Boney Loc: Huntington Beach

Just a thought. Multi layer materials sometimes have issues when the humidity varies. Perhaps your film is very dry and could use an increase in the ambient humidity. You didn’t say where you live but if you are in the Southwest consider letting them sit in a higher humidity environment for a day or two. Make sure the film is not rolled or stacked tightly. I don’t know an easy way to do this but maybe something like a plant terrarium could help.

blackhound Loc: East Stroudsburg, PA

The cupping of your film or "curl" as it is more commonly referred to is caused by the loss of moisture in the emulsion. When photographic film is stored at a low relative humidity (RH) for an extended period it will curl with the emulsion side in. Some manufacturers' films were more susceptible than others to low RH and will begin to curl almost immediately when the RH dips under 50%.

So how do you solve the problem? You should be able to reduce or eliminate the curl by re-climatizing the film. In other words, exposing it to a high RH for a period of time. You can test this theory by bringing a couple of strips into the bathroom when you take a shower. Typically the RH will reach 99% in a bathroom after the shower has been run for 5-10 minutes. This will work if the film was stored flat in albums or similar conditions. If the film has been in a curled state for a long period of time, the problem may be more difficult but not impossible to solve.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Excellent professional procedure write up Bill - kudos!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Thanks. I'm digitizing film from my college days in preparation for a 45th reunion video "slide" show coming up in June. I've copied about a hundred rolls of film so far, with about 90 more to go. Then I need to finish copying my high school negatives. I'm copying every slide and negative to positives and culling in Lightroom Classic. It is slow going, but satisfying.

AJFRED Loc: Alabama

Thank you for all the work that went into that paper, and for posting it in pdf form for the masses. I an about to embark on such a journey, and appreciate having a “heads-up”.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You are welcome. If it helps you digitize your memories, it's worth doing. I do this to give back to an industry that gave me so much over the years. Good luck on your journey!

Boris77

Thanks for such an informative paper. Looks like a solid source of information for converting film to digital. Since I save all sorts of things and have done copy work I should be able to set up a system from the contents of my darkroom and photography collection. Thus far I have been lazy and only scanned B&W prints I made and mounted. They have the dodging built in. It worked especially well for my 50 year college reunion, where I actually used the new prints at a smaller size.
Unfortunately shooting new pictures with digital is so much fun that it takes a special reason to revitalize the old. I will read your whole paper on another snowy day; maybe it can move me off of the computer long enough to use some of the mechanical equipment I so carefully saved. Thanks again.
Boris

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

What I've found is that Lightroom work is so much more fun than darkroom work ever was! I grew up with a darkroom at home. But digital imaging is so much more powerful. The images I posted earlier in this thread never looked that good on wet process paper. The control possible with digital is much more precise, AND it becomes much easier to do things most people would never bother with when printing conventionally. Of course, Photoshop is a whole other world of tools and extended possibilities...

I never printed from color negatives at home. I worked in a professional color lab, and let them do it. But they seldom got the color and density to my taste. With Negative Lab Pro, I get what I want. It's so much better.