Changed my mind about using a hair dryer to speed up film drying

Watched a guy at the local camera shop in Portland show me his before and after negatives. He used a hair dryer on low heat for 10 minutes. His negatives came out spotless. Mine took 3 hours hanging and got dust spots every time. The difference was night and day. No more dust nibs stuck to wet emulsion. Anyone else ditch the hanging method?

2 comments

2 Comments

tylerw7210d ago

Huh, I gotta say I see this completely different. I've been hanging my film to dry for years and with a decent dust-free area and some careful handling, I almost never get dust spots. Maybe your drying area has more dust than you think. The thing about a hair dryer even on low heat is that it can cause uneven drying and potentially warp the emulsion. I've seen it happen with 120 film especially, where the edges dry faster than the middle and curl up. That can mess with scanning and enlarging. I also worry about hardening the emulsion too fast and trapping chemicals inside. A slow, even dry lets the fixer and stabilizer do their thing properly. My negatives always come out clean after an overnight hang in a still, clean bathroom.

james67210d agoMost Upvoted

Dust free bathroom works fine. Hair dryer risks emulsion damage I've seen too many times.