Dilute fixer for film?

[crawdiddy]

I use Kodak Professional Fixer for both film and paper, with the following dilution ratios:

Film 1:1
Paper 1:9

The fixer is the classic stuff, 700g of powder dissolved into a gallon of water to make stock solution.

I think the 1:9 dilution for paper prints is fairly standard, but I wonder if I can use a less concentrated soup for film than 1:1.

What do you guys use?

 

[Mackinaw]

.......I think the 1:9 dilution for paper prints is fairly standard, but I wonder if I can use a less concentrated soup for film than 1:1.....

I would think so, but you would probably have to extend fix time to compensate for the added dilution.

I use Ilford Rapid Fix at 1+4 for film.

Jim B.

 

[Rob-F]

I use Kodak Professional Fixer for both film and paper, with the following dilution ratios:

Film 1:1
Paper 1:9

The fixer is the classic stuff, 700g of powder dissolved into a gallon of water to make stock solution.

I think the 1:9 dilution for paper prints is fairly standard, but I wonder if I can use a less concentrated soup for film than 1:1.

What do you guys use?

Funny, the powdered Kodak fixer I've used said, makes one gallon for film, two gallons for paper. I've not bought the powdered stuff in a while; maybe they changed the dilution because the T-Max films are so hard on fixer?

 

[EliasK]

I use Ilford Rapid fixer diluted 1:10 as one shot fixer. 5 min at 20°C fpr all films except Tmax -7min.

 

[wpb]

You can visually inspect the film after a minute in the fixer; just add a minute or two to the fixing time once the film has lost its "milky" appearance and the base has become clear.

 

[retinax]

I use Ilford Rapid fixer diluted 1:10 as one shot fixer. 5 min at 20°C fpr all films except Tmax -7min.

That's like using your shoes or watch or frying pan one shot. Fixer is formulated to be re-used. No downside to it.

You can visually inspect the film after a minute in the fixer; just add a minute or two to the fixing time once the film has lost its "milky" appearance and the base has become clear.

That seems risky. Conventional wisdom is to fix for at least twice the clearing time. Clearing time needs to be determined by comparison, not just looking at the film one is fixing - light milkyness won't be visible.

Can't help the OP, don't know the product. I'm curious, too, does the capacity of the fixer depend on the amount of actual fixer and is largely unaffected by the dilution, so that not much is to be gained by diluting it more, except longer fixing times?

 

[nikon_sam]

I mix a gallon to strictly use for film, when I print I mix what I need from liquid concentrate then dispose it when done printing...when the film fixer no longer does its job after ten minutes I make new film fixer. I mix to manufacturer's recommendations...

 

[Prest_400]

I use fixer at 1+4 both for film an paper. Always reused, first for film but then I rotate it towards prints. I did have to dispose of 1L after a few rolls and quite a few 24x30 prints... Used the fixer on a Holga roll and it had an uneven pattern which was "fixed" (bad pun) after mixing a new batch of chemistry.

That's like using your shoes or watch or frying pan one shot. Fixer is formulated to be re-used. No downside to it.

+1. So far I've just used HC110 as developer, that is one shot and simple. OT but I've seen reports of people reusing it for developing prints. Haven't tried yet that.

Paper Developer and Fixer is within the pool of "free to use" chemistry in our community darkroom. The former I do one shot and the latter, as said, I reuse.

I mix a gallon to strictly use for film, when I print I mix what I need from liquid concentrate then dispose it when done printing...when the film fixer no longer does its job after ten minutes I make new film fixer. I mix to manufacturer's recommendations...

Your post reminds me that sitting in a tray is not the best for chemistry, though so far I had no issues reusing fixer. But at 1+4 strength for RC prints it might have a long while until it exhausts/fails. The Adox rapid fixer I first used got a sulfur smell rather quickly but it seemed to work fine. The 5L Agfa fixer the darkroom has does not exhibit the same issue.

 

[presspass]

Why do you want to do this? Fixer is among the least expensive chemicals and, compared with the effort you have taken to make the photos, a real bargain even when used at the recommended dilution.

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Just checked my Ilford Hypam fixer bottle. In two years of home developing with about 200 reels of black and white under my belt, I have used 3 litres of the 5. At an average of £35 per 5l, that works out at about 10p per roll. Checking the life of the concentrate, Ilford recommends 2 years if unopened, 6 months if opened. I continue to get clearing times of about 2 minutes, so using Ilford's recommendations I keep film fixing for 5 minutes, 6 for Bergger Pancro. But I can see a situation where some of the concentrate is ditched as too old.

I can't see any purpose whatsoever in diluting it - 200 reels at an extra 5 minutes is almost 17 hours of my life I won't get back...