Presoaking

[oriecat]

What's the deal with presoaking the film before dev? What's it do?

 

[ksmattfish]

I prefer the term pre-wetting, I don't leave it in the water long enough to "soak". Prewetting the emulsion helps avoid air bubbles sticking to the film when it's in the developer, which would cause spots of uneven development. I've also heard that it helps the developer evenly coat the film right away, also helping avoid uneven development.

 

[oriecat]

Thanks Matt. Do you use a specific time or just fill with water and dump? I hadn't really ever thought about it until today when I was looking at a chart Will sent me a long while back and saw that he had presoak for 30 sec on it... So it definitely sounds like a good thing that I should start doing.

 

[motcon]

my pre-soak is for 30 seconds continuous agitation. it will also remove some nasty layers on kodak film (water may run purple after the soak). to Matt's point, it helps with development.

 

[oriecat]

Thanks Will

 

[motcon]

Thanks Will

my plzr