Film Drying, Best Practices

[Kirk Gittings]

Sales of large prints have led me to greater care with drying my 4x5 negs-dust is always a big problem in the SW. I'm curious about peoples approach to this. I've added a HEPA filtration system to my drying closet. I'm figuring on blowing clean air into it for a few minutes, letting everything settle then hang my film in the still clean air. I'm not in a hurry so I don't need to blow dry air in when they are hanging. I have also heard of people misting their drying cabinet down with filtered water and letting that settle. What do people do who live in extremely dusty environments like the SW?

[David Lobato]

I was wondering about room ionizers, and found this.
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...o-control-dust

[Daniel Stone]

Kirk,

While I might not be in as dry a climate as you, I've found that NOT running any forced air always gives me cleaner negatives in the end. I simply let them hang to dry(using Photo Flo, or your chosen wetting agent). I DO NOT squeegee the film, I actually prefer to hang it up while it is still dripping water like crazy, as gravity will 'pull' any particulate down(and hopefully off, with the drips) the length of the film.

Sheet film I clip in the corner, so the water drains to 1 corner. Roll film I weight down with pegs/clips, and once the film has finished dripping, I take a paper towel, and gently wick the residual bead/droplet(with sheet film) off the corner/bottom of the film. I do not touch the bead of water with the towl, capillary action will cause the bead of water to suck into the towel itself.
I've done it this way for almost 10 years now, and I've always had perfect negatives. Using forced/heated air, I always encountered embedded dirt/dust in/on the film.
Takes a little longer this way, but I am basically ensured to have clean, dust-free negatives.

I hang my film up using a clothesline, length-wise in the shower/tub, so the drips will go down the drain.
BEFORE I hang the film to dry, I run the shower full-blast on HOT, and close the door so it will get somewhat steamy in the bathroom. I turn off the shower, let the steam hang about for a bit(5-10mins or so), so any dust in the air will get grabbed by the airborne steam and fall to the ground. I then proceed to hang the film up as fast as possible.
I purchased my retractable clothesline at Ikea, but it's almost identical to this one here: https://amzn.com/B01EA9CVGM

-Dan

[Kirk Gittings]

Yeah that won't work for me for reasons too long to go into-can't use the showers.

[Ari]

I bought a film drying cabinet for a song, it looks like an old phone booth.
I heat up the cabinet for a few minutes, then hang the film to dry in the warmth after a bath in Edwal.
Every month I wipe down the inside, and haven't had any dust problems from that end of things.
I do have water issues, in that I'm not filtering the water I use for washing, so a final rinse in distilled water and Edwal helps.

[StoneNYC]

Kirk,

I'm going to second the "I steam up my bathroom before hanging my film" sentient.

I've also found that this method of the steam enveloping the dust particles and then drags them to the ground, works best.

Since you have a cabinet instead, what about getting a steamer (like an iron for ironing your clothes, but they make "wands" that are for hanging clothes) you could "wand" the inside of the drying cabinet before you hang everything, this would at least help pull some more dust out of the air?

Pre-steaming the room/cabinet really is the best solution IMO.

Hope maybe you can utilize this concept in a way that works for your situation.

[Kirk Gittings]

Kirk,

I'm going to second the "I steam up my bathroom before hanging my film" sentient.

I've also found that this method of the steam enveloping the dust particles and then drags them to the ground, works best.

Since you have a cabinet instead, what about getting a steamer (like an iron for ironing your clothes, but they make "wands" that are for hanging clothes) you could "wand" the inside of the drying cabinet before you hang everything, this would at least help pull some more dust out of the air?

Pre-steaming the room/cabinet really is the best solution IMO.

Hope maybe you can utilize this concept in a way that works for your situation.

Interesting idea-a hand held clothes steamer. That is worth trying I think.

[StoneNYC]

Interesting idea-a hand held clothes steamer. That is worth trying I think.

Hope it works.

They have handheld ones that range from $40-$75 like this one.

http://m.kohls.com/product/prd-20168...FZZCNwodO0MBkw

But you might find them weak, might want to go a little more for one in the $150 range like this.

http://www.target.com/p/mcculloch-he...A&gclsrc=aw.ds

I've no practical experience with either, except that when working in the movie industry, the wardrobe people preferred the kind with the hose attachment as they were a bit more powerful. Film and clothing is not the same of course, but the hose type may produce more steam, not sure.

Good luck!

[Doremus Scudder]

When I use a bathroom for negative development (my set-up in Europe), I vacuum, mop and wipe down all the floors and walls about an hour before processing, then (as Stone and others) run the hot water to steam the room up. After things have settled down, I process. Drying is done on a retractable clothesline over the tub. Sheet film gets a final rinse in distilled water and PhotoFlo, then gets gently squeegeed through clean index and middle fingers (two swipes to get the whole surface) and hung by a corner to dry. I rarely have dust with this set-up.

In the States I have a new dedicated darkroom. The door is sealed and light tight, a ventilation system collects air from along the back edge of the sink and exhausts it to outside. Intake air is through two 12"x12" light-tight vents that are filtered, so, except for me going in and out, the only air that comes in is filtered. After a good mop and wipe-down, I don't have much of a dust problem at all. Still, when developing negs, I run the hot water and steam up the whole 10-foot-square room a bit. Film gets the same treatment as above and is hung on a retractable clothesline over the sink. Again, rarely a dust problem.

I think there are a couple of key practices here: first, don't stir things up immediately before processing (my cleaning and wipe-downs are always at least an hour before processing and I never sweep; that just stirs up dust). And try to keep dust and dirt out of your processing area. Second, raise the humidity in the drying environment before processing to settle airborne dust. Third, if you can swing it, some kind of filtration can only improve the situation. However, if there's lots of airflow, I'd turn it off some time before processing film.

If I were you, I'd look for low-hanging fruit in this basket and see what you can easily do right away. Try it and see if it solves your problem. If not, you can take more drastic measures.

As for dust on negatives during enlarging: I've found that a soft camel's hair brush can really help. For the most stubborn, glued-on specks I'll resort to a micro-fiber cloth or even a scalpel point under 10x magnification to dislodge the dust (I don't touch the neg, just the dust).

Also, it's amazing to me how much dust gets on the negative when enlarging, even in the fairly clean environment I've described. I check in glancing light and blow or brush the visible specks away. Then I check the negative again as it's sitting in the carrier with the enlarger light on. It's amazing how often I have to remove and re-clean the neg. Sometimes dust will settle on the neg between prints and I'll have to clean again. Extra care at this stage of the game helps minimize spotting.

Best,

Doremus

[Pere Casals]

I solved the dust problem with a Honeywell 16200 HEPA purifier. If solves film drying and scanning

This has a powerful flow that cleans a small room in minutes. Smaller purifiers are too slow.

Anyway our dress can emit tons of dust, so it is important to wear an overalls that it is not prone to emit dust.

Another good practice is to use some distilled water+humectant form final rinse, I use 50cc per sheet.