Film Dryer

[Voigtlander]

Dear Friends,

I am getting dusts on my negatives when I hang them to dry. I am trying to get a film dryer but they are all so expensive. Is there any cheaper film dryer out there? What alternatives that are available?

Regards,
Voigtlander

 

[hoppinghippo]

Dear Peter, one way is to use your hairdryer. Dry the shiny side of the neg first at least 30cm away from the neg, then dry the emulsion side of the neg again at least 30cm away. it won't be completely dry tho so you still need to air dry overnite. what I do is I carefully hang it in my cupboard away from drafts. alternatively, use a showerhead and shower down your toilet to get rid of dust. then hang in the toilet. may need to control amt of wind getting in tho. I"m currently trying to use cardboard to make a make shift neg mini cupboard.

 

[canturn]

Dear Peter, one way is to use your hairdryer. Dry the shiny side of the neg first at least 30cm away from the neg, then dry the emulsion side of the neg again at least 30cm away. it won't be completely dry tho so you still need to air dry overnite. what I do is I carefully hang it in my cupboard away from drafts. alternatively, use a showerhead and shower down your toilet to get rid of dust. then hang in the toilet. may need to control amt of wind getting in tho. I"m currently trying to use cardboard to make a make shift neg mini cupboard.

Depending on where u are located, hairdryer can be a sure fire way to get dust on the negs. The other prob is the tendency for negs to curl.

U can DIY a film dryer actually w/o blowing a hole in your pocket. Get one of those clothes carrier bag with a zipper (very cheap at Ikea) and hang your negs in their. Now the bag usually has 2 openings, one on top and one below. Attach a 3M filter in front of the blower of the hairdryer to trap the dust and put it through the top opening and blow downwards. Make sure u seal the top part to prevent dust from flying in. Your bag will inflate and if you're drying more than 1 neg, you might wanna consider putting lead weight to prevent negs from moving around and touching each other.

I would advise against turning on the heat at the beginning for now more than 3 minutes.... use low heat if your dryer has that feature, in case bag catches fire :sweat: Continue blowing using cold air and you should have dry negs in no time.

I've been using this method to dry my negs w/o getting dust on them. The only downside of it is that negs tend to curl. However, if you're using a glass negative carrier (which I don't), that shouldn't be much of a prob. Unless I can't help it, normally I'll just hang dry them overnight in my darkroom.