Fixer options/alternatives

[bonatto]

I am currently shooting Arista Premium 400 B&W film, exposed at 320.

This has been my workflow:

Pre-soak

Develop in D-76 at 20c standard dilution and times for 400 speed

Ilfostop stop bath

Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+5

Wash cycle

Ilfotol

Dry

I'm OK with all the chems, with the exception of the Rapid Fixer, which I feel I throw out too much of (even after re-using, I'm getting about 3-4 uses).

I want to prolong the life of the fixer, or switch to something else. Any tips?

Thanks

 

[presspass]

That seems low for the rapid fix. I have not used Ilford's product in a while, but I don't remember getting so few films before it exhausted. I don't know what's available where you are, but in the U.S., Sprint's system has a higher capacity, and if you use their stop bath and fix, they exhaust at the same time. That's handy, because the indicator in the stop bath will show when the fix is exhausted. Typically, I do two to eight rolls of 35 Arista Premium 400 a week and get three months out of a gallon of mixed rapid fix.

 

[bonatto]

That seems low for the rapid fix. I have not used Ilford's product in a while, but I don't remember getting so few films before it exhausted. I don't know what's available where you are, but in the U.S., Sprint's system has a higher capacity, and if you use their stop bath and fix, they exhaust at the same time. That's handy, because the indicator in the stop bath will show when the fix is exhausted. Typically, I do two to eight rolls of 35 Arista Premium 400 a week and get three months out of a gallon of mixed rapid fix.

I've used sprint's stuff in the US before, really liked it, but I'm located in Europe now..

 

[Benjamin Marks]

Well there are two factors here: the number of square inches of film you put through the fixer, and its age after mixing. I think the Sprint bottles used to list the number of films you can safely put through before discarding. I think it is 20 or so at working strength, assuming you are putting all 20 rolls through in a reasonable amount of time. Wild guess: 2 weeks.

A practical way to test is to time how long it takes a test strip to clear when the fixer is fresh, and then discard when the time to clear doubles.

As mentioned above, Sprint puts an indicator in their stop bath that changes color after a certain number of rolls. There are also stand-alone fixer test solutions that you can use.

 

[Rhodes]

I use Ilford Rapid Fixer as my acid fixer, but in 1+4, I think that's the dilution recomendation. That was a typo error or do you dilute more the fixer using at 1+5? Could be that? My fixer go for many rolls and do a test strip to see if I need a fresh working solution!

 

[clayne]

You're not listing volumes here. What volume of fixer are you mixing up at 1+5?

 

[bonatto]

sorry guys, was indeed a typo. I keep a dilution of 1+4 of just over 20 fld OZs in a platic bottle that I'll re-use.

 

[clayne]

I think your best bet is to use a larger batch. 20 fl oz is about .6L and that's going to start saturating quickly.

I recommend getting a 5L plastic container from Freestyle and mixing up 5L at a time. You can augment this by using 2-stage fixing, which will provide a 2nd stage buffer against any 1st stage saturation. Read up on 2 stage fixing and the process. It's more time, but more safe.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Ever since I switched to the 5 reel AP tank, I use a 1.5 Litre bottle for
the Fixer working solution. I put around 300 ML of Rapid Fixer and
1200ml of water, ie. 1+4 dilution. I find that I can get away
with 50 rolls of film before I discard the working solution and make
a new batch of Fixer working solution.

In other words, I use it ten times of fixer reuse before making a new batch.
I tried 20 times previously but found the fix time to be too long, with lots of
browning on the negatives. My Rule of thumb (which works for me):

1-5 times = 5 - 10mins
6 - 10 times = 10 -20 mins .

Of course this only works for me, here in the tropics, your mileage will
certainly be different.


raytoei

 

[Terry Christian]

I mix my fixer up in 1 L batches, and I can get about 20 rolls (or equivalent) at least before it's time to toss it and start fresh. I don't do the clip test, though I could; I use the test drops one can get from Freestyle or elsewhere. It comes in a little plastic bottle and one puts a couple of drops in a small quantity of fixer to test. If the drops dissolve, your fixer is fine. If they form a white precipitate, it's time to change fixer. You can also tell your fixer needs to be changed when the smell changes from the sharp, acrid smell of fresh fix to a sulphurous smell.

I mostly use Ilford Rapid Fixer, though lately I've been trying TF-5 from the Photographers' Formulary and love it for the much reduced odor.