Stop Bath 101 Questions

[JimG]

First, I know many people don't use stop bath. But from those who do, how do you use it?:

•Do you agitate for the whole time.
•How long do you keep the stop bath in for?
•I have been rinsing the tank 3 times with 70°F water before I add the stop bath. (Because I'm guessing that I will be able to reuse the stop bath more times this way.) Does this make sense?

Just wondering how other members use stop bath. If it matters I'm using Lauder's Formula 763. JimG

 

[olmanwompa]

stopping technique

stopping technique

For film I use an indicator stop bath for two minutes of constant agitation. Sounds like you're essentially using a water stop, because with three fills of the tank, it's at least one minute before your stop actually hits the film. This is fine, but IMHO you have less control of the development time. It has been described to me as a car coming to a long, rolling stop (water stop), or an abrupt stop (by using a proper stop bath). With indicator stop it becomes easy to tell if the stop can be reused (almost always it can, at least 1-2 times). Hope this helps.

David

 

[tetrisattack]

Stop is cheap and lasts a long time. I keep mine in a recycled jar of spaghetti sauce and re-use it 'till it starts turning purple.

For a long time I didn't use it at all, neither for film nor for paper, but as my technique has refined, I've found that using water in lieu of a proper stop is somewhat of a false economy. I develop a lot of sheet film in 1.2l combi-plan tanks, and my pour times are on the order of 30 seconds, so maybe I'm extra-sensitive to this issue. There's one other point I wanted to bring up though, the issue of pH.

The objective of the stop is not only to halt development, but also to shift the pH of the whole system from alkaline (developer) to acid (fixer). Assuming you're being economical and re-using your fixer, the pH of the fixer will drift more quickly with a water stop than a proper acid stop.

Practically speaking, most people are likely to exhaust their fixer by silver saturation before they ever get the pH off-kilter, and even then, the extra development carried out by using a slow stop is a relatively small difference compared to the normal spread of developer dilution and solution temperatures. The difference is real though, it can be measured with a densitometer. 🙂

 

[titrisol]

Why are you rinsing 3 times with water?
you have already elimineted 99% of the developer and esentially stoped it.

If youuse stop bath add it straight after dumping the developer and agitate for 30-45 secs
That should be enough.

I don;t use stop for film, but I do for paper.

First, I know many people don't use stop bath. But from those who do, how do you use it?:

•Do you agitate for the whole time.
•How long do you keep the stop bath in for?
•I have been rinsing the tank 3 times with 70°F water before I add the stop bath. (Because I'm guessing that I will be able to reuse the stop bath more times this way.) Does this make sense?

Just wondering how other members use stop bath. If it matters I'm using Lauder's Formula 763. JimG

 

[Beniliam]

I always use water. Never I use stop chemicals. I know that can be one madness. In the school the teacher said our that with water ... I dont know in 20 years my negatives how will be?

 

[RayPA]

I use a stop, always have, except in processes that recommend otherwise. 1.5 minutes with constant agitation. 🙂


.

 

[JimG]

"Why are you rinsing 3 times with water?
you have already elimineted 99% of the developer and esentially stoped it."

titrisol, I was putting the water in before I put in the stop bath. So ithe developer is not yet eliminated. "I'm coming to a rolling stop" 🙂

 

[alegalle]

You didn't say if it was for film or paper? If it's for paper you really
should use a stop bath to get repeatable results from tray procesing.
Using water adds another variable to the process which you could well
do without! As for film, if you are going to use it, put it in straight away.
I do about 4-5 changes of water with aggitation as a stop on my film
development, then a alkali fixer.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[Beniliam]

I use like said later water for develop film (between 20 - 28 degrees Celsius - in Spain dont use degrees Farenheit ). Constant agitation during 1 minute, like as I was preparing a cocktail 😛 What negative effects can cause to use only water? I never see nothing wrong in my negatives, however if you dont dilute well the wetting agent, can leave spots on the emulsion... they take off washing ... but when you scanned one negative with rest of wetting agent...

 

[JimG]

Andy your right, I did did not state that I was asking about film not paper. I have heard of people printing paper without stop bath but I have never seen anyone do it, so i didn't think of it. Jim

 

[JimG]

It's very interesting to me to hear these different opinions. At my school we are all taught one way to do it and we all follow that procedure without asking why.

 

[Beniliam]

I only learn how develop and copy (that´s its much) Of all the points of the course, only 2 days for history of the photography (2 hours each class). Was a pain that people didnt show interest. I remember one phrase of the teacher: ´when you make good photos ... ´ and spoke of any subject... Even the professors distrusted of us. That phrase I have recorded in my mind, because he said it laughing ... Things of the student life 🙂

 

[titrisol]

No harm to your negatives by using water stop bath.
The only "quirk" I can see is using very active developers in which water could act as a compensating developer, and not stop the development completely.

Your negs may harm if you don;t fix/wash them completely. That is the key process for archival.

I always use water. Never I use stop chemicals. I know that can be one madness. In the school the teacher said our that with water ... I dont know in 20 years my negatives how will be?

 

[Ash]

I was actually given a bottle of Stop. My local vintage camera shop threw it in for free when I bought my film tank/chemicals/etc. I guess I buy a lot from there so it was a nice gesture.

I'd never used it before then, but considering how cheap it is, and how long it lasts (indicator stop bath - colour change) It's well worth using. I'm not sure how much better off my negs are, but it's definitely a lot more controlled method.

According to the Stop Bath bottle, it prolongs fixer life, so i take it this helps your negs in the long run.