Photo-Flo

[zrfraser]

Ok for my 2 cents. I work in my colleges darkroom and a girl was a having the same trouble. I asked her about all her steps and it seemed fine. I then asked about her photo-flo (aristaflo) usage and found the culprit. She was using way to much and not agitating at all. I told her to use one or two drops of the agent and agitate vigoursly for about 90 seconds. Then we took a squeege and dried them and hung them at a diagonal in the drying closet. There was no more cloudiness. All the photo flo does is help dry the film before hard water deposits form. If you get deposits then use a little baby oil on the emulsion side of the film with a little lens cleaning cloth.

Hope this helps

Z

[drew2143]

Ok, here's the deal from what i've been told. Photo flow IS for clearing up water spots on negative film. However, if you squegee your film you shouldn't have a problem with water spots. Besides, photoflow is not needed for negative film. I know alot of people and kodak say it is but from what i've heard the films so plasticy it doesn't effect it. We just stopped using photoflow last year in the labs and have had great results. P.S. they make a special formula to clean negatives with.

[Franglais]

Ok, here's the deal from what i've been told. Photo flow IS for clearing up water spots on negative film. However, if you squegee your film you shouldn't have a problem with water spots. Besides, photoflow is not needed for negative film. I know alot of people and kodak say it is but from what i've heard the films so plasticy it doesn't effect it. We just stopped using photoflow last year in the labs and have had great results. P.S. they make a special formula to clean negatives with.

My understanding is that photo flow is similar to the liquid detergent that you use to wash your dishes. All it does is remove the surface tension of the water that remains on your film after wiping off.

Normally the water that's left will form big drops on the surface of your film. If you live in a "hard" water area with lots of minerals dissolved in the water, these things will precipitate out as the water evaporates and leave you with a white mark on your film (positive or negative).

If you use distilled water for washing then you don't get the minerals.

If you use Photo Flo it destroys the surface tension of the water so it makes a thin even layer on the film instead of collecting into drops. When the water evaporates the minerals still precipitate out but they're spread more evenly so you don't notice them.

I used to use 2 drops of Photo Flo for a 600ml tank (2 24x36 films) but I increased it to 5 because I live in a hard water area. I never heard of Photo Flo making film cloudy.

Charles

[another view]

Normally the water that's left will form big drops on the surface of your film. If you live in a "hard" water area with lots of minerals dissolved in the water, these things will precipitate out as the water evaporates and leave you with a white mark on your film (positive or negative).

If you use distilled water for washing then you don't get the minerals.

That's exactly why I used distilled water. I "squeeged" my negs between my index and middle fingers before I hung them in the shower to dry. Not a perfect setup but it worked pretty well.