Uncurling Curled 120/220 Film Strips

[rguinter]

Greetings: Does anyone have any experience taking the curl out of processed 120/220 film strips without damaging it. Most of my artistic work is done with 6x17 cm and 6x12 cm medium format. Now when the film strips are mailed back from the processor they are coiled up tightly to conserve space while mailing. But the curl stays in and makes for a difficult time on the film scanner. Even when they can be made to lay flat the residual strain in the film seems to cause Newton's rings on the scan. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions how to get the film to straighten out. I've had 6x17 slides in archival sleeves pressed tightly together in binders for months and the curl remains. Thoughts anyone... would be much appreciated. Regards. Bob G.

[vinny]

Try rolling the uncut rolls up in the other direction for a couple weeks.

[Ben Hopson]

When necessary I do like Vinny suggested. Even re-rolling in the opposite direction for a day or two helps quite a bit. When I send film out for processing I have it cut and inserted in clear film pages. It costs a little more, but the film is much flatter than the tightly wound rolls that come from a local lab here.

Ben

[al olson]

You might try soaking them in Photo Flo and then hanging them to redry with a little weight on the bottom. Usually a couple of clothes pins on the bottom is enough to straighten my negative strips.

[gevalia]

I do what Al Olson suggested above. Efke 50 120 proves most difficult for me to get uncurled. Then again, their 4x5 curls like mad as well.

[John Whitley]

Then again, their 4x5 curls like mad as well.

That's odd. I have absolutely zero curl with Efke PL 100 4x5. FWIW, I'm rotary processing in a print drum, drying in a gently heated film dryer with the film hung by one corner.

[rguinter]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I've been shooting 120 roll film for about 15-years and never had trouble with curling before but that was when local labs were developing them. I simply instructed them to hang them straight and that was the way they were handed to me when I picked them up. Now of course the local labs are out of business and everything is mailed back and forth. I've never trusted anyone cutting my panoramics before but I may try that with my next batch and hope they do a good job... essentially Ben's idea. I've done the rolling in reverse trick a few times but only marginal success. Soaking in Foto Flo?... I'll check it out. Although I have minimal space for safely hanging them. Not even a shower in this old house where one might hang them on the rack. Many thanks. Bob

[Ed Richards]

You could get 4 feet of 8" plastic pipe and build yourself a one roll film drying cabinet. Notch the top on opposite edges to support a stick to hang the film from, and stretch some panty hose over the ends if you are worried about dust. Call it sculpture and hang in the living room.:-)

[rguinter]

You could get 4 feet of 8" plastic pipe and build yourself a one roll film drying cabinet. Notch the top on opposite edges to support a stick to hang the film from, and stretch some panty hose over the ends if you are worried about dust. Call it sculpture and hang in the living room.:-)

Ed: Smooth plastic pipe sounds like a good idea. And the cat would have trouble getting into the tube. After working in laboratories for most of my life, I would probably try covering the ends with circles of Whatman filter paper instead of panty hose. Great thoughts. Thanks. Bob

[rguinter]

As I continue to research the issue of 120/220 film curling and solving the problems it creates during scanning, I came across another post about the Betterscanning film holders. These holders look to be a good solution to the problem also. Bob

[77seriesiii]

Funny you should mention that. We have had nothing but curl problems with Rollei and Efke films (120 only). the curl is not so much around the spindle but from short edge to short edge and makes do the digital scan purty aggravating (no darkroom...yet). We just got our betterscanning attachment last week, havent used it yet BUT, it is solid and very easy to work with. I am looking forward to placing 120 film in the scanner to see how it works out. I will let you know.

./e

[Bjorn Nilsson]

I ordered my Betterscanning 120 film holder with a couple of glass plates (AntiNewton treated), which makes the holder even better. (In theory I recon I could wet-mount on the glass plates, but as I already have got the wet mount mountingstation as well, it will probably stay at the theoretical stage. :)

For the original question, it seems like you are buying yourself some trouble when ordering the processed film to be curled up to save some money on shipping. You don't mention what film it is which is causing you this problem, but I take it it's some color film as you have it sent away. Most color film I've heard of doesn't have any problem with curling up if dried and stored flat.

//Björn

[mikebarger]

The only luck I've had flattening out and using a 120mm Efke negative, was to re-shoot with Tri-x and give the rest of the Efke away. :)

Mike