Washing and wetting agent advices

[lecep]

Hello,

I might be one of the easiest part but i still can't get it right. Please check the sky on this picture to understand my problem: http://www.pbase.com/hrodez/image/133842671
Film is foma 100, devellopped in R09
My procedure is (with jobo tank- 2509n reel) :

- I empty the tank of remaining chemicals
- Film is washed with continious water during 10 min at 20 c
- I agitate the reel up and down inside the tank (still with water runing from the tape) to force remaining chemicals out during 5 min-
- i add 3 drops of wetting agent and agitate 2 min
- i remove the films and set them to dry in a durst t100 during approx 30 min at max heat.

This gives great results with 135...and horribles with 4x5. What is wrong here?

Thanks for your advices

[Ari]

I wash for about 8 minutes under running water, then empty the tank of all water.
I then fill the tank with clean, filtered water, add a few drops of wetting agent, and agitate for about 20s.
Then I hang the film to dry in a non-heated room.
From pre-soak to hanging, my film is wet for a total of 19 minutes (+/- 1 minute, depending on developing time with different emulsions).

I would suggest you reduce your wet time wherever possible, and perhaps see if your t100 is set too high. You could reduce the temperature by a half, and still have dry film in a convenient amount of time.
And maybe inspect your 35mm film very closely to make sure that the results are indeed great

[Brian C. Miller]

What is happening is that the water is drying on the film. Dry the film without heat.

The tank for the 2509 isn't too good for washing film. Use a hypo clear solution, and then wash for about five or six minutes with three exchanges of water. I have the Jobo hose wash accessory, and there is nothing to keep the water flowing directly over the film like the roll film tanks. I suppose that I could get a round piece of plastic cut to direct the water onto the film, but without that it will just go up the center without doing anything.

[Nathan Potter]

I'd guess Brian is correct. Never allow rinse water to evaporate on the film surface. Even if it is filtered and deionised it will leave a residue. The residue will contain dissolved salts and organic material to a greater or lesser degree depending on how thoroughly you remove the processing chemistry or the cleanliness of the rinse water.
At the end of the process use water as clean as you can get your hands on with a few drops of uncontaminated photoflo. The idea behind the photoflo is to sheet most of the volume of remaining water off the surface of the film leaving volumetrically little left to evaporate and hence little residue remaining in water spots on the film surface.

As they say - "cleanliness is next to godliness" when processing film.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[cyrus]

Do a final rinse using distilled (not "spring") water. There's no need to apply heat. The fact that the roll film comes out fine while sheet film doesn't suggests that you don't hang up the sheet film to dry like you do the roll film?

[lecep]

OK, thanks for your answers.
I took another look at my films and there is no white residue as when I was not using wetting agent, it looks to be inside the emulsion.

However, I will try to cut washing with some hypo clearing agent and demineralised water. I will also dry the next batch colder.

Also, would it make sense to rinse briefly after using wetting agent to remove the excess of it? My film feels fat when i hang it, maybe there is too much of it?

One last thing: anybody squeezing the sheets after washing like with 135?

[dsphotog]

I'd try re-fixing that neg, with constant agitation. It might clear the blotches, then wash etc.
& yes, use distilled water with wetting solution, for the final rinse.

[cyrus]

If your film feels sticky and "fat" then yes you're probably using too much wetting agent. If you use distilled water for a final bath and hang up the negatives to drip dry there is no real need for wetting agent. I've noticed that half of one drop for 3 rolls of film in a developing tank is more than sufficient.

[Richard Wasserman]

I don't know if it's available in Norway, but I find that Edwal LFN is much better than Kodak Photoflo. Switching brands solved a similar problem I used to have.

[lecep]

I got the solution: I use a single drop of wetting agent (from foma) and dry 15 min cold, then 20 at full heat.
I still have som tiny traces on the edge of the film but it is ok.

Thansk for you advices!