darkroom black and white print washing

[yelofngr]

hello all,

i'm new to making prints in the darkroom, and i'm curious, what happens to prints that aren't sufficiently washed? will they fade years later?
or will they corrode things they contact?

i try to follow this: wash in flowing water for 4 mins, and completely change the tray water at least a couple times, dump out, refill

but sometimes its rushed, i'm not entirely sure of how much residual fixer remains, and, moreover for me theres this amazing sense of water waste.

does anyone have any experience with this topic or any advice?

thanks!

wenson

 

[ChrisN]

Are you using fibre-base paper or resin coated? RC paper washes much more quickly than fibe - Ilford recommends a two-minute wash, and if rushed, 30-seconds under running water.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

As Chris N said, RC paper is fully washed by the time you get to the 4 minute times you use. Fiber paper will turn yellow, with yellow or brown spots on it as it ages. Fiber needs a much longer time. 5 minute pre-wash, 3 minutes in hypo clear, and one hour final wash.

 

[yelofngr]

thanks for the replies guys. i'm using RC so good to hear everything is going accordingly well and proper. fiber prints sound like a whole nother adventure however!

 

[shadowfox]

Use the new Adox MCP paper.
I don't believe that fiber-based paper automatically grant you superior prints. Modern RC papers in my mind has equal the qualities of FB.

 

[rogerzilla]

ISTR washing Agfa Record-Rapid for about half an hour. As this monopolised the tray washer in the darkroom, we went out and bought a Nova one that could do about 10 prints at once.

These were the good old days when I ran the university photographic society and had some colossal budget (membership fees) to squander on equipment for the darkroom. There was some seriously good stuff in there; Schneider lenses on the Durst enlargers, rapid film and print driers, even a decent colour processor if you could be bothered (I only ever did a bit of E6 and Cibachrome). The only thing we never bought was an enlarging meter, because test strips were more useful.

I taught about 100 people to print; the rule was that a print (leaving odd subjects like foggy landscapes aside) had to have a proper black and a proper white somewhere in it. The usual newbie habit was yanking the print out of the developer when it looked right; I made them leave it for the full minute plus an extra 10 seconds, and if it was too dark they had to go and make another exposure.

 

[Colin Corneau]

Hypo clear is your friend.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Hypo clear is your friend.

Except with RC paper.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Chris101]

Use the new Adox MCP paper.
I don't believe that fiber-based paper automatically grant you superior prints. Modern RC papers in my mind has equal the qualities of FB.

RC looks good, and it dries quickly and flat. It doesn't feel the same as a double weight fiber print though. I love the tactile sensation of looking through a stack of 11x14 fiber prints.

 

[_larky]

One day I'll own a darkroom 🙂

 

[Steve M.]

Actually, there's little water waste. I'm sure that wherever you live they have a water treatment facility, so the water is used again and again. Practically speaking, nothing is ever wasted, it's all recycled and changes from one form or another. Life is a cycle, and the universe is essentially a closed system.

 

[semilog]

@Steve: Second law — no free lunch.

Purifying (un-mixing) water, or anything else, is energetically expensive, and it's unwise to assume that a perpetual motion machine is available to do it for you.