Negatives won't lay flat.

[david_wiinikka_lydon]

<p>Hi,<br>

I am new to this sight and getting back to developing my own film/prints after a very long hiatus.<br>

I just developed a couple of rolls of 35mm film. They seem to look fine, but one of them really likes to "curl up" and I can't get it to lay flat in the negative carrier.<br>

I hung both rolls of film to dry the same exact way. Both were really old (around 8 years), so I don't know if that could have something to do with it. Also, the one that is giving me problems is infrared.<br>

Is there anything I can do to rectify this?</p>

[carbon_dragon]

No anti-halation layer so even more curley. What I do is put the negatives in those plastic sheets with sleeves for 5

negatives on a line and then put them under a big flat book and let them be for a few days. That helps but they're never

going to stay completely flat.

[frank_skomial]

<p>Use professional type enlarger with negative carriers that have optical glass plates on the bottom and the top. Once you slice negative into such a carrier, between 2 glass plates, your picture will be forced into flat position as much as possible.</p>

[sumo_kun]

<p>Old film has spent a lot of time curled up in the canister so it would end up more curly. Some films are also just more curly than others.<br>

When you go to dry the film, make sure you weight the lower end to try and keep it as straight as possible. Also as David suggested, put them in the negative sleeves and weight them for a little while. Make sure the negs are completely dry before you put them in the sleeves or they will end up stuck to the plastic and be a complete mess.</p>

<p>If you are using an enlarger to print then do as Frank says and either buy or make a glass neg carrier. If they aren't available for your model, then go out and buy a couple of small sheets of optical glass roughly the size of your neg carrier and tape them together on 1 edge to make a hinge. Cut a thin piece of card out the size of the picture frame and tape that to the inside of one of the glass pieces. When you go to print, sandwich the neg in the holder with the non-emulsion side towards the card. This creates a little clearance for the film so you don't get newton rings. If your enlarger has springs to hold the carrier in place then that should be enough pressure on the glass to hold the neg as flat as you would ever need. If there are no springs, make the glass a bit woder than the carrier and use clothes pegs to close the glass up on the film. Then rest that assembly in the carrier slot.</p>

<p>If you are using a scanner, a similar holder can be made but maybe use plastic instead of glass and cut a hole out for the film so the scanner doesn't have to scan through the glass.</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>Some films are really thin and have a tendency to curl. When you were drying the film during developement, did you put a weight at the bottom of the film to prevent it from curling. Jobo sells some film weights that you can use when drying your old film. They take the curl out before the film is dry.</p>

[mjferron]

<p>Most all negatives in my experience eventually flatten out. A lot of Kodak films curl quite bad at first. Ilford and Foma products for me dry very flat. <br>

When a hanging film is dry and curled I put it back on the reel and warm it (not burn it) with a handheld hair dryer. Let it cool and it most often will flaten out nicely.</p>

[plasma181]

<p>Negatives don't "lay" flat, they "lie" flat. One trick that might work is to put the negs between plastic wrap, put them on an ironing board, cover them with a paper towel, and place a warm ( not hot ) iron on top of them for an hour or so. Obviously, test this technique with negatives of low importance first. </p>