Film Cutting Techinque Questions

[jetcode]

I tried cutting film tonight and had a couple of questions. I was cutting film rating at ISO 100. It was the middle of the night on my dining room table and there was enough light to barely be able to see. I cut 4 sheets because I was worried about fogging. That's the first question. Absolute darkness? I was placing my film emulsion down into the cutter bed and noticed that I had to slide the film into position potentially scratching the film. Do you cut your film emulsion up?

Thanks,
Joe

[Michael Kadillak]

I tried cutting film tonight and had a couple of questions. I was cutting film rating at ISO 100. It was the middle of the night on my dining room table and there was enough light to barely be able to see. I cut 4 sheets because I was worried about fogging. That's the first question. Absolute darkness? I was placing my film emulsion down into the cutter bed and noticed that I had to slide the film into position potentially scratching the film. Do you cut your film emulsion up?

Thanks,
Joe

Absolute darkness is a must. I put the emulsion side up for the very reason that you indicated. Tape an old negative on to your cutter bed carefully along the edges to keep the base scratches to a minimum. I use the cotton gloves I keep on hand for spotting handy for this purpose but you could also use the nitrile ones as well.

If you know someone that has a night visiion monocle and an external IR light source that would be the best because it is like working with the lights on. Bounce the external IR soure off of an adjacent wall. Chances are if you can see the red glow of the IR, a portion of the light can unintentionally fog film. Noting like the correct tool for the job.

Cheers!