film processing

I have no darkroom, and need to dry my film as rapidly as possible to eliminate dust spots. I once worked for a newspaper, and we used a product called Yankee rapid film dryer--soak the washed film for a minute, pull it off the reel, and almost by the time you could hang it up, it was dry. Is a similar product available nowadays, or could the same thing be accomplished by mixing photo flo and alcohol? As I recall, you didn't even have to squeegee the film. One other thing I remember: articles, particularly in Popular Photography, advocating adding a magical elixir called Crone Additive C (or some letter) to D76 for better(?)shadow detail. Is that still necessary, or do undoctored developers work best for reliability and repeatability? Thanks;C.Crosby

I can only concur with Anchell's warning in the Film Developing

Cookbook not to use such an agent on the film. There is at least one,

Tetenal's Drysonal. It is supposed to dry the film within a few

minutes. I tried it some years ago because I head the same problem

that you seem to have, but Drysonal didn't appear to solve it but

aggravate it. So my technique today is this: Final bath in

demineralized water with a trace of wetting agent (preferably one w/O

foam), spinning film in lettuce centrifuge for a minute or so to

remove any surface water, hanging the film in the shower cabin until

next morning. Works fine for me. No dust Problems at all.

 

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Regards,

Thomas Wollstein

(thomas_wollstein@web.de)

Carl, I am ot so sure that dusts spots are generally a problem. I

have a darkroom/studio combination, and for years I have been hanging

my film on a piece of wire strung from wall to wall. While the film

is drying, I am in and out of the room, have the door open, sometimes

even the window, etc...

 

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How about cleaning out a closet to hang your film, if you are having

a problem with dust?

 

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chris

Years ago, when I little money and what not, I went to Walmart and got

a clothes hanger, the one with the clear front, zipper and hangers that

you use to store clothes in, you know... a garment bag. I then pooke a

few smalls in the bottom and mounted a small hair dryer in the top.

Running a few strings tightly across the top with cloths pins worked

great to hold film. After your done with it... just fold it up and put

it on the shelf! I always had spotless film but instead of using

Photoflo, I used LFN. It comes in a small dropper bottle and all you

need is a few drops. As far as better shadow detail, I would meter for

the shadows and develop for the highlights... doing tests produced

great images by pulling the film 15%-20%... If you want higher acutance

(read sharpness) use a developer like Diafine or FX1, yes I know...

more testing but the acutance will be more favorable.

The old press guys used to use a final dunk of methylated spirit, and

I can tell you that it does work, leaving the film printably dry in

a few minutes, but it can leave drying streaks on the

negatives.<br>Rumour also has it that when really pushed, they used to

set fire to it, to burn off the meths. I only tried this on a

piece of scrap film once! The risk to film, fingers and soft

furnishings is too high, don't try it.

Thanks to all who took the time to answer my rather basic questions.

It's GOOD to find people who understand the fascination of Black and

white.C