hi folks...help me here..

Why do i always get water marks drying up even after i'd washed the fixed roll for 5 mins by vigorous shaking with tap water and then running the strip dipped in tetanal wetting agent and then left to dry?

im very dejected..

-- Travis koh (teckyy@hotmail.com), March 21, 2002

Answers

My inclination would be: 1. To wash for longer than 5 minutes (20 min?). 2. To agitate a little and then soak for a few seconds in the wetting agent (rather than dip). 3. To make sure that I have enough wetting agent concentrate in the wetting agent water. 4. To squeegee the excess water off the film after I hang it up to dry. I use Photo Flo and the above proceedures. The only time I got streaks was when I was once too stingy with the Photo Flo concentrate.

-- Ollie Steiner (violindevil@yahoo.com), March 21, 2002.

Try a final soak in distilled water with 1 or 2 drops of LFN low-foam wetting agent (made by Edwal). I have used this for years.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), March 21, 2002.

I totally agree with Ed. Use distilled water with Photo Flo for your final bath. Needs only 30 to 60 seconds. I do not think that longer washing with regular water would help.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), March 21, 2002.

I agree with Ed, LFN is great and all you need is a drop or 2. This should clear up your problem immediately. Also great to use in the pre- wet because it really breaks the surface tension of the water!

-- Scott Walton (walton@ll.mit.edu), March 21, 2002.

I agree on the importance of using pure water, using enough wetting agent (photo-flo), agitating, and soaking rather than dipping.

Another thing I have found very helpful:

After thoroughly soaking the film in water and wetting agent, remove the film from the tank without pouring the water away. Unreel the film, and hold it up (making sure that if there are any remnants of paper or adhesive tape attached to the film, these are at the bottom - this obviously only applies if you use rollfilm). Now pour the water from the tank (containing the wetting agent) down the film, starting at the top, and working your way gradually down. Make sure that every bit of the film (to its full width) is properly wetted whilst doing this. Do this on both sides of the film. Make sure that the film does not touch anything whilst you are doing this - a real possibility, as the film tends to ride up whilst you are pouring. Do not shake the film, allowing any excess that wants to run off to do so naturally for a few seconds. Now hang the film up gently.

Hope this helps!

-- Ed Hurst (bullmoo@hotmail.com), March 21, 2002.

I must have used about every wetting agent on the market in Europe and the US. Tetenal Mirasol simply is the best, much better than Photo Flo. To get best results DO NOT use a squeege, but simply fill the tank after washing with fresh water and add the matching amount of Mirasol. Just hang the dripping wet film. The Mirasol will take care of the water. Do not heat-dry. Do not shake. If you still get marks your water has too much calcium. The solution: Use distilled water for the final rinse. This should take care of your problem.

-- Volker Schier (Volker.Schier@fen-net.de), March 21, 2002.

Water marks are caused by dissolved minerals in your water supply, usually calcium. You can install an extensive water treatment system on you water intake; or, you can do as others have suggested, give your film and prints a final rinse with distilled water (distilled water is a misnomer; it should be called mineral free water). I save the condensate water from my dehumidifier. It is, for the most part, mineral free.

-- Howard Anderson (howardanderson49@yahoo.com), March 22, 2002.

After the final water rinse, I now simply hang the film and give it a pretty good spritz with distilled water without any wetting agent using a spray bottle. This will flush any residual rinse water away as well as any dust that might have jumped on the film at the last moment. I get absolutely no water spotting using this method.

-- Steve Wahl (stevenbwahl@earthlink.net), March 26, 2002.

A final 30-60 sec rinse in distilled water, not demineralized or deionized or spring water, is the best answer. Maybe a little photo flow at 1/2 Kodak's recommendation. I don't touch the image area of the film with anything, period.

A. Adams had problems with Ilford paper products until two Factory Reps. visited his darkroom and discovered that he had a deionizer system on his water supply. They bypassed it and everything was fine.-John Sexton.

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), March 26, 2002.