[Thomas Bertilsson]

I see what you mean. At first, I thought it was the edge of a backlit cloud, but I looked at the negative with an 8x Loupe and it appears to be photo flo residue. Any tips for preventing this in the future? I think I wiped negatives with my index and long fingers as I was removing the negative from the tank with wetting agent. I've seen pros and cons regarding using a squeegee on the negatives. Thanks, and BTW, your recent Sturgeon Bay gallery photograph is fantastic!

Kent

Hi Kent,

There are lots of ways to do this. Kodak makes some really first class films and emulsions, as do Ilford and Fuji. They are treated to be highly resistant to damage during processing. The way I do it is that I take the edge of a rubber windshield wiper, make sure there is absolutely nothing harmful trapped on the blade edge, dip it in wetting agent (PhotoFlo), and gently run it along the entire length of the film. Both sides. Even the emulsion side. I have never had a scratch using this technique, and have used the same wiper blade edge for roughly 1,000 rolls of film. Not a spot on the negs either. I use Sprint 'End of Run' wetting agent, by the way, but I'm sure PhotoFlo works just as well or better.

Thanks for the kind words!

- Thomas