Quick Chemical Question

[x-ray]

On some films I like to use a water bath rather than a stop bath. I had instances where the suden change from alkalin to acid can cause gas bubles to form in the gelatin of the emulsion and cause little pin hole eruptions. I've particularly seen this on thin neopan. Generally I shoot ilford films now and use a mild 3% acetic acid bath for about thirty seconds to a minute. This helps stop developement immediately and extends the fixer life. For printing I always use a stop. I don't use indicator but always mix a 3-5% solution form glacial acetic acid. Be careful it produces extremely strom vapor in the concentrated form. Stains can happen going from developer to fix without a stop.

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FS: Like new Imacon 343 with 2 custom flex frames and Epson 1680 pro scanner.


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[jlw]

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

Yeah, but how did your breath smell?

 

[oftheherd]

I never did it more than once or twice for experimentation (no patience), but what I remember reading about 30 years ago, in books and magazines, was that some preferred a rinse before development, and after development. I don't remember now if that was to prevent shock to the film of the sudden introduction of the developer, or for slow filling of tanks, or both. I also don't remember if that was with all b/w film or only certain emulsions. I think I remember that those who advocated it did it with all b/w emulsions. My recollection is that is wasn't that popular except for a small group of people to whom it was almost a religious belief. The idea was that the rinse before and after was to be for the same time, as that allowed the developer's time to replace the first rinse to be the same as it was itself replaced. That meant your time in the developer would be what you wanted it to be. I always wondered if the idea didn't come from developing pack film, where if you got the film stuck in water, you could just wait a while longer to easily separate it with no worry about time in the developer. Not that I ever got any pack film stuck you understand. ;-)

I never had a problem not using a rinse between development and stop bath. I did use stop bath before hypo, whether film or paper. I always reused my hypo and that helped extend the life. Like Roman, I almost never used hypo clear on film, and seldom on paper, just good long rinses.

 

[Doug]

I too use just a water rinse and no stop bath before fixing
And I combine selenium toner with the hypo-clear bath... both for permanence and to increase density a trifle.

 

[Poptart]

It's almost alliteration huh.. 😀

Actually, it's assonance but who's picking nits?

 

[derevaun]

I'm a relative newbie at home devving, and a total cheapskate too. The cheaper films I use tend to have softer emulsions, and I read on one of these boards that more time in water makes the emulsion softer. But my routine is:

1. water (one minute) to clear AH layer
2. developer
3. quick water rinse to preserve fixer
4. hardening fixer
5. water (martini shake at first) for one minute
6. HCA for one minute
7. distilled water for 30"
8. Photoflow for 30"
9. dry

Maybe I can do without the first water bath if the HCA takes care of it?