Pursing the perfect negative

[john_welton]

I just spent 9 hours in the darkroom yesterday, developed nearly 30 4x5 negs plus some roll film with contact sheets - my back is sore today :-) Mixture of Tri-X, HP5+ and Bergger 200.

 

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I noticed I'm still getting some white spotting on some of my negatives and wondering where in my technique I'm falling down. I am meticulous about loading my holders - blowing them out, putting them in sealed baggies and gently blowing them before I load them into my crown graphic. I tray process 4 - 6 at a time. I'm using PMK with water bath stop and TF4 fixer all at 72 deg, resoak in used PMK then wash in tray in softly running water for about 15 minutes, photoflow then hang on line to dry with clothes pin. I will note that I have been doing a lot of beach pictures so it could be errant sand getting on to the neg.

 

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Any suggestions on how to improve my technique?

 

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John, Charleston SC

[trevor_crone1]

John I do sympathise, for it seems that know matter how careful you are DUST always rears its ugly head. I do find however I get less dust when using roll backs (smaller surface area). I also believe a lot of the dust is from within the camera, bellows etc.

 

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Also like you I do a lot of beach photography and I try never to put the camera bag down always try to work from it hanging from the shoulder. I also keep the camera covered between shots, using a draw string stuff sack I purchase from an outdoor pursuit shop. These bags are also shower proof but do need replacing after a few years, but they are cheap.

 

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All the best,

[chad_jarvis1]

I hate dust, and I am loathe to spot.

[keith_baker1]

A wet negative hanging to dry will stick ANY dust in the air onto the

film. I now use a 'prepared' bathroom to hang the film for drying.

I turn the shower head on hot and let the bathrrom steam up bigtime -

this removes the dust in the room. I then keep the door shut and

hang the film. I do not open the door until the film is dry - since

it is soooo humid it takes overnight and I usually dab off the

hanging drops that form on the lowest corner. I now only get dust on

my negs if it was there at the time of exposure. I have also

recently moved to using Kodak single-sheet ready loads with TMX 4x5

so that the dust problem is essentially gone. I also use hangers for

film developing cause I'm concerned about one sheet corner scratching

another.

[david_f._stein]

I would agree with Keith. Overall, we should think

micro-environment-I am sure there are other techniques, but in my

hands, Ilford anti-static cloths and Ilford LFN (low foam non-ionic)

wetting agent work great.

[john_welton]

Thanks for the fine answers and my apologies for my spelling (that

was pursuing . . . ).

 

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I'm pretty sure I'm getting dust flecks at exposure not development

but do find the bathroom suggestion intriguing as well as the other

suggestions. I wish Kodak would put Tri-X in Readyloads.

 

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John

[greg_rust]

John,

 

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I thought that I would convey my procedure, not that its the best,

but that it works well and might help you. I live in the dusty west

and my wife complains about how quickly our home gets dusty. I never

dust off my Riteway film holders and they are in very used condition.

But what I do is pre soak my negatives for about 1 to 3 minutes and

use the pre soak water as the water for my PMK mixture. I started

doing this because my second Bergger negative had spots from air

bubbles on it. I hope a pre soak helps.

 

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Greg

[skygzr]

Hi John -

 

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Which beach? I'm in Charleston, too, and I've spent a lot of time

scraping sand out of my tripod. Surprised I haven't seen you out

there.....come to think of it I've never seen another photographer on

the beach with anything other than 35mm. If a spot a Crown Graphic,

I'll give a yell.

 

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I used to have the opposite problem with PMK; little black specks.

Sometimed they were smeared like miniature comets. I used distilled

water from presaok to fix, and never could figure out what caused

it.

 

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Sorry, no help on the white spots. Could there be a fungus among us?

[jim_chinn1]

First, i don't know if I would blow air on the film holders once the

film is loaded, because you will probably force any stray dust or

sand accumualted at the top of the darkslide into the film holder.

Second if the conditions are windy, do not remove the darkslide all

the way. I mark mine so i know how far to pull to expose the entire

neg, then slide it back in and put a pice of white tape on the slide

to tell me that the film has been exposed. Third I load my film

holders in the bathroom after I have run a hot shower to eliminate

dust. And finally I built a simple drying tent out of '2x'3 wood

frame from which hangs a shower curtain held in place by velcro and

has a series of wires and clothespins for hanging 12 sheets. After

washing the film i carry it in a tray with the photflo and then pull

them from the tray inside the tent, keeping the negs in the dust free

environment. This may sound totally paranoid, but it has eliminated

99% of dust spots during exposure and processing.

[richard_wasserman]

I found that the key to my dust problem was having clean film holders.

After trying anti static cloths, brushes, compressed air, etc., I

bought a small shop vacuum with a brush attachment that is about 1.5

inches wide. I now vacuum all the holders thoroughly each time I load

film, and have virtually eliminated dust on my negatives. Of course

the few dust specks I get on rare occasion still manage to find the

sky. I hope this

[doremus_scudder1]

One more suggestion that has helped me: Before you load the film into

the filmholder, tap it two or three times edgewise on the counter

(somewhere relatively distant from your holders) to remove any

particles remaining from cutting the film. Many times there are small

burrs and strings still attached to the sheets which detach upon

loading and cause pinholes. The film manufacturers are not nearly as

clean in this respect as they would like you to believe. You'll be

surprised at the pile of little black specks you get doing this that

would otherwise have been loaded in with the film. Hope this helps a

bit in the war on dust! Regards, ;^D)

[john_welton]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

 

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j