Kentmere Variable Contrast RC paper

[OmegaB600]

Im curiously out of wack on this paper,

the package of paper came with a sheet with the following information

for developing, follow the chemical directions or in general 60-90 seconds at 20C

Fix per chemical makers directions. but says "generally fix for 3 minutes"

https://www.freestylephoto.com/static/pdf/product_pdf/kentmere/Kentmere_VC_Select_Technical_Data_Sheet.pdf

Then at lunch at work, I found an Ilford PDF for the paper that says fix for 30 SECONDS in ilford rapid fixer mixed 1:4 like i had it mixed..

So what idiot is writing such screwy things..

 

[Cascadilla]

30 seconds in an ammonium thiosulphate fixer like Ilford rapid fixer would be correct for RC paper. With sodium thiosulphate fixers, the time would be longer--Kodak used to recommend 2 minutes for their RC papers. Maybe AI produced these instructions and hallucinated?

 

[38Deardorff]

Im curiously out of wack on this paper,

the package of paper came with a sheet with the following information

for developing, follow the chemical directions or in general 60-90 seconds at 20C

Fix per chemical makers directions. but says "generally fix for 3 minutes"

https://www.freestylephoto.com/static/pdf/product_pdf/kentmere/Kentmere_VC_Select_Technical_Data_Sheet.pdf

Then at lunch at work, I found an Ilford PDF for the paper that says fix for 30 SECONDS in ilford rapid fixer mixed 1:4 like i had it mixed..

So what idiot is writing such screwy things..

I only mix fixer 1:4 for fixing film. For prints i've always mixed at 1:9.

 

[Cascadilla]

I only mix fixer 1:4 for fixing film. For prints i've always mixed at 1:9.

1:4 gives you a faster fixing time but 1:9 will also work just fine. The community college where I have taught uses 1:9 for print fixer and we train students to use a 2 minute time instead of 30 seconds. Since timing is done by looking up at the second hand on a clock it made sense not to have an extremely short time that could lead to fading or staining if not done precisely.

 

[38Deardorff]

1:4 gives you a faster fixing time but 1:9 will also work just fine. The community college where I have taught uses 1:9 for print fixer and we train students to use a 2 minute time instead of 30 seconds. Since timing is done by looking up at the second hand on a clock it made sense not to have an extremely short time that could lead to fading or staining if not done precisely.

1:9 is also much more economical if you're making big prints....

 

[OmegaB600]

1:4 gives you a faster fixing time but 1:9 will also work just fine. The community college where I have taught uses 1:9 for print fixer and we train students to use a 2 minute time instead of 30 seconds. Since timing is done by looking up at the second hand on a clock it made sense not to have an extremely short time that could lead to fading or staining if not done precisely.

I have never used chemicals or paper that could go with 30 seconds of fixing..

IF i did go with ilford rapid fixer mixed 1:9 would it really be a 2 minute fixing time?


im a cranky man, and i do like things easy at times. Its like me and rodinal,, I started doing the 1:25 and 1:50 dilutions and clock watching that 12 min or 14 min developing times on my film, only to realize 1:100 with agitation every 30min was just as nice.

 

[Cascadilla]

Double check with Ilford's instructions, but I think that 2 minutes at 1:9 will probably be OK. When I was making prints for my commercial work the shorter time made sense for me and I was the only one in the darkroom so I had a developing timer with a foot pedal. The community college darkroom with 10-12 people working at the same time made that kind of timer impossible--can you imagine a dozen electronic timers randomly beeping and trying to figure out if it was your print that was ready?