Ilford Hypam fixer: question on reusing

[edge-t]

Hi all,

Started shooting film again. Getting back into Black and White and just made a purchase on HC-110 and Ilford Hypam fixer. While I know that both has pretty long shelf life in concentrated form, I do have a question regarding Ilford Hypam.

Did a search, found some information that Hypam can only be stored in diluted form for 7 days. Does that mean that I can't reuse it, even after developing only 1 roll of 35?

Should I just shoot a couple of rolls before even developing my negatives? How many rolls can I use with one mix of Ilford Hypam?

Thanks for reading.

 

[kully]

Hallo "edge-t", I make up 1.5 litres of that fixer each month and replace it after a month. It keeps fine for that time.

Ilford state a capacity of 24 rolls per 1 litre of working strength fixer.

 

[edge-t]

Thanks Kully, that's all I wanted to find out.🙂

 

[maddoc]

Same here, I make 1.25 l of working solution and usually process (fix) up to 20 rolls (135-36). You can easily test the remaining strength of your fixer: just hold a snippet of the film you are going to develop into the fixing working solution and stop the time until it has become totally clear. If this time is still less than 50 % of the recommended fixing time (Hypam: 5 minutes) then your fixing solution is still OK.

 

[edge-t]

...just hold a snippet of the film you are going to develop into the fixing working solution and stop the time until it has become totally clear. If this time is still less than 50 % of the recommended fixing time (Hypam: 5 minutes) then your fixing solution is still OK.

Great tip, I'll keep that in mind. thanks!

 

[edge-t]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the information on Ilford Hypam. Got 2 rolls of 400TX developed(one pushed to 1600) with the same mix of hypam--it's sitting in a plastic container for end of the week, where I'll be developing another 2 rolls of HP5.

Looking at the negatives, both look pretty fine with the 1600 looking more contrasty. Since it's my first time developing my own negatives, I don't know how they'll look like once scanned or printed.

thanks again.

 

[tedwin]

just hold a snippet of the film you are going to develop into the fixing working solution and stop the time until it has become totally clear. If this time is still less than 50 % of the recommended fixing time (Hypam: 5 minutes) then your fixing solution is still OK.

I use a slightly more belt and braces approach, but very similar. First I put a drop of fix on the snippet and forget about it for a few minutes. Then I do the dip and swish bit until the dot created by the first drip disappears. If it takes more than 2 minutes at ball park 20 degs C I chuck it and mix up fresh. Without using this method, when your fix is a little tired, it can be hard to see if the film has really fully cleared.

Ted.