Distilled Water

[Teuthida]

How many of you use distilled water when mixing your film devolper/stop/fixer? If so, do you notice a difference in the quality of tour negatives as opposed to using tap water?

 

[benlees]

I don't use distilled to mix the chemicals but I do use it as the last cycle for washing the film before the distilled/photoflo dunk. I have hard water around here and I find this method gets rid of any residues that just using tap water left behind. The film dries without streaks.

 

[jbrianfoto]

I brew my own distilled water, I use it to mix my chemicles. It makes my chemicles last longer (nothing grows in the water since it is distilled). At least where I was in Arizona, the water was really nasty and crud would grow in tap water if you left it in a closed bottle for a few weeks.

 

[JRG]

Whether it matters is apt to depend mightily on the tap water where you live. At my house, the water has very high lime content. I wouldn't mix any chemicals with that tap water. I use de-ionized water to mix chemicals, and distilled water for the final rinse. Elsewhere, you might get by with tap water for all but the final rinse.

 

[joeswe]

I use de-ionized water to prepare stock and working solutions of film developer (in my case mostly Xtol, which is said to be sensitive to impurities in water) and also for the final bath in wetting agent. Tap water here is quite hard, so it helps to keep the negatives free from stains. This was definitely a problem when I mixed wetting agent with normal tap water.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Yes, always distilled for everything, and yes it makes a difference.

 

[Freakscene]

I use water deionised in a Milli-Q system for all my chemicals. The tap water here is hard, contains a lot of iron and is very variable between winter and summer, and between dry and wet years.

if you have any problems or doubts about your water, you should use distilled or deionised water for any ascorbate developers and for the final rinse, the former to ensure the developer is not deactivated by oxidation of the ascorbate, the latter to ensure you don't get drying marks.

Marty

Marty