Distilled water?

[benmacphoto]

I'm sorry if this has been discussed before but the internet at my job is terribly slow so searching is ungodly slow. I was wondering however if anyone uses distileld water in film developing? The past few months ive noticed mineral deposites on my film and cloudy water. I will be moving in April and will be setting up my darkroom and would like to eliminate this mineral problem. So I was thinking of using distilled water for mixing chemicals. Or the other option would be a nice filter system for the running water. Any imput?

Thanks, Ben.

 

[Santafecino]

Distilled water generally prevents water spots on the negatives when they dry. So it's good for a final rinse.

I'm not sure I would mix my processing chemicals with distilled water. If the water you have gives satisfactory density on development, changing to distilled water might require you to recalculate your development time.
--Lindsay

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Ben:

It really depends on the water where you are living. In NYC, I found the tap water to be a neutral factor (no pun intended). In Jerusalem, I was unable to use certain developers because of the limestone aquifers made the water's pH unsuitable. In Vermont, I mix my chemicals with well water filtered for particulate matter and distilled water plus Photo-flo for the final rinse. I have seen great variation depending on the water source over the years. An advantage of distilled water is that it is the same everywhere. An inexpensive alternative is to use water from a dehumidifier run through a coffee filter.

Note that a filter for particulate matter will not help with minerals that are dissolved -- it only removes chunks of stuff.

Seriously, though. Run some tests at your new location for film speed, spotting and so forth. That is the only way to tell whether you have a problem that distilled water can solve. If you have salts or calcium dissolved in your drinking water, a filter will not help with water spots on your negatives.



Sincerely,

Ben Marks

 

[VictorM.]

Before consumer type filters became available, I used distilled water to mix developer and for a final film rinse. Development times were more consistent, grain a little finer and I rarely had problems with watermarks. Now I use filtered water.