[Leica] Drying marks

["Anderson, Ferrel" <AndersonF@ria.army.mil>]

Mark,

"Three consecutive one minute washes" consists of washing my film in the
same Nikor stainless steel (SS) tank that I develop and fix the film.  After
fixing, I remove the film, still loaded on the SS Nikor reels, and place
them in a film washer.  After they are washed, the  reels are returned to
the Nikor tank, which in the mean time has been thoroughly washed in hot
water and rinsed in distilled water.  I then close the tank, fill it with
distilled water, and agitate like I do when I develop the film.  After one
minute, I empty the tank and repeat the process.  After the third wash, I
open the tank, pour out the water, remove the reels, attach a hanging clamp
to the end of the film, unwind the film with a minimum of handling, and
attach a clamp to the other end of the roll of film.  I then hang it to dry
in the parlor, which is off limits to the kids and other traffic.  Three
rinses of one minute duration remove not only the tap water on the surface
of the film and on the reels, but also remove the tap water from within the
film emulsion.  I consider photo flo or any other type of surfactant to be
just another contaminant.  

Ferrel Anderson