Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/04/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Apr 21, 2009, at 3:04 PM, Jim wrote: > First, it is filled with dust spots, even though my basement is > clean. Any > thoughts on how to avoid this? I hung the film to dry from a ceiling > rafter, with clips at top and bottom. > Second, I had streaks across the film, even after a five-minute > wash cycle > with photoflo. Jim, A basement that looks clean to the naked eye might as well be a sandy beach to wet film. Illuminate the basement with a concentrated flashlight beam or the projection beam from a slide projector to see the millions of dust specks floating around. The best way to avoid spots on film is to dry it in an enclosed space or cabinet with filtered air. In over 60 years of photography the absolute best film dryer I've ever found was the Kleen-Dri, a device made by Statham Instruments, Inc. Statham Instruments made professional measurement instruments for a number of years and is well known in the electronics industry. The dryer consists of a plastic tube big enough to hold a stack of four Nikkor wire film reels. Near the base of the tube is a metal container filled with silica gel, a powerful desiccant. Below the desiccant container is a small fan. The cover of the film tube contains a foam filter. The whole thing is about 18 inches tall and 6 inches wide and fits into a small cabinet. In operation the reels of film are simply immersed in a very dilute Photo Flo solution, shaken a few times to rid them of large water drops, then placed into the drying tube. The film is not removed from the reels or touched by the fingers. The tube is covered and the fan plugged in. The fan draws air through the reels, through the desiccant cartridge where the water is absorbed, recirculated outside the film reels to the cover where any dust particles are captured by the foam and then through the film, et cetera. Drying take place in 30 minutes or less. After drying the equivalent of 20 reels of 36 exposures the drying time will increase. When the time increases to 40 minutes or so, the desiccant cartridge is refreshed by heating in a 450 degree oven for two hours. I don't know if the Kleen-Dri is still being made. Mine is now 30 years old and still functions perfectly. What is there to go wrong? E- Bay might have one or you might find in a clearance sale from an old photo store. If you are the least bit handy with tools, a similar device might be cobbled up out of a length of PVC plumbing drain pipe. It ain't brain surgery. Larry Z