Rollei RWA WETTING AGENT

kreuzbaer · 2016-04-02T20:20:12+00:00

Hallo, hat jemand Erfahrung mit dem "Rollei RWA Wetting Agent c" bezüglich Verdünnung und "Niemals den Film abstreifen"? Werner

kreuzbaer

Hello, Does anyone have any experience with "Rollei RWA Wetting Agent c" in terms of dilution and the advice not to "ever wipe the film"? Werner

AntiLynd

Hi Werner, ? Wetting agent is one of those things where it really doesn’t matter which brand you use. It could say Rollei, Leica or Hasselblad on the bottle – it’s highly unlikely that any brand *wouldn’t* fulfil this single, straightforward purpose. ? If it doesn’t absolutely have to say ‘Rollei’ on it, get yourself a bottle of Adoflo. It costs €6.99 here at the host’s for 250ml. You probably won’t need a larger quantity in the next few years. Because:

Regarding dilution

? If you have, say, 500ml of water in your container as a final rinse after wetting, then add about half a teaspoon (or a very small dash) of wetting agent, roughly 1–2ml; if in doubt, it’s better to use too little than too much. So you can work out how far a small bottle will take you. Before it’s all used up, the contents will probably have oxidised or become contaminated with bacteria. ? As for scraping the film: hopefully, whatever else you do or use, you never do that anyway! There is no reason to underestimate the risk of damage that physical contact between objects and the film can cause, compared to the quick satisfaction of your curiosity through faster drying. ? The only correct procedure after rinsing is surely: ? * Soak the film in the wetting agent solution (using deionised water!). Set this aside for now. ? * Remove the film from the spiral. Only touch the sides! ? * Optional: Tip for people under 200cm tall: with KB, leave frame 18 blank (empty frame) for easier handling; this gives you a large area in the middle to grip the film, halved to 90cm ? * Hang the film on a line or similar with a bucket underneath ? * Slowly pour the wetting agent over the suspended film ? * Get out of the room immediately and do not re-enter for the next few hours (if you have several films, you can temporarily store them all in water so that you carry out these steps for all the films together as your very last task in the room) ? There are bound to be other ‘one true’ methods mentioned. Just pick one...

Peckham

Hello Werner, My suggestion for what to do after the final rinse isn’t the only option, of course, but it’s proved extremely useful for me: I place the film, still on the spiral, into a salad spinner from the kitchen and give it a good spin. To balance out any unevenness, it’s best to put two spirals in straight away. If you’re only developing one film, it’s a good idea to place at least one empty spiral on the opposite side of the spinner. After this procedure, the film isn’t dry, but it’s far from wet. Nothing drips anymore and any drying spots don’t stand a chance. Of course, the film also dries completely much faster overall afterwards. Good luck trying it out Best regards Peter

fototiger

Regarding the dosage: I find that 8 drops per litre is sufficient, but for the final rinse I also use distilled (demineralised) water and then soak the films in the reels for about 1 minute. I then take the reels out and give them a good shake in my hand. I then take the film (120 roll film) in my hand and hold it horizontally between my hands for about 2 minutes, so that the remaining water collects on one side. I hang 35mm film horizontally on my shower curtain rail for the first few minutes; my arms would be too short to hold it otherwise. With 35mm film, I wait until most of the water has drained off to the very outer edge below the perforations. € Only then do I hang the film up. On the side where the water has collected, it then drains off nicely – and this is on a part of the film where there is no image data. There is then so little residual liquid left that I wouldn’t know where else to wipe it off. € It’s best if you find a method (of your own) that doesn’t require wiping.

kreuzbaer

Hello AntiLynd, hello Peter, hello Fototiger, Thank you very much for your advice. I’ve been in the business for quite some time. And yes: I’ve been using a squeegee. That worked well for a very long time. But as I want to stop using it because of the scratches, I bought Rollei’s ‘Wundertonikum’. Adding 5% to the purified water seemed quite a lot to me. I tried it on a test film, though, and whilst there were no scratches, there were dry spots and streaks from the wetting agent on the film. I’ve just evaluated my first test film with approx. 2% wetting agent added, followed by spinning in a modified salad spinner (spinner plus two wine corks, two small wood screws and washers). It looks very good. Thanks again and best regards Werner € …

Bonderer

I use the salad spinner and then run it through between two fingers – it works very well. The water here is very good, so there’s no need for demineralised water. Wetting agents are probably quite similar, but… Personally, I swapped the wetting agent for an image silver stabiliser – AGFA Sistan or a successor – a long time ago. It acts like a wetting agent but (hopefully) improves the long-term stability of my negatives. I can’t say whether I’ll live to see that, but it’s reassuring. And the price is likely to be similar to that of a wetting agent. But I’ve found a new use for it: I clean my vinyl records with it during the first wash cycle. It works very well.