Quick Chemical Question

[dcsang]

It's almost alliteration huh.. 😀

I can't, for the life of me, remember; is it wash; hypo; wash; photoflo or wash; photoflo; hypo; wash ?

I'm going to dev some Tmax 3200 (@1600) this evening and I haven't dev'd anything in about a year and change so I'm just looking for a quick refresher on the tail end of the process.

gracias,
Dave 🙂

 

[back alley]

dev
rinse
stop
fix
rinse
orbit (optional)
wash
photoflo

 

[MrBuhl]

Hi Dave - I go like this:

Dev
Stop
Fix
Rinse once
Hypo Wash
Rinse
Photoflo

 

[varjag]

I must be odd but I never stop before fixing. My fixer is acidic and it is so cheap anyway.

 

[dcsang]

Hi Dave - I go like this:

Dev
Stop
Fix
Rinse once
Hypo Wash
Rinse
Photoflo

Bingo.. that's how I remember doing it.

Thanks 🙂
Dave

 

[dcsang]

dev
rinse
stop
fix
rinse
orbit (optional)
wash
photoflo

Just out of curiousity, why rinse after the dev?
Ever since I've been dev'ing (and this goes back 28 years ago.. 😀 ) I've never been told to rinse after the dev. Just curious as to what this does to the process other than to "help" wash any residual dev off of the emulsion?

curious, 😕
Dave

 

[kaiyen]

It seems to me, if you're going to use an actual stop bath (rather than water), it's actually counter-productive to use a water rinse first.

A stop bath is usually used to immediately stop development. An alternative to that is water, which doesn't stop as fast and can lead to a bit more development still going on until all the dev has been washed out (which can be a good thing, in some cases). So using the water rinse first makes the point of stop moot.

Unless you just want to be absolutely certain there isn't any active developer left on the film before fixing, to preserve fixer life.

allan

 

[Honu-Hugger]

It seems to me, if you're going to use an actual stop bath (rather than water), it's actually counter-productive to use a water rinse first.

A stop bath is usually used to immediately stop development. An alternative to that is water, which doesn't stop as fast and can lead to a bit more development still going on until all the dev has been washed out (which can be a good thing, in some cases). So using the water rinse first makes the point of stop moot.

Unless you just want to be absolutely certain there isn't any active developer left on the film before fixing, to preserve fixer life.

allan

This has been my understanding as well, but regardless of method consistency is most important for repeatable results. The few people I know that water rinse as stop do not also use a stop bath. Between Hypo clear and final rinse I use a 1:30 selenium soak for six minutes -- we seem to have our peculiarities when it comes to development.

 

[Roman]

Another reason why some people use water instead of stop-bath is that with certain very active developers, stop bath can lead to pinholes in the emulsion (from bubbling carbonate).
BTW, I've never used any kind of hypo clearing agent with film (an neither with RC paper) - this is really overkill, it is only necessary with FB paper.
Oh, and I don't use photoflo either, demineralized water is my choice - won't leave water marks, and neither photoflo marks (from using too much - and with wetting agents, already very little is too much).

Roman

 

[kaiyen]

Well, HCA can help get rid of the anti-halation layer, if it's survived the fix and all the rinses prior. I've had HCA come out pink before, espcially with Delta 100. Considering the cost and the added 1-3 minutes (including rinses), it's a cheap bit of insurance.

allan

 

[titrisol]

Sulfite bath (HCA) can help reducing the wash time if you do a long wash.
If you use the GEVAERT/AGFA/ILFORD method of 5 changes of water in the tank it is not necesary.

The reason kayien points out is true, if your film is coming out pink (TMAX/DELTA) or blue (EFKE/FOMA) a sulfite bath helps clearing this out.

I prefer to stop with water as well, specially with eastern wuropean films that have a softer emulsion. 3 quick changes of water and done.

 

[back alley]

actually, i don't use stop bath. i just rinse and then fix.
not sure why i put stop in there...

joe

 

[kiev4a]

Dev
quick rinse
fix
wash (10 minutes or more in plastic container with holes in the bottom (fixer is heavier than water).
photo flo

In developing several thousand rolls of film I've never used stop or hypo clear. I have negatives 40 years old that show no signs of deterioation.

You should at least rinse in water before going to fixed because the fixer is going to get contaminated a lot faster if you don't--plus the dev hitting the fix might do strange thins to the emulsion.

BTW: keep all chemicals close to each other temperature-wise. If you develop at 68 degrees then dump the film into water or fix a lot hotter of colder, it's gonna do bad things to the negs.

 

[tpersin]

i always do a 1 minute rinse before development with both tank and tray developing.

my procedure :
rinse 1:00
develop ~varies
stop
fix
rinse 1:00
rinse 2:00
Hypo 2:00
water rinse 5:00
photoflo 1:00
hang dry.

i just found the forum after a quick web search to find information about a yashica mg-1 i found at the local thrift for $1.99! Of course the battery cost me $10!

-tp

 

[back alley]

i like hypo clear for the shorter wash times.

 

[Little Prince]

I use very little rinse steps compared to most of the above. What I do is:

Dev
Stop
Fix
Hypo
Rinse (long)
Photoflo

Seems to work, but I could be missing something and not know it. Anyway this was the way I was taught to do it.

 

[Little Prince]

Of course, the rinse is 5 min mostly, but when I have time and patience, I let it go on for 10. That can't hurt can it?

 

[titrisol]

JFYI Hypo is the same as Fixer. (hyposulfite = thiuosulfate)

Hypo-Clearing is a completely different substance and we need to find a better way to express what it is.
Hypo-clearing is sulfite solution.

 

[dcsang]

JFYI Hypo is the same as Fixer. (hyposulfite = thiuosulfate)

Hypo-Clearing is a completely different substance and we need to find a better way to express what it is.
Hypo-clearing is sulfite solution.

ya.. my bad 🙂

I meant hypo-clearing.. I just get so used to seeing hypo.. now I'm going to have to check the package at home before I do anything this evening.. 😀

Cheers
Dave

 

[Poptart]

I once accidentally substituted hypo clear with mouthwash. My negs came out okay and they were minty fresh!