Paper developer alternatives

[dfoo]

I've recently been doing more darkroom work, which is great! However, I found that I'm getting a headache after an hour or so working. The room is not well ventilated, and its not that big (perhaps 10 feet x 5 feet). One obvious solution is to ventilate it, which I want to do but its not overly trivial. So ... I'm looking for a different short term solution. I suspect the problem is the paper developer (I use no-odor fix). I was looking last night and found recommendations to use non-Metol paper developers, such as Agfa Neutol Plus (which is apparently no longer available?), or Tektol.

Anyone have anything to say on this topic?

 

[Al Kaplan]

Whether or not you change the types of chemicals to reduce odor you still might find that the air in a room that small isn't enough for prolonged periods of time. If you are sensitive to some chemicals in the air it's also possible that you might be just as sensitive to odorless chemical vapors.

It shouldn't be all that dificult to cut some holes in the door and construct some light tight (paint them flat black inside) baffles to fit over both the inside and outside of the holes in the door. Should you move in the future it's easy enough to install a new door.

One of the baffled holes should be near the top, the other near the bottom, and a small 8 inch electric fan aimed at one of them would give you plenty of fresh air.

At one time Spiratone used to sell metal light tight baffles but Spiratone is no longer around. Somebody else probably still makes them though.

 

[Solinar]

Let me start by seconding Al's recommendation to provide a couple of ventilation pathways in and out. Also, most commercial paper developers use hydroquinone rather than metol.

With regards to smell - the best thing I ever did was to switch to Photographer's Formulary TF-4 fixer and replace my acid stop bath with a two step water only stop bath. I no longer have to deal with the smell of vinegar - which was mainly from the tray for the stop bath.

I also have a small room sized HEPA air filter running in my generous 6 ft by 7 ft darkroom space, mainly for dust control, but it may help in reducing other allergens in the air. It does a remarkable job in keep the dust down. So much so that the air filter for the entire apartment stays much cleaner.

 

[dfoo]

Yes, I intend to add ventilation 🙂

Like you I use water as stop, and my fix is odorless TF-4. 🙂 I use dektol as my paper developer, and that is what I think is causing my headache (and sore throat for that matter).

 

[Al Kaplan]

Here's another idea to cut down on odors, but it might not work for darkroom chemicals. Keep a candle burning in the room. As the air cycles through the flame a lot of odor causing gases get oxidized. My ex swears by it in the kitchen! I think that she read about it in one of the womens magazines. It said that having a cigarette burning in the ashtray does the same thing, but we're not supposed to smoke anymore. (Ha-Ha)

 

[MartinP]

I'd go with the ventilation idea too. As you have solved the smelly-fixer problem, then leaving the door open every twenty minutes or so (eg. while sorting out the print washing) would also help a bit.

My spare bedroom / darkroom is a reasonable size, so I can get away with the door opening plan, but forced ventilation has been on my to-do list for nearly two years . . . oops.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

what about one of those surgical/dust masks, you can get them at most hardware stores, until you solve the problem.

Todd

 

[Fotohuis]

You can use Rollei RCD B&W paper developer (Identical to Agfa Neutol Plus) 1 lt. (Eur. 11,78) with no hydroquinone.
Or Amaloco AM8008 (same Ascorbine stuff)
For fixer: Rollei RXN a neutral fix type or
Amaloco X89 (also neutral fix pH=6,2).

Use a citric Acid for these fix like:
Rollei RCS (Citrin Stop) or:
Amaloco S10.

All Rollei materials should be provided by Freestyle in the USA while Amaloco and Rollei is available in most web shop in Europe.

But still you ventilation is important. You can easily made a tube radial ventilation system in your dark room.

Best regards,

Robert