Marks on Negatives

[howie1]

<p>I have recently begun processing my own films and somehow I keep managing to mark them. I'm not sure at what stage I am doing this though. My fingers aren't yet overly nimble at rolling the film onto the spool so it takes me one or two attempts to get the negative onto the bearings so the spool will then roll. Also I'm not sure about what sort of pressure to apply when squeegying the negatives. The image below is one that I have made a print of and you will see a line through the middle of it which is incredibly straight so I would like to know what may I be doing wrong. So far I have used microphen and rodinal developers.</p>

<p>The below image is a scan of a print I made yesterday. It was on Adox CMS20 and processed in microphen.</p>

<p><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4617898503_fe460c4b38_b.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="667" /></p>

[bob_sunley]

<p>Don't squeegee the negs, rinse with distilled water and photo flo at roughly half strength and let the rinse run off. Possibly there is a piece of grit embedded in your squeegee.<br>

The line could be from your camera or the above. Look at the neg to see if the line is on the back or the emulsion side.</p>

<p> </p>

[chris_waller]

<p>I never squeegee. In the past I have tried every device and every method and they have all scratched the negs sooner or later. Correct use of wetting-agent will avoid the problem. I use either Paterson Acuwet or Tetenal Mirasol wetting-agent. By trial and error , determine the minimum amount of wetting-agent necessary to disperse the water. If you have a film dryer then allow the film to hang for as long as possible before switching on. I have found from experience that this gives the cleanest negs. Some people recommend making the final rinse with wetting agent in distilled water. I just use ordinary mains water and I have no problems with marks on the negs, and I live in a hard-water area.</p>

[howie1]

<p>Thanks very much Bob and Chris. I know it isn't the camera as negs I have had processed at camera shops have been clean, it is only since I have started processing them myself (last two weeks) that marks have been appearing. Thanks for the advice.</p>

[dennis_oconnor5]

<p>My guess, for what it's worth. It's a piece of grit on whatever you are using to wipe the film OR maybe a piece of grit in the felt light trap on the film casette. If you store your films outside of their plastic container or you are loading the camera in a dusty atmosphere that could account for it. You did not say whether you load your own film from a bulk spool.</p>

[frank.schifano]

<p>I'm gonna tell you exactly what Chris and Dennis already wrote. DO NOT use a squeegee. That's asking for trouble. Get some Photoflo and use either distilled or well filtered (I have a 1 micron in-line filter attached to the tap - works fine) water to dilute it down to working strength. The recommended 1+200 dilution ratio is often too strong. 1+400 works with my water supply, you'll need to figure out what works for you. It's fairly straightforward. You want to use only enough Photoflo to make the water sheet off the film instead of beading up and no more. Since Photoflo is nothing more than a specialized detergent, if you use too much it will foam and you don't want that - makes more problems than it solves.</p>

[howie1]

Thanks for the responses everyone, all very helpful. I'll see how I go with the next batch I develop. Again thankyou all.