Photo-Flo turned pink

[PaulN]

I managed to soup a bunch of film tonight, and after the third tank, I noticed that my photo-flo solution had turned slightly pink. Any ideas on what this may be? I thought my wash process was pretty thorough, so I'm curious as to what would cause the change? Fixer?

 

[jlw]

Were you processing T-Max films, by any chance? Sometimes the residual dye in the film base leaves the final wash with a pinkish tinge. Minerals dissolved in your tap water may do this, too.

Anyway, if the Photo-Flo is still doing its job (water "sheets" and runs off evenly) and the film itself looks OK, it's probably nothing to worry about.

 

[kaiyen]

Those pink sensitizing dyes wash out at all over the place. If you wash it vigorously enough, you shouldn't see it as late as the photo-flo stage, but it's certainly possible.

In general, don't worry about the pink color. Other colors might be bad. Pink is okay.

allan

 

[taffer]

Yep don't worry, that's (afaik) normal.

 

[PaulN]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I thought my wash process was pretty thorough (based on the ilford method, but I do 5 inversions, 10x, 20x), after Allan's post I guess I'm going to have to ratchet it up a notch or two.

By the time I hit the final wash, I'm dying to pull the negatives off the reel and take a look. The film, by the way was predominately TriX, with a roll of PlusX in there for good measure. I also picked up a holga and processed my first roll of 120. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do to scan it in; I'm kicking myself for not getting the Nikon scanner that handles MF negatives 3 years ago... Nah; I'll never get into MF I said. The size of those negatives.....

-Paul

 

[kaiyen]

Wow, that is interesting. Due to having a 1 year old in the house, I end up developing at night and can't really spare 5 minutes additional minutes per tank. As it is, I'm usually souping until 1am - 2am and get pretty tired 😉

That's the same reason why I don't do the soak-in-between either. I haven't had that much pink come out during it. Perhaps it's because of the other washes I do, plus the 2 bath fix. So my whole process is:

dev
water stop (3 changes)
fix 1 (4 mins)
rinse (1 min)
fix 2 (3 mins)
rinse (1 min)
HCA (~3 min)
final rinse
photo-flo

Given that more magenta comes out, my next question is, how bad is it if it stays in? What does it really effect? Are we trying to make the base more clear to aid in greater contrast?

I dont' wet print anymore, but all reports indicate that the base doesn't affect density whatsoever. No change in contrast, tones, or anything. Since it's sensitizing dyes, you should be able to get rid of it by just leaving it on a light table for a while or even in the sun, like on a window sill. Seriously. It'll just fade.

How toxic are these chemicals, and what precautions do people take? I'm usually wearing rubber gloves, etc. Am I too worried?

In reality, even with pyro, which is the most "toxic" of developers, you'd have to get a lot into your system to have major health issues. Fixer is a lot worse, but unless you were to drink it the small amounts you'd get from hypo in the air or whatever wouldn't be a major problem with just logical precautions. However...

1 - fixer leaves stains all over the place.
2 - taking the gloves on and off over and over is no fun
3 - why take the chance?

allan