Watermark on neg ~

[West_ray]

is there any effective ways to remove or rather prevent watermark on neg after developing? i've tried using film squeeze, sponge and fingers to remove the water, but after letting it to dry for abt 2-3hrs, there will be water mark on my neg ... so irritating .......... :angry:


any recommended ways ?? thanks~

 

[jbma]

I use chamois leather/cloth.

 

[West_ray]

u use it straight away after the end of developing? where to get tat ? thanks

 

[jbma]

I think you can find it in some camera shops.

 

[CaeSiuM]

I am the typical kiasu Singaporean. I 1ml of Photoflo in 500ml water as my wetting agent, then will gently sponge it dry before hanging the negatives diagonally to "slide off" water. Works so far for me, you can give it a try.

 

[West_ray]

hmm i did that too ... but when i sponge it, there's always little water stains, as thought tat it will dry up, but the stains eventually stays ...

by the way do u all cut the neg into 6 frames to let it dry? i cut them into 18 frames for drying.

 

[CaeSiuM]

The sponging is critical, it must be done consistently across the entire roll. I dry the entire roll altogether because I feel it's better to let some water get stuck on both ends of 1 roll rather than getting some water stuck on both ends of 6 strips.

If you're hanging the negs straight down, remember to weight the tail-end down with a cloth peg or document clip.

 

[jbma]

Photoflo will help. I usually use the chamois leather by wetting it and then sqeeze the water from it. Next fold it up and place the neg in between the chamois, use one stroke only to remove the excess water.

 

[West_ray]

one interesting method i found : http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/ILFOPRO/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5627

one mentioned that he soak the neg into wetting solution for one minute. well, can i assume that he soak in a full strength wetting agent for one minute, anyone tried before?

 

[CaeSiuM]

Tsk.... Photoflo is reusable.

Always out of stock these days so do reuse it.

 

[CaeSiuM]

one interesting method i found : http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/ILFOPRO/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5627

one mentioned that he soak the neg into wetting solution for one minute. well, can i assume that he soak in a full strength wetting agent for one minute, anyone tried before?

Not sure what you meant by full strength the norm is to soak in the wetting agent for one minute in standard dilution.

 

[West_ray]

wat i mean is concentrated wetting solution w/o mixing with H2O.

btw, wats Photoflo? i did some search, but the results are irrelvant.

 

[CaeSiuM]

Photoflo's a wetting agent by Kodak. You can ask Fee Fee to make an order for you. A 100ml bottle can last you a long time. I usually use 1:500 dilution so if it's one roll just use 500ml. For 2 rolls just use 750ml. Works like a charm.

Coming back to your previous question, I don't think soaking in "full strength" wetting agent is quite possible because it will be darn expensive and also Photoflo is known to cause gunk to deposit onto your developing reels so you can imagine what too much of it can do to films. YMMV.

 

[West_ray]

ic ... thanks ... will make a trip there tmr ... but wats the diff between Photoflo and normal wetting agent e.g. ilford's ?

 

[CaeSiuM]

ic ... thanks ... will make a trip there tmr ... but wats the diff between Photoflo and normal wetting agent e.g. ilford's ?

I honestly do not know because I've never used Ilford's. But I guess they both achieve the same purpose. It just boils down to personal preferences and effectiveness.

I find Photoflo helps also in drying the negs faster.

 

[sriram]

I simply use a wetting agent after the wash. I never use a squeegee, cloth or anything else to wipe the negs. I've found that there is a very high chance of some miniscule dust particle scratching the negs. Instead I thoroughly wet my fingers and simply run the entire strip between my fingers. It has worked for me for years and I have almost never had deposits or water marks.

 

[West_ray]

I simply use a wetting agent after the wash. I never use a squeegee, cloth or anything else to wipe the negs. I've found that there is a very high chance of some miniscule dust particle scratching the negs. Instead I thoroughly wet my fingers and simply run the entire strip between my fingers. It has worked for me for years and I have almost never had deposits or water marks.

i use my fingers too. but where there's still water marks? no matter how many times i wipe with my fingers, there's bound to be tiny water marks left on the neg.

oh by the way i let my neg drys in a toliet where there's limited freeflow of air, is tat the reason? should i use a hair dryer (at a distance of coz)?

 

[rueyloon]

I use photo-flo and after that I use those camera cleaning cloth..... microfibre roll it up and fold it in 1/2. put and use the "finger" technique to squeegy it except with the cloth in between........do it a few times until no water on the surface. I find scratch marks easier to remove on PS then water marks

 

[West_ray]

I use photo-flo and after that I use those camera cleaning cloth..... microfibre roll it up and fold it in 1/2. put and use the "finger" technique to squeegy it except with the cloth in between........do it a few times until no water on the surface. I find scratch marks easier to remove on PS then water marks

any idea how much is tat wonderful photoflo cost? only can place order at Fee Fee? no other places? i'm thinking of getting it immediately

 

[sulhan]

Hiee...

Today ...manage to get my 2nd roll done.....at home...
Based on my first time ....i did no have a squeegy no a wetting agent...used the disk washing liquid approach and then used the wet baby wipes cloth (wipes original liquid rinse off - only aimed at using the felt like lint free material)to press from the top end down to the bottom end...it works fine so far....

no prob so far.....

rgds,
sulhan