Questions about fixer

[Joao]

Hello
For Black and White film I'm currently using home-brewed paRodinal for developing, plain water as stop and sometimes a drop of liquid detergent as a preventive of drying marks. This works fine for me.
Question 1: Is there any recipe for a home made fixer - made with inexpensive easy-to-find household products ?
Question 2: The fixer I use is Ilford Rapid fixer diluted at 1/4. How many times can I reliably re-use it ?
And a collateral question:does anyone has any personal experience in using the "distilled" water that comes out of an air-conditioner for washing films and/or diluting chemicals?
Thank you for your answers
Joao

 

[Roger Hicks]

Hello
For Black and White film I'm currently using home-brewed paRodinal for developing, plain water as stop and sometimes a drop of liquid detergent as a preventive of drying marks. This works fine for me.
Question 1: Is there any recipe for a home made fixer - made with inexpensive easy-to-find household products ?
Question 2: The fixer I use is Ilford Rapid fixer diluted at 1/4. How many times can I reliably re-use it ?
And a collateral question:does anyone has any personal experience in using the "distilled" water that comes out of an air-conditioner for washing films and/or diluting chemicals?
Thank you for your answers
Joao

Dear Joao,

1 Hypo (sodium thiosulphate), but it's slow. Not a domestic product but cheaply available.

2 Test any fixer as follows:

a Put a drop on the torn-off film leader and let it act for 10-20 seconds

b Drop the leader in the fixer and time how long it takes for the spot to disappear

c Fix for at least 2x and at most 3x the clearing time, unless the manufacturers' instructions specify a longer fixing time (may be necessary to remove sensitizing dyes)

d When the clearing time with used fixer is double the time with fresh fixer, it's time for new fixer. There is a safety margin built in here so 2x is perfectly safe.

An acetic acid short stop will prolong the life of the fixer as compared with a water rinse. Glacial or 80% acetic acid is not expensive.

3 I use water from my dehumidifier BUT there can be a risk of algae growing in it if it is left for any length of time, especially in daylight -- store it in the dark, or use immediately from the reservoir.

Note that hard water/tap water washes more efficiently than distilled water, so use distilled only for the last wash step.

Proper wetting solution is safer than household detergent and not expensive: I'm still using a litre of Agepon I bought in the 20th century.

Cheers,

R.

 

[oscroft]

Question 2: The fixer I use is Ilford Rapid fixer diluted at 1/4. How many times can I reliably re-use it ?

The only way to really tell is to test it before use - use a bit of cut-off film leader, and if it clears in 2 minutes the fixer is still fine to use for a 4-minute fix. I use Tetenal Rapid fixer at 1/4 (which is pretty much the same stuff) and I find 1.5 litres of working solution usually lasts for about 10-12 films (so I tend to let it go for about 8 films before I start testing it) - I'd expect Ilford fixer to be similar.

 

[Joao]

Thank you for your very informative and clear answers, I will change a few things in my practice now.
Best regards
Joao

 

[1948nikon]

Hardener for film fixing.

Hardener for film fixing.

Three other areas that need to be discussed in this fixing forum.

1 Indicator Stop Bath.

2 Hypo Clearing Agent.

3 Hardener for Fixer .


Lets get some comments or questions..

 

[Roger Hicks]

Three other areas that need to be discussed in this fixing forum.

1 Indicator Stop Bath.

2 Hypo Clearing Agent.

3 Hardener for Fixer .


Lets get some comments or questions..

1 Doesn't matter if it's indicator or not. Plain acetic acid is cheaper even if used one-shot.

2 Complete waste of time with film.

3 Complete and dangerous waste of time with modern films as it greatly increases the wash time. Disputable if it's any use with any film, though possibly VERY SLOW hypo fixing might swell the gelatine to the point where it's badly tenderized.

With a rapid fixer and minimum wet time, the Ilford wash sequence is all you need. Fill tank; invert 5 times. Drain. Fill again; invert 10x. Drain. Fill again; invert 20x; drain again. This will give ANSI archival negatives. I normally give a fourth wash in distilled water to reduce drying marks, and a final rinse (30 sec) in distilled water plus wetting agent for faster drying.

Some say that you have to leave the tank 5 minutes between washes but everyone who has conducted this test with Ilford materials can confirm that there is no need.

The concentration of wetting agent is not critical but the manufacturers' recommendations can safely be halved in most cases. Reduce the concentration too far and there's no point in using it at all; use too much and it can cause streaks in its own right especially if you use dishwashing detergent instead of wetting agent).

Cheers,

R.

 

[1948nikon]

Thanks to Roger.

Thanks to Roger.

Many thanks to Roger Hicks for the detailed answers in regard to Fixing.
You certainley know your chemistry.

A small departure from fixing to developing. Many years ago I read about soft working developers that gave a very long tone scale yet still retained excellent contrast. Some of these developers were a two part process where the first devoleper was used to bring out highlights with a rinse inbetween and the second developer was used for shadow detail.

There was also a developer that was used with an alternating water bath .

Any further info would be appreciated.

 

[aad]

No hypo clearing agent? That's really something-if I can stop using that, I'll be very happy! I'll try it out!