Home processing - how to wash and dry?

I have been processing b&w 35mm and 120 film in a lab for a few

years. I am now interested in saving time by processing at home.

However, I am not quite sure how to go about washing and drying

without buying a washer and drying cabinet.

 

How do you guys do it? Any problems you've run into? Solutions, tips

ideas?

 

Thanks!

 

Francois

Hi Francois,

how I do it is pretty simple:

to wash, I leave the film inside the drum, and leave it under the water tap with little rinse for 10-15 minutes (empty completely 2 or three times meanwhile). The other possibility is to use to fill the drum, shake 5 times, empty, refill shake 10 times, doubling the shakes up to no more than 40. this saves water, but is really exhausting if you do more films.

Finally use a wetting agent to avoid drop spots (use only really really small amount. overdosing is the most common problem)

then take the film out of the drum. Now comes philosophy. Some people strip water from the film with fingers, with special squeeges or don't do it at all. I don't.

You either risk scrathes or drops.

Take a clip and fix the film somwhere high, take another to the lower end to straighten. Laundry clips are ok, there are of course special film clips, my favourit are so called maulys medium size (some black tin stuff with chrome handles I get in an paper store)

Avoid rooms with heavy dust.

You might use distilled water for last rinse.

Have fun

Martin

I've been developing my b&w film at home for nearly a year now. After fixing I fill tank with water & wash for 2 minutes with constant inversion, then dump & wash with a Perma Wash solution (1+9) for 2 minutes with constant inversion, then dump & use the Ilford method as described by Martin: fill tank with water and invert 5 times, dump fill & invert 10 times, dump fill & invert 20 times. I then place the film in a beeker with photo-flo solution (1 liter water + 3ml photo-flo).

 

To dry, I've run a line in the shower of a bathroom. I'll run the shower for a couple of minutes to help absorb dust particles, then I hang my film on the line (paper clip will do), run 2 fingers along the strip to remove excess moisture (I've never had a problem with scratches or water drops) and close the curtains.

 

Works for me.

To wash, I set the open tank under the faucet and let the water run for 20 minutes or so. To dry, use the photoflow, squeegee, and hang from clip with clip at the bottom. I found that the smallest size "chip clips" from the grocery store work great for film. There's a gillion different ways to do all this, so pick what sounds good and try it.

I wash according the Permawash archival directions:

 

1 minute water

1 minute Permawash

1 minute water

 

Then 30 seconds in Photo Flo (more dilute than Kodak

suggests).

 

Then hang in the bathroom from those hangers with the clips on

them (easier than stinging a line) on the shower rod. Put two

clips on the bottom of the flim. Leave them alone (they will curl

but then straighten out).

 

No problems.

As far as drying cabinet, very inexpensive but very effective... Go to your local

Walmart/Kmart and get one of those storage/garment bags. The one that has

the the clear zipper front and has a frame on top with 3 hangers. Well, what I

did was to make a hole in the top to place a clean hair dryer and sliced a few

small holes in the bottom so the air could escape. Hang the film from the top (I

put several pieces of rope to hang alot of film inside the top of the frame) and

a roll of 40 exposure 35mm film will fit perfectly! I have dried 12 rolls at a time

with perfection. You will immedialtely find out that when you turn your hair

dryer on, the whole thing will balloon up and create a whole lot more room but

the film will blow straight down. It can be folded up flat when your done and

put away flat. It worked great for me for years until I got a regular film cabinet

given to me.

As far as washing film, just do it in the same tank. You can buy a washer hose

that has a tip on it to aerate and shoot water into the tank. I just used several

dumps of the tank, Permawash and several more dumps that worked great.

My method has already been posted by Reina, but I'll offer these two points. First, some people, the crafty ones, make a PVC drying tunnel with air filters, circulation fans, and air heaters. In this manner the film is left on the spiral. Maybe I'll do this someday. Second, I've heard some people like to hang their film at an angle, so the direction that the drying water drops move is shortened to the width of the film. Another good idea. BTW, hypo clear agent is also useful to cut washing times to the minimum. Some don't believe in it, and some do. Good luck

<p>Your chief nemesis when drying film is dust. There are several approaches to minimizing dust. Many have already been mentioned. A simple low tech method is to dry your film in a bathroom. Run hot water in a sink or shower long enough to produce a good bit of mist. Shut off the taps and wait for the mist to clear. The bathroom should be quite dust free.</p>

 

<p>- <a href="http://www.sciencething.org/photos/photos.html">Blatant Plug</a></p>

Save time? Depends what you mean. You will get hold of your negs quicker, but processing film takes time and effort.

 

Anyway washing and drying,

 

After rinsing 3 times in the tank, I force wash for half an hour in tap water. I then rinse 2-3 times with a little distilled water. After running the shower in my bathroom for a few minutes (the steam drops the dust out of the air) I hang up the film to dry with the radiator on full. I don't use wetting agents.

<p> I started developing my film again at home. First I tried drying my film in

the shower hanging it end-to-end and weighing it down with clips. The show is

closed off by a curtain. This seemed ideal.

