Film Curling

eric-holmes · May 20, 2011

So, how do you keep your film from curling while drying? I just developed some 120 and hung it to dry as I always do. I weighted the bottom but now it is kind of curling inward on itself. Any tips on preventing this?

compur · May 20, 2011

You mean the long edges curling inward? What kind of film is it?

eric-holmes · May 20, 2011

Yea, the long edges are curling inward. It's rolling like you would a cigarette. It's not horrible, its just not flat. I would think you want it to be flat as possible. It maybe has a 2cm curl to it.

It's Fujfilm Neopan 100.

Pgeobc · May 20, 2011

After it has dried, cut it into strips of 3 (for 6x6) and press it flat. the curl is caused by the drying shrinkage of the emulsion layer and there is no really effective way to prevent it without marking the negatives.

Helen B · May 21, 2011

If you keep them in standard archival neg sheets they will flatten on their own - no need to press, the sheet itself holds them flat enough.

Best,
Helen

compur · May 21, 2011

Alex_Holland · May 22, 2011

Sounds like Shanghai or something haha. That stuff is horrible about that.

Jeff Canes · May 24, 2011

Maybe added more weight?

djacobox372 · May 24, 2011

Fuji neopan curls, I have the same problem. All you can do is store it in a manner that flattens it out before scanning or printing.

Alex_Holland · May 25, 2011

Just a Q... where do you guys buy your binder and sheets for MF film?

Pgeobc · May 25, 2011

"...where do you guys buy your binder and sheets for MF film?"

Freestyle.

Josh66 · May 25, 2011

B&H also has the binder boxes and neg sheets, but I do tend to shop at Freestyle more...

I just cut them up and put them in the sleeves then into the binder. After a day in there (with the weight of a hundred or so other sheets of negs on top of them) they're flat. When I start a new binder, I just wait longer for them to flatten out (since there isn't any weight on top of them). Or maybe lay a book on top of the sheet for a day.

Some films just seem to curl more than others. The only film I have personally used that dried flat was Efke KB 50 (KB=35mm, I think 120 is R), but I hear that the 120 version of the same film curls badly...