Does Photo-flo eliminates the need of a squeegee? I'm noticing that no matter how cautious I am while using the squeegee after using photo-flo I get some scratches on the emulsion of some parts of the negative roll (35m). The Kodak instructions just say to use photo-flo and let it dry. Does that mean no squeegee, and what about the little bubbles formed when you pour the photo-flo? BTY:I'm using Kodak TRI-X, PAN-X and TMX films.

-- Herbet Camerino (hbrasileiro@cihi.ca), April 27, 2000

Answers

Don't use a squeegee. Hang the negs up at a slight angle. The photo- flo allows the water to run off the neg more easily and since the neeg is at an angle, it will run down to one corner and drip off (you can always touch a piece of tissue to the edge to remove the last drop hanging there tenaciously. The bubbles in photo-flo are a bit of a nuisance. I used a syringe to inject the photo-flo into the water but finally tired of it and switched to edwal LFN. Hope this helps. DJ

-- N Dhananjay (ndhanu@umich.edu), April 27, 2000.

> eliminates the need of a squeegee

Yep, sure does. Use Photo-Flo or Edwal LFN in distilled water and do _not_ squeegee.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), April 27, 2000.

I've squeegeed for years with no problem until recently. Even with new sponges and the like, there were always some scratches on the negs. Don't know if film is different (doubt it) or if there's more grit in the water, but something in the universe has changed, insuring that squeegeeing guarantees scratches. I now just Photo-Flo and let dry with no problems. Perfect negs every time.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), April 27, 2000.

I use to use a squeegee and photo-flo .. scratches resulted.

Now I use photo-flo and use my fingers as the squeegee .. just lightly. No scratches anymore. Sometimes I don't use my fingers (thats when I have more time to try).

Ken

-- Ken Heflinger (khefling@ichips.intel.com), April 27, 2000.

I have gotten best results with distilled water and LFN in the final rinse. Next project will be to use a salad spinner- 2 reels at once, of course. It's been mentioned around here before, and sounds like a good idea.

-- Paul Harris (pharris@neosoft.com), April 27, 2000.

I have used Photo-Flo and my fingers for yearssss & only had problems when I did NOT use distilled water.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), April 28, 2000.

Don't squeegee. Don't use your fingers, if you don't use distilled water use filtered water at the very least.

-- Robert Orofino (rorofino@iopener.net), April 29, 2000.

I will not only chime in and say "throw the squeegee away", but also repeat a suggestion which I already gave a few times on this forum:

After washing out the hypo, rinse the film in distilled water with a wetting agent (such as photo flo). Then put the reel into a lettuce centrifuge (ask your girlfriend/wife for help) and spin for half a minute or a minute. There will be no drops left any more, and the film dries faster. If you have questions, search the old threads, or send me a direct mail, as I have explained this at length several times before, and it may not be interesting for forum veterans.

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), May 02, 2000.

Better yet, don't use a wetting agent and don't squeegee. I rinse in three one minute baths of distilled water and agitate as though I were developing the film. I then tap the reels to remove as much water as possible, remove the film from the reels, attach the hangers to the film, and then hang the film to dry. The idea of using a lettuce centrifuge is good, and would enhance this method. The result is perfectly clean negatives with no scratches and residual chemical (e.i., wetting agent) that can contaminate the glass surfaces of my double glass negative carrier.

-- Eilert Anders (eilert@dav.com), May 12, 2000.

If you feel an uncontrolable urge to squeegee your film after photo-flo (in distilled water) try using surgical (non-powdered) gloves. But what has not been mentioned is to be sure to mix the photo-flo to the exact dilution suggested by the manufacture. Problems often arise by mixing to strong or weak a solution.

-- mvjim (mvjim@interport.net), May 13, 2000.