Hi- I've been having a heckuva lot of trouble lately with curled and warped negatives. Someone has suggested that humidity (or lack of it) may be the culprit, but this seems worse than I ever remember. I use TMX, TMY, TMZ and have been experimenting with the Ilford family, and none of them want to lay flat. My developer is usually T-Max (or D76) and fixer is Kodak, powder or liquid. Would hardener in the fixer have any impact on "flatness"? I've recently stopped using it after reading somewhere that it may cause various problems with the negatives. Of course, they always curve toward the emulsion. Thanks for any help! John

-- John Boyd (jboyd@vcnet.com), December 16, 1997

Answers

Negatives or Onion Rings?

The new very thin base films have a tendency to curl like onion rings. Kodak's T-Max in particular, but HiSpeed InfrRed is really bad in this regard. Here's how I solve the problem: after drying, carefully wind the (uncut) film backward (emulsion side out) tightly and secure it with photo tape. Leave it like this overnight and the curl will go away. Makes proof sheets a lot easier!

-- Michael D Fraser (mdfraser@earthlink.net), December 16, 1997.

I just hang the 35mm roll to dry, weighted with a couple of clothes pegs or similar. 12 hours after processing, I cut it into strips, put it into sleeves and close the ring binder, thus putting a fair old weight on the sleeve. 12 hours later, they are fine.

If I don't put weight on the sleeve, the negs do curl badly, and nothing seems to take it out fully.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), December 16, 1997.

Negative Curl

My method is this: After cutting the film into strips and inserting into the sleeves, I put it on a flat surface and cover with a few heavy books overnight. This flattens them adequately. Hasan

-- Hasan Ali (hasan2@msn.com), December 16, 1997.

I get badly curled negs when the humidity drops signifigantly and I've found that by putting a pan of water at the bottom of my drying cabinet and running the fan only (no heat) I get fairly straight negs. I think the curling comes from drying the negs too much. Take them out as soon as they are " dry enough " to touch (test on leader area of course)

-- Tony Mastres (mastres@id.ucsb.edu), December 19, 1997.