Very bad fingerprinting on film base

**Robert Oliver** · 1-Mar-2015, 22:16

Gloves! And water containers to dip your hands into when needed....

And never touch the emulsion part of the negative to be safe, only grab tips and corners

**Doremus Scudder** · 2-Mar-2015, 07:26

Originally Posted by RodinalDuchamp

OK now that I analyze it is possible that I went from fix back to dev to retrieve the next neg without properly cleaning my hands.

Don't do this!

As noted above, you should have more than just two trays and shouldn't be going directly from developer to fix. A stop bath is cheap and is simply a much better option than a water rinse. However, you should have something between develop and fix!

As for technique to prevent contamination. Your hands should be like the film; they should never move upstream in the process. So, when development is finished, take up all the films (however you do it; I just grab them all and fan them out in my hand like a hand of cards) let them drain and then immerse them in the stop bath. Don't leave a film in the developer and then go back for it. The same applies to stop and fix.

I bet your fingerprints will go away once you refine your technique and stop contaminating.

Best,

Doremus

**Ken Lee** · 2-Mar-2015, 08:26

I keep a small bottle of rubbing alcohol in the darkroom. After mixing all the chemistry, after putting on my IR goggles (which sometimes have some powder on them)... just before removing the film from the holders... I clean my fingertips thoroughly and blow them dry. That has solved the problem for me. I presume it would work just as well for those who wear gloves.We need to remove oil as well as chemicals from our hands/gloves.

Another option is to discriminate between hands: once the film has gone into the stop bath, only use that hand for stop bath and for subsequent agitation in the fixer. As others have pointed out, never return the fixer hand (or glove) to the developer.

**RodinalDuchamp** · 2-Mar-2015, 09:22

Thanks all for taking time to help me. I've made some adjustments to my process, I will be much more careful now that I know how sensitive the film can be. My experience until now has been in tanks only.

**jnantz** · 2-Mar-2015, 16:43

i always try to fingerprint my negatives and sometimes my prints
it ends up being a mark or authenticity ..

**RodinalDuchamp** · 6-Mar-2015, 17:24

Just wanted to update, I now use gloves and use extreme care when handling wet negs. I am also very careful when taking negs from stob bath to fixer and returning to grab another negative, I rinse my hands in water before taking the next one. Since I've started doing this I have been very fortunate not to have these bad marks. Thanks to all whom offered their advice.

**Doremus Scudder** · 7-Mar-2015, 02:57

Originally Posted by RodinalDuchamp

Just wanted to update, I now use gloves and use extreme care when handling wet negs. I am also very careful when taking negs from stob bath to fixer and returning to grab another negative, I rinse my hands in water before taking the next one. Since I've started doing this I have been very fortunate not to have these bad marks. Thanks to all whom offered their advice.

RD,

Why don't you just lift all the negatives out of a solution at the same time? That's common practice, and you'll never have to go upstream to get a second or third negative again.

FWIW, when developing, I immerse sheets one-at-a-time at five-second intervals. When time is up, I make sure all the negs are in the same order as they went in, then I lift all (up to 8) negatives out of the developer and drain for 15 seconds (this is figured into my developing scheme). Then, I immerse them in the stop bath one-at-a-time, in the same order as they went into the developer and at five-second intervals. Exactly the same developing time for every negative. I use developer one-shot, so don't care about stop dripping from my gloves into the developer try. However, I could easily just hold the negs over the stop tray after the initial rinse so that didn't happen.

When I've shuffled the negs through the stop for a minute, I gather them up, let them drain and then transfer the whole stack to the fix. I shuffle once through the stack and then start timing. I never have to rinse my hands, since they are all moving downstream, and I never have to go upstream to get a negative.

Hope this helps,

Doremus

**RodinalDuchamp** · 7-Mar-2015, 03:43

Originally Posted by Doremus Scudder

RD,

Why don't you just lift all the negatives out of a solution at the same time? That's common practice, and you'll never have to go upstream to get a second or third negative again.

FWIW, when developing, I immerse sheets one-at-a-time at five-second intervals. When time is up, I make sure all the negs are in the same order as they went in, then I lift all (up to 8) negatives out of the developer and drain for 15 seconds (this is figured into my developing scheme). Then, I immerse them in the stop bath one-at-a-time, in the same order as they went into the developer and at five-second intervals. Exactly the same developing time for every negative. I use developer one-shot, so don't care about stop dripping from my gloves into the developer try. However, I could easily just hold the negs over the stop tray after the initial rinse so that didn't happen.

When I've shuffled the negs through the stop for a minute, I gather them up, let them drain and then transfer the whole stack to the fix. I shuffle once through the stack and then start timing. I never have to rinse my hands, since they are all moving downstream, and I never have to go upstream to get a negative.

Hope this helps,

Doremus

I haven't figured out exactly how to lift all all the same time. I am using intervals to place and lift each one separately to avoid handling more than one at once in hopes of avoiding scratches