negative cabinet alternatives..

[john_p]

I've been having trouble keeping my B+W negatives in good shape.

First off I keep finding scratches and I can't figure out where they

came from since my negatives go right from processing into sleeves

and into the enlarger. Which brings on another questions of how to

best clean them, but I can probably find that in the archives. My

actual question and second problem is dust drying into the gelatin. I

realize that the best solution to this problem would be a heated,

filtered negative cabinet. Unfortunately I've just built my darkroom

and bought a new camera and can't afford another multi-hundred dollar

piece of equipment right now. I was thinking that perhaps I could get

a home air filter type thing and put that in a bathroom and dry the

negatives there. Would that be a good solution? Any other

suggestions? Thank you!

 

<p>

 

-John

[ulrik_neupert]

I dry my B+W negatives in the bathroom where there is not much dust.

Before hanging them into my shower cabin I put them into a Tetenal

Drysonal bath which contains alcohol and then wipe it off. So the

negatives dry very fast and there is not much time for the dust to

accumulate on the surface.

[s_p]

I once thought a really good idea would be to hang the negatives

in one of these zip up plastic garment bags that are designed to

hold your whole wardrobe for storage. These bags have an

internal frame (to keep your negs from brushing up against the

sides of the bag) and a rail built into them to hang the clothes

hangers on; you could clip your negatives to the rail with

clothes pins.<p>

The problem with this was that my garment bag was not long

enough; for economy's sake I shoot 36x rolls in 35mm. So now I

keep clothes in it instead. Perhaps one could find a longer

garment bag. I haven't had a lot of dust problems recently

because I try to keep my work area fairly clean.<p>

If your film is getting scratched and marked in drying, perhaps

the film is rubbing together as it curls in drying? I have found

that when film drys, the outer edges dry before the center and

the emulsion side drys much slower than the non emulsion side.

Due to this uneven drying, the negs can curl and coil A LOT. If

you are hanging them with clothes pins on a line, maybe they are

rubbing together? Try hanging them further apart and hang a

heavy clip on the free end.

[gene_crumpler6]

Ulrik:

 

<p>

 

Where do you order the Tetenal Drysonal Bath?

[lightcraftsman]

While your negatives are washing go into the bathroom and run some

scalding hot water through the shower. The steam will help remove dust

from the air. Use some photoflo on your negatives. Hang them in the

bathroom and make everyone in the house use a different bathroom while

the negatives dry. Use an electric space heater under the negatives if

you have only one bathroom or want your negatives to dry faster.

[scott_eaton]

One pro-lab I worked at was a dungeon in all respects and had

marginally less dust than a wood-chipping factory, but my daily batch

of 35mm and 120 B/W film was always spotless and preferred over the

forced air dryed runs of C-41 and E-6 by our spotting gals.

 

<p>

 

Why? Because I would squeege it along with our veteran B/W guru. The

less time film has to dry the less chance it has to get dust imbedded

in the emulsion. In a decade of doing an average of a dozen rolls of

various formats a day I never scratched a one.

 

<p>

 

As per my experience no combination of wetting agent or Glycerol

based stabilizer in an oven could match the clinical perfection of a

good squeege technique and a quiet, settled room. Forced hot air in

even closed dryers moves dust off settled surfaces, and this spells

trouble for neg spots.

 

<p>

 

The bathroom/steamy shower idea will work, but you still have the

problem of your furnace kicking on and blowing dust in your "home-

brew" clean room. :^) and this still doesn't prevent you from

squeeging the film first.

 

<p>

 

//scott

[gene_crumpler6]

I think I'm going to try a bottle of good Russian Vodka as a quick

drying agent to minimize negative hang time! I'll let you know how it

works out!

[tony_doucet]

As it happens, I have tried the Russian Vodka technique with some

success. My method is as follows:

1. Carefully measure 2 ounces of Vodka

2. Add to this 2 ounces of tonic

3. Pour the mixture slowly into the photographer

4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 at intervals

This method, of course, does nothing to speed the drying of film but

does make the passage of time somewhat less noticeable.

[simon_kemp]

John,

 

<p>

 

I use one of those garment bags (as mentioned by Stefan) for drying

my films. It's like a nylon fabric 'wardrobe'. about 1ft by 1 1/2

foot and around 5 foot long with a full length zip.It's meant to

hang from a clothing rail and has an internal rod to put your

coathangers on. I took out the internal rail (it was too thick to

hang film clips from and replaced it with a thin metal rod. I cut a

piece of plywood the same size as the bottom of the 'wardrobe'

screwed timber battens on the bottom edges to lift it clear of the

bottom and fixed a light bulb fitting to the top of the plywood.

I ran the cable for the light bulb fitting out of a small hole I

made under the zip. I used a 100 watt bulb which provides a

steady stream of warm air. I then hung the whole thing up from a

metal hook into a ceiling timber. I shoot mainly 120 so the depth

of the wardrobe is not a problem. For my odd roll of 36 exp. 35mm

(24 exp. length is OK)I have to cut the film in half (two strips of

18 exp.)and use those weighted 35mm 'clips' which have two tiny

hooks and clip into the 35mm film sprockets. The top of the film

is clipped to the metal rod in the normal way. Since I am chopping

the 35mm into sixes anyway, it's no problem. Film drying takes about

40 minutes) depending on ambient air temperature and number of rolls

 

<p>

 

I got my hanging wardrobe from IKEA (do you have these furniture

stores in the States ?) for #10 and it has a small mesh patch at

the top back which I guess helps to vent the air out. It works great!

 

<p>

 

Good Luck,

 

<p>

 

Simon Kemp,