But when the film dried it had a pretty severe arc, more like an arched bridge

from the sprocket holes on the top to the bottom. Since I am scanning my film

this bow made it much harder to close the film holder and keep the film aligned.

I didn't want to sleeve the film and press it over night to get it flat again.

</p>

 

<p> Next I decided to construct my own film drying tube using a computer fan to

speed film drying. I

could not find a short PVC tube at Home Depot since I didn't want to buy twenty

feet of it. While scrounging around Home Depot I came across an exhaust vent for

a clothes dryer. Atop the metal tube was a square plastic part that was perfect

for attaching this to the wood railing in my bathroom closet. </p>

 

<p> I had a spare 80mm computer cooling fan. Radio Shack had a 12V adapter so I

could power the fan. I bought an air conditioner filter to place atop the fan.

Using a small drill bit I put two holes into the metal tube. Through this goes a

metal pin that hold the film up in the tube while drying. The fan then goes atop

the tube. </p>

 

<p> After washing my film I reverse it on the reel so the emulsion side is now

facing OUT. The eliminates almost all the curl when the film is dry and comes

off the reel virtually flat. This is ideal for precise alignment in those

clamshell filmstrip holders for scanners. </p>

 

<p> As mentioned above I use just a few drops of Photoflo in distilled water.

The amount is WAY below what Kodak recommends. </p>

 

<p> I'm happy to report that my first roll in the new system came out

flawlessly. The film dried in about 30-45 minutes. No gunk or dust anywhere on

the negs to be found and it came off the reel flat. </p>

 

<p> Here are four images off that roll. Each image had one or two TINY spots

that took mere seconds to clone out in Photoshop.

</p>

 

<p>

<a href="http://www.jimarnold.org/images2003/show.php3?id=7"

target=_blank>Image 1</a> |

<a href="http://www.jimarnold.org/images2003/show.php3?id=6"

target=_blank>Image 2</a> |

<a href="http://www.jimarnold.org/images2003/show.php3?id=5"

target=_blank>Image 3</a> |

<a href="http://www.jimarnold.org/images2003/show.php3?id=4"

target=_blank>Image 4</a><br>

</p>

 

<b>Total cost: ~ 23 USD </b><P>

 

Vent tube - $8<br>

Power adapter - $14<br>

air filter - $1<br>

Fan - NC

I use Orbit or Hustler wash aid after a quick rinse. I give it about two minutes with constant agitation although the instructions say 30 seconds is enough.

 

For washing, I bought a film washer but hated it and tossed it out. I salvaged the hose. I attach it to the kitchen faucet and push the other end into the center of the top reel in the tank. I wash for 10-15 minutes and I dump the water a few times during that time. I then use Kodak Photo-Flo which is measured by eye. I shake off as much of the bubbles as possible and then hang the film in the bathroom to dry overnight. If I'm in a hurry, I'll use a hair dryer on low heat until the film is dry. Although I live in a 70-year-old house that has chronic dust problems, I've never had dust dry on the film.

Hey there,

 

I think you got tons of good advice on washing and trying. Everybody has is own little secret. Usually they all work and there is no need to spend too much money.

 

After washing I often use some diluted toner to get a longer life out of the negatives. I squeeze the water drops off with my fingers and i hang tje films in the bathroom, where I had the hot water runnung for 10min, so the air is all moits and the dust goes down with the water drops. Very rarely I have dust in the emulsion, only later when the film is already dry. But I can blow that off. Don't use the squeeges. I ruined my first films scratching them.

 

Take care,

 

DiVie

According to Ilford's film chemists, who I assume know something about the subject, inversion washing is several times more efficient than stream washing. 5, 10, 20 and 40 inversions will give you archival quality and use a lot less water. It doesn't take long and gives you some healthy excercise into the bargain. :-)

 

I find that a dining room is the best place to dry film if you don't have a dedicated film cabinet. There's a lot less dust in there than anywhere else in the house.

Sorry I'm late to this, but if you have a Paterson tank, you can get their nifty force film washer that connects to your tap:

<p>http://adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=details&sid=105120973071394090&sku=PAFWH

Ditto most of the other folks using their bathrooms and cheapo solutions:

 

1. Wash in the tank via three or four refills and agititation, per Ilford method. Saves water, works great;

 

2. Distilled water with Photo-Flo in the tank as a final step (not too much agitation or you'll get pesky bubbles). I reuse premixed Photo-Flo in distilled water for a few rolls of film or up to a couple of weeks, whichever comes first;

 

3. Stretch the film diagonally between the shower curtain rod and a wall hook so the water flows downward along the lower edge. I use hemostats to clamp the film firmly - ordinary film clips won't hold the negs securely enough for this technique.

 

I run a HEPA filter full time in the spare bathroom where I do my processing so dust usually isn't a problem. This is also the laundry room, tho', so I don't process or print on laundry days - the room needs a day for the dust to settle.

Solution #412:

in your darkroom or in the room of choice, mine is the bathroom, preferibly the tub, I use a spray bottle a and wet down every thing slightly, this increases the humidity some but it seems that the film dries quicker this way for some reason. I also use the same idea where I dry my prints. Have little problem with dust.