha]

Well the problem is that you added the Flo in the first place to keep the water from beading up and leaving residue on your negs. So if you go rinse it in the sink or something, that's precisely what will happen. Your initial problem I believe is that you added too much Flo to your final wash, or had it on your hands when handling the negs. What you can do is find some RO water perhaps at school, or go to the grocery store and buy a jug of distilled water and wash in that. It shouldn't leave any residue. I've had this problem before with my 4x5 negs and have never had any problems re-washing (though I wash in ultra-pure water).

 

[Jeff Canes]

I had the same problem with photo flo when I first started using it, Max is right you’re using to much, now I use just a few drops in a small soup bowl, seem to work well

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56463&highlight=photo+flo

 

[DSLR noob]

Ahhh that helps, yeah, the public school system is ghetto fabulous, it just tells us to throw the spool w/ film into the tub of Photo Flo(I don't know who set up the ratio to water) and use tongs to swirl it around for a minute (I don't know how often this tub is cleaned or has its chemicals swapped). So I'll just go with the distilled water and keep the negatives in a sleeve.

 

[Helen B]

Photo-flo doesn't stop residue from drying on your negs, it just spreads it out evenly. As already mentioned, the use of reasonably pure water such as distilled or de-ionised for the final rinse will avoid the problem altogether, and make the use of a wetting agent (eg Photo-flo) unneccesary. Whatever you do, make sure that the film is well washed after fixing, and that the fixer is not exhausted. It's more difficult to wash the complex compounds formed between silver halide and fixer out if the film hasn't been fully fixed.

Wetting agent is quite difficult to remove completely by simple washing. It really likes to cling to surfaces. If you do try washing, use distilled or deionised water. Drying marks on the back of the film can often be wiped off with a bit of breath moisture and a microfibre cloth. Drying marks are more common on the film back than on the emulsion, but if you do have them on the emulsion don't try to rub them off.

Photo-flo is/was made in various strengths, and it is often used in too high a concentration. If your school is re-using it goodness knows what is in it. That's a recipe for disaster, because it relies on everyone else washing all the fixer out of their films before dumping it in the Photo-flo. Not a good idea.

Good luck,
Helen

 

[DSLR noob]

Photo-flo doesn't stop residue from drying on your negs, it just spreads it out evenly. As already mentioned, the use of reasonably pure water such as distilled or de-ionised for the final rinse will avoid the problem altogether, and make the use of a wetting agent (eg Photo-flo) unneccesary. Whatever you do, make sure that the film is well washed after fixing, and that the fixer is not exhausted. It's more difficult to wash the complex compounds formed between silver halide and fixer out if the film hasn't been fully fixed.

Wetting agent is quite difficult to remove completely by simple washing. It really likes to cling to surfaces. If you do try washing, use distilled or deionised water. Drying marks on the back of the film can often be wiped off with a bit of breath moisture and a microfibre cloth. Drying marks are more common on the film back than on the emulsion, but if you do have them on the emulsion don't try to rub them off.

Photo-flo is/was made in various strengths, and it is often used in too high a concentration. If your school is re-using it goodness knows what is in it. That's a recipe for disaster, because it relies on everyone else washing all the fixer out of their films before dumping it in the Photo-flo. Not a good idea.

Good luck,
Helen

Yeah, it gets re-used over and over and over etc. Thanks, I just fell in love with the film medium during the course, and I'm finally putting my grandfather's old AE-1 to good use. I am hoping to use film more and more. Hopefully when I go to college in the fall of 08, they'll have a better maintained dark room. I just need to a learn a bit more. I'll try and scan some of these in when I get a chance.