I have been producing very "soft" negatives with a tendancy to scratch. Is there any way I can harden the emulsion before archiving?

I'm developing tmax 135, 120, 220 under optimum d76 conditions (all kodak chemicals)at 68 degrees - manual agitation is no issue. Should I move to TMAX chemicals for better grain?

Thanks

-- Oliver (oliver.raymond@csfb.com), August 24, 1999

Answers

Kodak has a couple of hardener formulas in their publication Processing Chemicals and Formulas for Black-and-White Photography. E- mail me and I will send you the information.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@unblinkingeye.com), August 25, 1999.

One of the main reasons I abandoned T-Max sheet films was their soft, easily scratched emulsions. With roll films, however, that shouldn't be an issue. Make sure you are using a hardening fixer. At any rate, T-Max films are very demanding on the processing chemistry. (T-Max developer is very good, and many people, including myself, have had excellent results with Xtol.) They also take an ETERNITY to fix and deplete the fixer very quickly. My advice: switch to the Ilford Delta films.

-- Peter Hughes (leonine@redshift.com), August 25, 1999.

Don't touch the wet film surface with anything (squeege etc.). I give my film a final dip in distilled water and photo-flo (one drop per 2 oz) and hang them up to dry. I use non hardening fixer and never have scratches or water marks.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), August 26, 1999.

As with any film, the less you handle it the less chance of scratching the emulsion. I always develop my film on stainless steel reels and then dry it...right on the reel. I use a hair dryer rigged to an empty powdered ice tea canister and blow air through set on low volume with no heat....works great. If you use Photo-Flo, try slightly less than the recommended mix. I know it has a tendency to soften the emulsion but it normally leaves the film spotless and virtually eliminates the need to wipe it down.

-- Tom Reitemeyer (udorn74@yahoo.com), August 31, 1999.