Alchohol bath?

[zachary]

I wanna try this because im curious what Wayne will say...

Ive read around on it, and it seems that a bath in alchohol to remove dust and dry the film wont hurt it, and works!

I tried it, and it works! A very good way to clean your film. I used 91% isopropyl alcohol. Seems to do the job.

[Valerie]

Seriously? I've mixed my photoflo bath with alcohol, but never straight. I, too, would like to know what others think..... I'd be willing to try this.

[wclavey]

My only concern with it would be whatever the alcohol is mixed with. The alcohol will evaporate quickly, carrying with it some of the water. But if the water was not distilled water, it will probably leave little crystalline deposits... much like you would get if you just let the water dry on the film to begin with.

Now, with 91% alcohol, the amount of water may not be that much - - not the same as a dip in tap water and left to dry. If you are going to use this scheme to promote more rapid drying, then I think the idea of mixing the photoflo with alcohol and rinsing in that has a lot more merit.

Although I think that the real challenge of film drying is getting the water out of the emulsion, not off of the surface. Perhaps, if the alcohol were anhydrous, like 100% ethanol, it would absorb the water out of the emulsion... but I think that rapid removal of the water from the emulsion might lead it to shrinking or cracking. I would prefer the regular dunk in photoflo & water...

Of course, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah - - it has been 25 years since I ran a research lab... you get what you pay for... caveat emptor.

[KJ Smith]

Are you guys having that big a issue?

I do a 30 sec, soak in photo-flo, shake it off, squeegee if its roll film and hang it over the kitchen sink.

Sheet film, I shake it and let it dry on the reel sitting on a couple of paper towels.

Seems to work just fine for mre....

[wclavey]

Kevin, my thoughts, exactly... If air drying takes too long, buy or make a film drier...

[venchka]

Alcohol is for internal use only.

[zachary]

Ive read that many use it for washing film

[zachary]

Isopropyl alcohol for cleaning negatives?

[Big Dog]

Back in the 70s and 80s (and earlier, I would guess) there was a common product called "Yankee Instant Film Drier" that was essentially an alcohol mixture. During the 80s I worked for a security company where I maintained film cameras in banks. (This was before video, much less digital) When there was an "incident", I had to pull the film, process and print as quickly as possible to give the "evidence" to the FBI agent who could not let me or the film out of his sight for chain of evidence purposes.

Anyway, the Yankee film drier worked, but seemed unneeded under normal circumstances. One would be better off (IMHO) addressing the dust problem over all in the their darkroom.

Originally Posted by zachary

Isopropyl alcohol for cleaning negatives?

Cleaning dry film is another matter. Again, normal dust should be removable with air and/or a proper brush. If the film really needs to be cleaned, there are some good products for this, including Pec12 and the Edwal film cleaner. Kodak no longer makes theirs, but I used it for years. The Edwal product is similar.

[zachary]

Yeah, Ive been talking about dry film, sorry I wasnt specific.

[tropicpine]

Originally Posted by zachary

I wanna try this because im curious what Wayne will say...

I was expecting 'Use Diafine!'

[KJ Smith]

Originally Posted by tropicpine

I was expecting 'Use Diafine!'

Diafine causes dust spots.