[Leica] wetting agents

["Gary Klein" <gklein@excel.net>]

I too have used wetting agents on developing reels for many years.  The
secret is to rinse your reels in hot water after each use to prevent a build
up to happen in the first place.  To this day, the second the reels come out
of the C41 stabilizer, the reels go into hot  water, for the first of three
rinses.

I had a professor in college who at one time was a technician for Eastman
Kodak.  He told us that if we washed our reels in hot water (120 F) our gear
would be considered "chemically clean".  He was one who was very
conservative in his photographic practices.  He was a Leica Hassleblad guy
who drove BMW motorcycles.

He also told us when Kodak was wrong in his humble opinion.  He told us of a
story when they decided development times for Plus-X film, there was a
discourse on the really right time.  He felt the film was slightly
underdeveloped with the time Kodak says.  He added something like 30 seconds
to the time at 68 F.

The main thing to keep in mind is to never let the wetting agents dry onto
the reels, get it washed off while its still wet.

gck