paulfish4570
Veteran
Stop bath come before fixer?
ZeissFan
Veteran
Because you're just starting, you could go with good old D-76. Used for generations. It's easy to use and gives good results. Pairs nicely with Tri-X.
You can use plain water as a stop bath. Then you just need a fixer.
A Hypo Clearing Wash is nice -- cuts your final wash time.
Hope you have a lot of fun with it.
You can use plain water as a stop bath. Then you just need a fixer.
A Hypo Clearing Wash is nice -- cuts your final wash time.
Hope you have a lot of fun with it.
Leigh Youdale
Well-known
Paul,
The use of a stop bath between developer and fixer has two purposes. One is to prevent development continuing on after the liquid has been poured out and so give more precision to the timing. Not really necessary at our level and a couple of quick fill & empty cycles with water (preferably at close to the same 20C temperature of the developer) is adequate.
The other purpose is to prevent carry-over of developer into the fixer which can shorten the life of the fixer. Just an economy measure really - without it you might have to dump the fixer one or two films before it theoretically is used up.
If you're using Tri-X or equivalent emulsions and a non-hardening fixer (I think Kodafix is that but not sure) then a ten minute wash is about all you'll need. I fill and empty my Paterson tank with tap water four or five times to flush it, then I attach a Paterson "Force Film Washer" which is just a hose that has attachments at one end for a tap spigot and the other a hollow plastic fitting that plugs into the pouring hole in the top of my tank. I run that for ten minutes, making sure I haven't turned the hot tap on by mistake. (Did that once only!)
A couple of other things on spiral loading.
35mm film is much easier to load than 120. The wider 120 has more flex.
Any dampness e.g. humidity, clammy hands etc is likely to make the film stick, so be careful about using the changing bag. Most bags aren't a good size to hold two hands and all the tank components either. I have a bag but mostly load in a walk-in cupboard I can black out easily. Put all the bits on a shelf in front of me in a logical order, turn off the lights, check for leaks, pop the can, cut the leader square (being careful of my fingers in the dark) and start loading.
Sometimes the film just seems reluctant to load. It can help if you exert slight outward pressure (pull) on the two spirals as you rotate them, rather than push inwards which is the natural tendency. The tiny difference in space between the two sides of the reel seems to make it go better.
Oh, one more thing. When processing a single film, be sure to push the reel down to the bottom of the central tube. In the Paterson tank I use that's enough to hold it there. With two films it's not a problem. Once I didn't do that properly and found after processing that the developer quantity used for a single film came neatly to about midpoint on the film and I had a tide mark across all frames!
And lastly, if you have an iPhone there's an app download from Digital Truth (Massive Development Chart) which puts all their data and a neat processing timer onto your phone.
The use of a stop bath between developer and fixer has two purposes. One is to prevent development continuing on after the liquid has been poured out and so give more precision to the timing. Not really necessary at our level and a couple of quick fill & empty cycles with water (preferably at close to the same 20C temperature of the developer) is adequate.
The other purpose is to prevent carry-over of developer into the fixer which can shorten the life of the fixer. Just an economy measure really - without it you might have to dump the fixer one or two films before it theoretically is used up.
If you're using Tri-X or equivalent emulsions and a non-hardening fixer (I think Kodafix is that but not sure) then a ten minute wash is about all you'll need. I fill and empty my Paterson tank with tap water four or five times to flush it, then I attach a Paterson "Force Film Washer" which is just a hose that has attachments at one end for a tap spigot and the other a hollow plastic fitting that plugs into the pouring hole in the top of my tank. I run that for ten minutes, making sure I haven't turned the hot tap on by mistake. (Did that once only!)
A couple of other things on spiral loading.
35mm film is much easier to load than 120. The wider 120 has more flex.
Any dampness e.g. humidity, clammy hands etc is likely to make the film stick, so be careful about using the changing bag. Most bags aren't a good size to hold two hands and all the tank components either. I have a bag but mostly load in a walk-in cupboard I can black out easily. Put all the bits on a shelf in front of me in a logical order, turn off the lights, check for leaks, pop the can, cut the leader square (being careful of my fingers in the dark) and start loading.
Sometimes the film just seems reluctant to load. It can help if you exert slight outward pressure (pull) on the two spirals as you rotate them, rather than push inwards which is the natural tendency. The tiny difference in space between the two sides of the reel seems to make it go better.
Oh, one more thing. When processing a single film, be sure to push the reel down to the bottom of the central tube. In the Paterson tank I use that's enough to hold it there. With two films it's not a problem. Once I didn't do that properly and found after processing that the developer quantity used for a single film came neatly to about midpoint on the film and I had a tide mark across all frames!
And lastly, if you have an iPhone there's an app download from Digital Truth (Massive Development Chart) which puts all their data and a neat processing timer onto your phone.
paulfish4570
Veteran
Thank you all so much. Leigh, those kinds of tips are pearls ... 
gilpen123
Gil
Didn't see a thermometer in there.
paulfish4570
Veteran
Yep, got an aquarium thermometer. All of $1.63 ...