Stop Bath & Fixer

[SciAggie]

How do you choose which stop bath and fixer to use? I plan on developing Tri-X using HC-110 or Rodinal. I prefer to mix and use the developer as I need it and avoid storage issues. Does that influence the choice of stop and fixer? I would appreciate any advice.

 

[Moriturii]

Use anything. It's not very important at all. The only chemical that will effect your pictures is the developer you use. Stop baths and fixers all do exactly the same thing whatever brand you choose. You might want to use a rapid fixer when using a fixer though, saves time.

And don't worry about use second question, you can definitely (in fact, I've never heard anyone use it in any other way) mix up and use the developer when you are actually going to develop. Because you might want to use Dilution B one day and H another you know.

Have fun and good luck.

 

[ruby.monkey]

Stop bath is easy - I use what comes out of the kitchen tap. Fixer tends to be the cheapest I can buy in a five-litre bottle when I'm stocking up on film.

 

[Ljós]

Water as "stop" is fine

Water as "stop" is fine

SciAggie,

with film development, plain water can be used as/instead of stop. You simply need to be consistent, whatever you do, so that your development gives reproducible results.

Two tank-fills with water and some agitation are enough, then proceed with the fixer.
As for fixer: the standard nowadays (with modern films like HP5, Tri-X, Tmax etc.) is a rapid, non-hardening fixer (for example Ilford Rapid). These allow short fixing times.

Greetings, Ljós

 

[nikon_sam]

Get a packet of Kodak Fixer powder mix (makes 1 gallon) store it in a brown glass bottle (if you can find one) or an empty "Arizona" Iced Tea bottle...keep the bottles in a dark closet when not in use...
Pour the Fixer back into the bottle when you're done, use the Fixer until it exhausts, then mix another batch...
I now use either Rodinal or HC-110 as a one time developer, so no more storing problems with that...before I used those two I used D-76 and although I liked the results I prefer using the others now...
And like the others I use tap water as a Stop...

 

[SciAggie]

Thanks! I'm ordering chemicals today.

 

[Stravinsky]

I use Ilford Stop and Rapid Fixer for my TriX and Rodinal combo.
You can take a look to my flickr stream to look at the results (I started one month ago)

I chose them because I liked the bottles...

🙂

 

[Chris101]

Use stop bath if you like the smell. Otherwise use two complete rinses of water. Fix with rapid fixer (Kodak, Ilford, etc.) and do not add hardener if that is an option. HC110 is excellent for mixing just the amount you need. Get a large syringe or a small graduated cylinder for that purpose. I prefer glass bottles, but after breaking one in the bathroom, I will consider a plastic replacement.

 

[Freakscene]

I agree about using rapid (ammonium thiosulfate) fixer. Rapid fixers are better than plain hypo (sodium thiosulfate) fixers because they effectively fix silver iodide, which modern films and papers contain. Sodium thiosulfate fixers do not fix silver iodide well and as a result modern films fixed with regular fixers are likely to be less stable in storage than those fixed with rapid fixer.

Marty

 

[youngcoby]

Pour the Fixer back into the bottle when you're done, use the Fixer until it exhausts, then mix another batch...

Sorry for being off topic, but how can one know when the fixer is exhausted?

 

[Roger Hicks]

I've never found a better way to check fixer exhaustion than as described in http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/fixer exhaustion.html

Cheers,

R.

 

[Luna]

Two questions about stop bath:

(1) Do the acetic acid in the stop bath make the grain larger? Anyone familiar with Daido Moriyama? I can't remember exactly, but I think it was the acidy stop bath step that he tinkered with to get his ultra grainy prints from. But I could be wrong.

(2) In school, when developing paper, when we used water, we would computerate a little by taking the paper out of the developer a few seconds earlier then usual because the developing process wouldn't always stop on a dime with water. The same goes for film? Cut the dev time by a second or two when stopping with water vice acetic acids?

 

[Pherdinand]

Luna- that's a strange (2) there. I always have read, "develop to completion" when printing i e. allow the paper to fully develop. In that case what is the difference those few seconds will make?

 

[Pherdinand]

By the way a film dev time of 3 to 15 minutes is typical; shorter than 3 mins i've not often heard.
A few seconds + or - will not make any visible difference, probably not even measurable difference.

 

[Freakscene]

I've never found a better way to check fixer exhaustion than as described in http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/fixer exhaustion.html

Cheers,

R.

Firstly, don't use anything, pick a "rapid" or ammonium thiosulfate fixer - they fix silver iodide properly, which modern films contain quite a lot of. Sodium thiosulfate doesn't fix these silver salts properly. But it doesn't matter which one you pick.

2x the fresh fixer clearing time rule is approximate and ammonium thiosulfate fixers often have more silver in them than optimal for archival purposes when the clearing time doubles. I prefer to make sure my film fixer is under 6 g/L silver and my fixer for FB prints is under 2 g/L silver. You can do this using Kodak silver estimating papers CAT 196 5466. I have no idea if Kodak makes them anymore; they probably do not. I have a lifetime supply for myself.

Marty

 

[Luna]

Luna- that's a strange (2) there. I always have read, "develop to completion" when printing i e. allow the paper to fully develop. In that case what is the difference those few seconds will make?

Yea. I think I was totally off. (Too much nose candy in H.S.) I think that had to do with film instead of paper.
I know that the acids tend to stop the reaction quicker then water but I'm not sure by how much time.
I guess my question is, if water works, why make the acids?

 

[Fotohuis]

Normally you can use for the stop: 2% Acetic Acid or 1,5% (15g/ltr.) Citric Acid. It will not affect the grain at all unless you make a reticulation of >5% Acid.
Water will not stop, only dilute and delay the developing process. So with shorter developing times it's not very acurate. Further you will contaminate the fixer earlier and give it a shorter lifetime, apart from the fact for an alkaline fix you need a stop where an acid type fix you can leave it out.
Even with a staining (Pyro-) developer you can use 1,5% stop followed by an alkaline fixer to keep the stain. Only in a very few occasions like Carbonate - Bicarbonate developers you can have a degassing on the film surface. So in that way a stop is not recommended when using the two bath Diafine developer.

 

[Ronald M]

Water for stop bath is like diluting the developer. Result is larger grain.

Nobody will believe this, but do a test. Do a test D76 undiluted, water stop, fix. D76, NO STOP of any kind, and fix.

The sole purpose of stop is to preserve fix which I never reuse for film anyway, so it matters not to me.

D76 and TF4 alkaline fix wash and photoflow is all I have used for 15 years now.