joeswe
Well-known
True, fixing itself will not remove the dye, BUT in my experience the ability of the water to wash out the dye after fixing depends on the freshness of the fixer used for processing.
The dye will wash out very easily during rinse when fresh fixer was used (all it needs is two or three refills of the tank according to the Ilford rinsing method). However, when the fixer is nearing exhaustion or an inadequate type of fixer is used, the dye will wash out, but it will do so very slowly and it is almost impossible to remove completely. The bottom line is that a strong purple cast that remains after normal rinsing is an indication that the fixer is nearing exhaustion, fixing time was too short or a wrong type of fixer or wrong dilution was used. Going by the unusually long fixing times, it is possible that the TO used the wrong type of fixer (standard fixer) for T-Max films. A rapid fixer should be used with T-Max films (e.g., Ilford Hypam or similar in 1+4 dilution) and it should clear a T-Max film in about 60-90 seconds when fresh and agitated properly. Total fixing time is double of that, with 3-4 minutes you are on the safe side.
This is what Kodak says:
Important: Your fixer will be exhausted more rapidly with these [that is, T-max] films than with other films. If your negatives show a magenta (pink) stain after fixing, your fixer may be near exhaustion, or you may not have used a long enough time. If the stain is slight, it will not affect image stability, negative contrast, or printing times. You can remove a slight pink stain with KODAK Hypo Clearing Agent. However, if the stain is pronounced and irregular over the film surface, refix the film in fresh fixer.
source: Kodak Tech Pubs for T-max Film
