Tray Processing Film: Gloves or No Gloves?

[Robert Kalman]

My apologies ahead of time if this topic has already been addressed.

For those of you who tray develop your film, do you process with gloves or not?

I don't, and my loved ones keep pressuring me to start since they believe dipping my hands into the chemicals isn't good for me. (They're probably right). The data sheet for HC110 just says to be cautious when using chemicals; Ilford "recommends" gloves when handling fixer (as well as wearing eye protection and an apron).

If you do use gloves, which kind? Also, can you tell me if you've ever had a problem (like losing images) because you couldn't handle the negatives properly with the gloves on?

Many thanks.

[Drew Wiley]

Gloves. Always. Always. Always. Keeps the chem off your skin, and easy to rinse off so you don't transfer things like fixer where it doesn't belong. For film developement: textured, non-powdered thin nitrile. They're plenty cheap these days and available all kinds of place. But I prefer slightly heavier, reusable nitrile or neoprene gloves for developing prints.

[Robert Kalman]

Thanks, Drew. So when you move negatives from developer to stop bath to fixer you use the same gloves? Are you rinsing in between trays?

[tgtaylor]

Except for the occasional solitary roll of film like the 135 that I processed Sunday, I usually rotary process film. Occasionally though I'll tray process film and always use disposable food handlers gloves that cost about one cent each. Developer, stop, fix, (fix), into the wash and then discard the glove(s) and put on a new one for the next print/sheet.

Thomas

[Daniel Stone]

Thanks, Drew. So when you move negatives from developer to stop bath to fixer you use the same gloves? Are you rinsing in between trays?

I leave the film in the stop bath(which is actually just a tray of water for me) until all the film has been transferred over from the developer. I then move the entire "stack" into the fixer tray, all at once.

Same gloves stay on throughout the entire process duration, developer -> final rinse/photo-flo.

-Dan

[Drew Wiley]

Depends what I'm doing. A tiny bit of dev carryover into stop bath is expected, or a little stop into the fixer. I'm more concerned about chem like fixer getting onto
things like clothing or doorknobs from skin, where it can easily get onto fresh film somehow afterwards and ruin it. Seems like skin needs to be thoroughly washed with with soap and water to get really clean, whereas nitrile rinses easily. The other siginificant problem is that you just don't want to get sensitized to chemicals over time
and end up with dematititis. It happens. I also work with things like pyro and color chemistry, which are outright toxic.

[Peter Lewin]

Since I'm using PMK Pyro or Pyrocat HD, which are toxic, gloves always. I recently bought a new box of unpowdered nitrile gloves at the hardware store, about $13 for 100. I keep the pair on through the entire cycle, from pre-soak through fix, and discard the pair as soon as they show any discoloration (more frequent with PMK than Pyrocat). I've never had a problem handling the negatives with the gloves; any damaged negatives were due to my being careless or clumsy, rather than the gloves.

[Ben Calwell]

Wearing gloves is a good idea, but I have to confess that in more than 30 years of tray developing in HC-110, I never wore them. I should have, though. However, when I had a brief fling with pyro developers, I did wear them.

[Winger]

I use a tank, not trays, and I still wear nitrile gloves. I don't remember how much they cost, but I found them on Amazon. Wear one pair 'til I get to the wash stage and then remove them.

[Daniel Stone]

The un-powdered nitrile gloves from Costco come in a double-pack, and work really well. They even have "grippy" type fingertips, which aid in holding slippery tanks, rolls of wet film, or beakers of chemistry, even when wet. And they're relatively inexpensive as well.