I am fanatical about keeping dust from my film while drying, and have had consistent results up untill today. Somehow a series of 12 4x5 negs picked up some dirt or dust either from the darkroom or sloppy handling of film and holders. The kind of stuff that sticks and will not come off with an ant-static brush or compressed air. What is the recommended way to "re-clean" film. I could probably just resoak and agitate in photo-flo and try to a film sponge to carefully wipe of loosened dirt. Any other recommendations?

Thanks, Jim C.

-- Jim Chinn (jim1341@dellepro.com), August 17, 2001

Answers

That's what I'd do (and have done). Just about anything else requires rougher treatment, and that is never a good thing.

-- Daniel Ridings (daniel_ridings@yahoo.se), August 17, 2001.

Rewash it, but you really need to soften the film, keep it in the water much longer than you normally wash, at least an hour (or more if necessary), than handle it with extreme care.Do not agitate in photo=flo, that just creates bubbles (which can be fun) and does nothing else.

-- Cem Topdemir (cem-1@softhome.net), August 17, 2001.