Best process for drying negatives after development?

[Pere Casals]

Is there by any chance dirt/dust on the underside of the glass?

I had to clean the inner glass side of EPSON Vxxx scanners, dust inside.

With changes in altitude while traveling (shipping) air moves in an out, and dayly atmospheric pressure changes can move 3% of the air inside in/out. I guess this is the way dust enters in the device. It would be great if the box had a vent with a filter and the rest was well sealed.

[reedvalve]

Regarding clips, someone on this forum suggested using hemostats. You can get them cheaply on the auction site. They work very well and only bite a tiny area of the film.

[jpheneger]

Is there by any chance dirt/dust on the underside of the glass?
And can you confirm that the stripes are always parallel to the movement of the scanner carrier, regardless of the orientation of the negatives?

The glass appears clean, even when I shine light directly on it. Yes, I have confirmed that the stripes always follow the path of the scanner carrier, regardless of the orientation of the negative.

[jpheneger]

I had to clean the inner glass side of EPSON Vxxx scanners, dust inside.

With changes in altitude while traveling (shipping) air moves in an out, and dayly atmospheric pressure changes can move 3% of the air inside in/out. I guess this is the way dust enters in the device. It would be great if the box had a vent with a filter and the rest was well sealed.

How did you get to the underside of the glass? I assume you had to take the scanner apart to do that.

[koraks]

It is also possible (but less likely) that some dust landed on the CCD strip.
And have you checked the glass in the lid? This also has an effect, although contamination of the glass in de lid tends to be much less sharply defined than the issues you're seeing. I would expect those to be much closer to the plane of sharp focus, so on the platen itself.

I don't know how to open a Vxx series scanner but my old 4990 can be opened fairly easily with a screwdriver. I expect the same is true for the newer ones.

[Robert Brazile]

Cleaning the scanner doesn't seem to have helped at all. It does seem to be worse though when I put the negative all the way at the top of the scan bed.

You may understand this already, but just in case: be sure that you do not cover that strip at the top of the scanner bed; it's used by the scanner for calibration. My initial guess was that your negatives were wandering into that space, which can result in the banded scans you mentioned, although at this point I can't tell for sure. In any case, be sure you leave the same amount of space up there that Epson's own negative holders do.

Robert

[Pere Casals]

How did you get to the underside of the glass? I assume you had to take the scanner apart to do that.

Yes... you have to remove the bed's glass, it's easy...

[ericantonio]

I use 2 kitchen sponges only for 35mm and 120. But for large format, I never squeegee. I put some flo in the water, and a little isoproplyl. I pick it up from the notch side up straight up to where I'm going to hang it. Then at the last second, I tilt it the other way. Meaning, I actually clip it the opposite of the notches (left side of film instead of right).

[jpheneger]

Update:
I developed a batch of Delta 100 with the suggestions and recommendations from a number of posters here and I am pleased to say that it was a HUGE success! I changed a number of things, but I am no longer using the squeegee and I'm using a LOT less photo-flo than I was using before. I've abandoned the wooden clothespins in favor of a few brand new hangers with plastic pins. These have a stronger grip and over a smaller surface area - which means less damage to the negative.

I appreciate the time everyone took to answer my questions - you guys/gals are AWESOME!

[Bernice Loui]

Curious, were did the idea of using a squeegee on wet film come from?


Bernice