Will a Post-It damage undeveloped film?

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Hello Group,

I am trying to reduce the amount of equipment I bring on trips, and it occurred to me that I could use one box for my exposed film if I could 'mark' each shot with the proper development requirements.

I thought a small Post-It adhered to the base side could be used to mark all non-normal sheets, using a notch code for each development adjustment.

Back at home, the film can be sorted into the respective boxes.

Anyone doing a method for marking film like this? Are there any other methods that you can suggest to eliminate multiple exposed film boxes?

Thanks,

-- Michael Mutmansky (psu4ever@ix.netcom.com), August 20, 2000

Answers

The final word belongs to 3M, however, based on my experience as an adhesives specialist, I believe that Post-It is quite remarkable in leaving no residue on surfaces. I would venture the opinion that if the Poat-It note is on the backing there should be no damage. However, experiements are better than suppositions. Your turn.

-- Julio Fernandez (gluemax@ora.auracom.com), August 20, 2000.

I see no reason it won't work as long as you make sure it is stuck to the base side. Most of us try to work out a method of marking film once it is exposed and your way is good as any. Your post got me to thinking about the small plastic envelopes inside the 25 sheet Ilford film boxes. That would seem to be a good way. They are just slightly larger than the film and fold over at the open end. If you could figure a way of marking the envelopes that you could identify in the dark you could slide the film into a seperate envelope for different developing. Several of them would fit in a 100 sheet film box. Your method with the stickers ought to work also.

Regards,

Doug.

-- Doug Paramore (dougmary@alanet.com), August 20, 2000.


"Post" a few sheets and develop them and see for yourself!

-- Doremus Scudder (ScudderLandreth@compuserve.com), August 20, 2000.

I came up with a method for storing exposed sheets which is working very well. It occurred to me that a whole technology has already been developed for coding items which can't be seen - it's called braille.

The method involves coding 4x5 glassine envelopes with braille bumps, and then keeping a paper log of what sheets went into which envelopes. The coding method I use involves a two part code for each envelope. The first code is a "group" number, and the second code is an envelope number within that group. So I have, Group 1, envelopes 1 through 5; Group 2, envelopes 1 through 5; Group 3, envelopes 1 though 5; ... I then take all the envelopes within a group and place them in a "U" shaped piece of cardboard (the protectors which come in sheet film boxes from Fuji and others) and mark the cardboard with the group number. I know this sounds complicated, but it's really pretty simple. The advantage of this method is that I only have to know how to count to 5 in the dark.

There are two different ways of making braille bumps. First, 3M makes a braille labeler (~$30) which uses standard Dymo type tape. The second is via some stuff called "bump-ons". This is a tube of gunk which you squeeze and little bumps come out and harden on pretty much any surface. It cost about $5 a tube. I got the stuff at a local supply store for blind people, but I've also seen it on some internet storefronts selling supplies for the visually impaired. With the thought that it would be nice to learn a little bit of braille, I coded my glassine envelopes with the actual braille numbers, but then follow that with a series of dots as a cross check which I can feel and easily count.

-- Larry Huppert (Larry.Huppert@mail.com), August 20, 2000.


Now then, while we're on the subject of Post-It adhesive, I had an idea. Were one able to get post-it type adhesive in a form independent of the paper (a la glue stick), could this possibly be used to help keep film flat in 8x10 holders? Think about it- apply a little of the material to the inside of the film holder, let it dry and load the film, thereby lightly affixing the film to the holder and preventing the film from buckling or shifting during the exposure. Might this be a feasible concept, or have I just been spending too much time in an unventilated darkroom again?

Just a thought...

-- Dave Munson (orthoptera@juno.com), August 21, 2000.



Well, I like the two responses regarding the bags. That seems like a better ides than Post-Its, because there are only a couple of places you have to worry about labels...

Thanks for the ideas... Now I'm going to have to buy some Ilford film so that I can get the bags!

---Michael

-- Michael Mutmansky (psu4ever@ix.netcom.com), August 21, 2000.


I have found marks on 35mm film that were caused by some kind of static/chemical (?) light discharge which I saw in the darkroom. This happened with masking tape, I believe, when I was 'rolling my own' film, and used it to attach the end of the film to the spool. Upon development, there was evidence on the film that the light generated from yanking off the tape was sufficient to fog the surface it was attached to.

-- R Urban (roger.g.urban@ucm.com), September 01, 2000.

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