williamsmith

When I know I'm going to be dealing with curly film, I crank up the humidity in my darkroom/bathroom. That usually means using a space heater to bring it to uncomfortable temperatures and running the shower on hot for a few minutes. I then hang the film and weight it with a binder clip.

 

In general, I try to keep the humidity up when I'm working in the darkroom as it helps keep dust under control and does let the film dry flatter, although that comes at the expense of longer drying times. My in-date Tri-X comes out dead flat and most other in-date films survive with minimal curl, although I still get some on older films.

 

I would probably try completely rewashing the film and then hanging it to dry. Rewashing shouldn't hurt it, and should make it a lot more pliable. Once it's wet, you could also try reverse winding it onto a reel and letting it dry that way.

 

Once it's dry and cut, I usually "weave" curly film into a printfile page-i.e. I'll reverse the direction of curl in each strip. I then leave it between heavy books for a week or two. That won't cure a badly curled film completely, but will help.

 

When it comes to scanning, I'll often just go straight to glass mounting. On my V700(and I think other similar Epsons), it's possible to scan directly on the bed. I prefer using a sheet of anti-newton glass on top(emulsion facing the bed). You can also tape the film to the bed-Scotch brand Magic tape will work(do not use a generic) as will Kapton tape. Again, the emulsion goes against the glass of the bed.

by rewashing you just mean running it under water?, honestly rewashing it might help to remove some of the dust and make it workable but im just extremely paranoid about ruining the image heard a few people mention washing it ruined the image and third just put the negative between 2 books or sleeve it? also id love to reverse wind it but a lot of it was cut into singles.. i will have to try that for the rest of the roll though

yea id be interested in doing straight glass mounting but i dont have the means to do that atm something to keep in mind though thanks :)

ive read about like steaming/re humidifying the film with water at room temperature to soften it , would that work? sounds to me like it would just ruin the film but i dont know what else to try..

ok, so i tried processing a bit of this cut out about 2~ frames for testing got results from it and not to derail this thread further but,

in this i learned that go figure this film is extremely curved from being stuck in a canister the last 70~ years and a bit brittle is there a way to unstiffen this film for scanning? i have several already developed shots that i was also asked to get scanned.. they seem brittle and one is curled so badly its a roll now they are single frames but i fear they will snap if forced flat as they feel decently brittle already

As ambient temperature drops, its capacity to hold air also decreases. This is why air conditions have to have a drain on them, for example(water condenses on the coils as the temperature drops). Dehumidifiers are effectively self-contained air conditions that just recirculate the air instead of venting hot air outside. The freezer is probably the dryest place in most folks' houses.

alright, i must have forgotten that, i guess freezer it is for now

oh and one last thing, how would one go about storing nitrate film? its unlikely i am to keep it for very long given the dangers with it but could one just put this in like a freezer until i can process it for example? or would that risk damaging it? ive read nitrate film shouldnt be put in humid air and id have to guess the freezer is going to be decently humid.

Acetate based film also burns, just not as explosively as cellulose nitrate.

 

In any case, the base is irrelevant WRT processing. No film is going to catch fire when submerged in aqueous processing solutions.

 

"the reel i pulled out was pinkish in color.."

 

- That's normal. What you're seeing is the anti-halation backing that'll wash off and bleach during development.

ahhh ok thank you it was weird to me as ive never seen that color but that makes sense thanks

yea i didnt think the base mattered a lot but ive never handled nitrate film so i wasnt really positive if there was anything id need to be careful with on it

Wow...this is a question we do not see everyday.? :)

 

Thank You

yea i wasnt really expecting to get a bunch of undeveloped and unused old fujifilm. been quiet a fun challenge thus far lol

There was someone who use to post a lot of "found films" here, and as I recall he used HC110 exclusively.

 

My inclination would be HC110 B for around 6 minutes(20ºC), although you may want to go more dilute with an equivalent time to that. I consider that a "get an image on anything even if not optimum" time/dilution. You can then adjust based on your first roll. You might even clip your first roll into a couple of shorter ones and vary the development time to see where things are optimum.

 

Just be forewarned that film this old is going to be difficult to handle as the amount of curl will be viscious. Also, you're going to have a lot of base fog, and it may be worthwhile to research adding an anti-fogging agent. I've never used one, so can't offer specific advice.

 

Also, in addition to keeping your temperatures low, it's especially important to keep your temperatures consistent throughout the entire process. Modern films give us a lot of allowance in this-I've TRIED to get Tri-X to reticulate before, and could do it with water from my tap. Back when Efke was still available, it was a reminder of just how sensitive films use to be and it would reticulate with a 10-15ºC sudden temperature change. I'd want to avoid any abrupt temperature changes at all with a film this old.

hm, ok yea ive read a lot on how HC110 is good for expired stuff. ive never used it yet myself so it will be a adventure.

 

and yea i dont expect to get much out of it mostly owing the age of it all, the anti fogging agent you mentioned is interesting ive never heard of that ill have to try to look into that

 

truth be told im not even sure the film isnt already ruined. the reel i pulled out was pinkish in color so im not even sure it isnt already ruined by something. suppose ill have to develop it and see what i get

i recently got 5 rolls of fuji film from 1944~ from a family member, i discovered that this film was nitrate based as it burned when i cut and burned a small piece. accepting that i wondered how would i go about processing this? i couldnt really find any information on fuji 35mm film from this age.

 

so i figured i might try my luck and ask here. how should i go about processing this?, i dont really know what figures id use as even a starting point with this film given the lack of information i can find on it and all

 

oh and please before it is mentioned i am aware of the issues with nitrate film and how it deteriorates. i pulled one of the unshoot rolls out of the container and as best i could tell it was not brittle, nor was it discolored and deforming so i think this is OK to process. also i do know that there is a good chance i will get nothing off undeveloped film this old, but i still want to try

 

im sorry if this is the wrong section, im new to this form