My First Film – Step 4

Washing and drying the film

Now the film needs to be washed thouroughly. If you do not have 20 deg. Celsius tab water available premix some in a big jug or bucket.

1) Open the tank by removing the top. Your film is fixed now and not sensitive to light anymore.
You can either place a funnel in the core of the developing tank and let water rinse from above or attach a force film washer (in this case you have to close the tank again). You also have to close the tank again if you want to use the 20 deg. C water from the jug.
With a force film washer or funnel in the core wash for at least 5-8 minutes.
If you use water from a jug fill the tank fully with water and agitate continously for 2 minutes. Discard the water in the sink (not in the jug!). Refill and keep on going for 5 rounds.

2) After washing rinse the film for one minute in distilled water mixed with ADOFLO wetting agent.

3) Open the tank, take out the spiral, open the spiral and carefully take out the film.
Make sure to thoroughly wash your tank to remove any residual wetting agent as it must not mix with the developer of the next film to be processed in your tank!
Your film is sensitive to scratches while it is wet. You can scrape the emulsion of the film with your fingernail now.
The ADOFLO helps you to get the remaining water from your film. If you do not have a squeegee use kitchen tissue (strong kind), fold it 4 times and whipe of your film in one swipe by pulling it between your fingers and the kitchen tissue over the entire length.

4) Hang your film with a filmclip to dry. Make sure to place the clip with the weight at the bottom so your film is stretched nicely.
When your film dries it must be protected from dust. A good place is your shower cabinet because you clean it from dust naturally every time you take a shower. If dust gets onto the film now it can stick/glue to the emulsion and will not come of easily when the film is dry. Some films have the tendency to curl when they are dry. If you are using your shower cabinet to dry the film fill the bottom of the shower with hot water so your film is „steamed“ and dryes slowly. This helps against the curl. Be carefull not to get any splashes on the film. Dont keep the hot water running. A one time fill of about 5 cm is enough.

5) When your film is dry place it on a light table and cut it up in stripes of 6 frames. The first stripe should be only 5 frames plus the film beginning (black part).
The last stripe will be less than 6 images. Leave some extra blank film. This eases handling in the enlarger later.
Place the film immediately after cutting up in ADOFILES to protect it from dust and getting scratched.

If your film is still pink or blue this is residual anti halation dye. It´s a myth that you have to fix the film until this dye disappears. Fix the film acording to manufacturers recomendations or use this simple rule. The dye colour will bleach quickly under sunlight. If it bothers you place the film into the sun for a few hours.
The same will happen to your fixer or developer if it got coloured by anti halation dyes. After a few days the liquid will not be coloured anymore.

Done!