Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Here goes.... Hewes reels and a bit of practice will fix the loading issues. Do you use your chemistry 1 shot? Replenish or hybrid? D76 ( or any other choice of developer ) is fine if mixed with consistent water. Use the same brand of bottled water. ( distilled would be best, but availability is a further complication from your locale.) I would change to water for stop..... bottled water. But it is not that big a deal. 30 Sec is fine. Fix is fine.... You do wash in here somewhere......tap water is the only solution, with a final last rinse in bottled water.... REMOVE FILM FROM REEL BEFORE USING PHOTO-FLO. The stuff gets into onto / your reels. And cleaning it off is terrible. Technique: Get larger container ( I use a kitchen pot) and mix a couple drops of photoflo to a lot of water. Take film off reel and dump into pot. Swish back and forth ( easiest to do from the ground and take each end in a hand and move it through the water from end to end....) Streaking from my experience, is casued by too strong a solution of photo-flo. Dilute it more. Another suggestion is to switch to Edwal LFN. I had streaking with Photo-Flo, but he very highly concentrates LFN solved that for me. Do not reuse this chemistry.. it is prone to grow its own vegetative "critters". Trick: You are having dust issues... an ounce of alcohol ( I use isopropyl, but any type will work as well) in my photoflo bath. The film will dry really quickly, cutting the chance of dust from settling. (process and ) Dry at night, when the RH is a bit higher, and there is less dust kicked up from movement. Hang in a closet to cut the dust.. some people use a bathroom, right after a shower, moist to keep the dust down. Other tricks: Dry Inside a plastic ( drain) pipe to control the environment. Leave ends open. Dry in the sun to accelerate the process. Do not sgueegee your negs..... just hang them. Cut and put into sleeves ASAP and put in 3 ring binder. ( I think you scan your negs at some stage.... ) Beseler and some others sell a really nice $6 each 3 ring binder/case that closes like a Christmas present... it is plastic and cuts the dust again. Frank Filippone red735i at earthlink.net