When I load a developing tank (stainless reel type) I roll the film on the way it naturally curves coming off of the spool in the casset (35 mm). This puts the emulsion side toward the center of the reel.

I've been having a good deal of trouble with my film curling after I develop it. I tried drying it with varying amounts of weight, but this does not seem to solve the problem. Now I am wondering if I wound it on the developing tank reel with the emulsion side out, would I get less curl?

Any suggestions?

thanks, Peter Schauss

-- Peter Schauss (schauss@worldnet.att.net), December 14, 2001

Answers

I donīt know if it would help, but you will risk your film for hand scratches and friction loading it the other way.

Is your film been stored for long time?

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), December 15, 2001.

Thanks. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing something obviously feeding the film onto the real the way it seemed to want to go.

As far as age of the film goes, that may have something to do with my curling problem. The first two rolls I did (after a 30+ year hiatus) were a roll of Tri-X and one of T-max 400 which I bought from a local camera store. Curling was not a major problem with either of these. Then I bought several rolls of import Tri-X from B&H. The expiration date on these is 05/2003 which seems like the film is reasonably fresh. These, however, have given me some serious curling problems. When I cut them into six frame lengths, the pieces want to curl up into cylinders. This makes it very difficult to make contact sheets.

Interestingly, I recently had the same problem with a 12 shot roll of Ilford HP-5 Plus which I bought locally, also well within the date range on the container.

Peter Schauss

-- Peter Schauss (schauss@worldnet.att.net), December 15, 2001.

You could try developing an unimportant roll with the curl reversed to see if it helps & if it causes sratches.

-- Charlile Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), December 15, 2001.

Peter, I use Canon F-1 cameras, which wind the film over the sproket take-up spool. With this design, I never have any problem loading film emulsion side in on developing reels.

However, I also have an AE-1 that I often loan out to friends. This camera winds the film under the take-up spool. Often, with this camera, film is left in the camera for several weeks. When I try to wind this film on SS reels, it is a major annoyance. After a week or more bent backwards on the take-up spool, the film will not lay correctly, emulsion side inward, on the developing reel. On occasion, when it has been particularly balky, I've simply wound the film on emulsion out. I was uncomfortable about doing it, but really didn't have a choice. I finally accepted that I'd have destroyed the film trying to force it on the reel in the standard orientation.

Obviously, the film is more vulnerable to scratches with the emulsion out. Although this made me uneasy, I have not seen any problem with it. Perhaps I have been lucky. In any case, it worked and I have since done it whenever I've encountered that problem.

Incidentally, many manual cameras wind the film on the take-up spool like the AE-1 does, including Nikon F, F2 and F3. So I suspect this is a common problem. All the newer "autoload" models wind over, in the manner of the F1.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), December 17, 2001.

interesting Ted. My Nikons (FE & FM2n) wind under but I always thought that was a good thing to help straighten the film a bit. Who know how long it's been sitting in a warehouse, although I use mostly bulk rolled stuff (35mm). Last year I did a couple of rolls of film that had been sitting around for 15+ years (already exposed) and the severe curl of those cause a bit of trouble loading into a plastic spool, because it kept tightly rolled up and I had to hold it out straight (as opposed to letting it fall down a bit) to feed it into the spool. I think it's flattened out in the neg sleeves.

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), December 17, 2001.

Hmm,

just the other day, I developed some Delta3200 and HP5+.

I didn't have my neg sleeves at home (I'd left them at work), so I rolled up the dried film, put it into canisters and cut and sleeved it the next day.

When they came off the hangers after drying (I just use a clothes peg top and bottom off a piece of string across the shower), they were nice and straight, no curling or spooling problems.

After rolling and storing in the canister, they wanted to stay rolled up.

So it would seem to me that you could reverse any bend after drying by curling the film in the opposite direction.

Then again, are we talking rolling (into spools) or curling (into a long cylinder) problem? If curling, then make sure your clips (top and bottom) hold the film flat (across) when drying.

duncan

-- Duncan McRae (duncanmcrae@my-dejanews.com), December 17, 2001.

Here is a trick to avoid loading problems. When you rewind the film, leave the leader out, or retrieve it from the canister before you start. With the lights on, cut the leader straight across, clip the corners, and start the loading of the reel in the light. This way you can assure that the film is started correctly on the reel. Turn off the lights and feed the film directly from the canister onto the reel by pulling the film out of the canister with the reel. This eliminates most problems from finger prints and buckling.

After you dry your negatives, place in plastic sleeves and place under a weight for a day or so. Also leave the film in the sleeves to make contact prints, by placing under a piece of glass with the paper. Other tips include a final rinse in distilled water and a 1/2 drop of photoflo to eliminate spotting and streaking on the dried negatives.

All of my 35mm B&W was shoot in an FE, FM and F-3 and I never had this problem. The only film I currently use that tends to curl is 120 MACO 820 Infared film. A day under a weigh seems to take care of it nicely.

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), December 18, 2001.

I use that technique (as described by Gene) for 35mm. No good for 120 unfortunately! I also processed my 1st roll of Maco and since it was a hot humid evening, I was worried I was going to have problems getting on my plastic spool, but it went ever so smoothly :) Didn't have any problems with it curling post development either.

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), December 18, 2001.

I'll take a stab at this. I could be completely wrong though...

Could film curl be due to the emulsion and base acetate drying at different rates? Or perhaps it is the nature of the emulsion side to shrink a little as it dries?

Also, take a look at your environment. Did you recently turned on the heater in the house? Is the air drier than usual? Hotter? Colder? How about the humidity? I have a hunch that these all play factors.

-- Johnny Motown (johnny.motown+bwworld@att.net), December 20, 2001.

In my experience, it seems like Tri-X curls wickedly, while other films (Acros, Neopan) don't curl as much. Maybe Kodak films are just extra-curly? ;) Besides, the film gets flat after sitting in sleeves in a binder for a while...

-- Alex Barnes (abarnes3@qwest.net), December 23, 2001.