Stop Bath necessary with printing on paper?

[Mudman]

Is water good enough for stopping development or do I need an actual stop bath? I'll be using Kodak Dektol as my developer. Also, does anyone have any good times for this developer and Ilford paper? I was thinking of about 1:30 or so.

Thanks,
Eric

 

[peterc]

I always used a stop followed by a quick water bath to keep the fix from getting contaminated. Also, a stop bath stops development more quickly than a water bath (a water bath is sort of going from developer to dilute developer).
As for times ... a strip test should give you a good idea. It'll depend on light source etc.

 

[chris91387]

if i remember correctly, you can go straight to fixer just fine except that it really weakens your fixer and it wont last anywhere near as long and be as efficient.

- chris

 

[nikon_sam]

I have always used a Stop Bath...and lately been rinsing before going into the Fixer...
Just better control in the whole process...
$5 for a 16 oz. bottle of Kodak Indicator Stop Bath and it will last a while when mixed properly...2 oz. per gallon of water for a working solution...sorry for the math...(they said there wouldn't be any math here)

 

[Bryce]

From what I've read, Chris is right. Like to the extent that just a few sheets will ruin your fixer.
The exception is using alkaline fixers. The whole point of these is that if there is never any acid in the process, there's no acid to have to wash out of the paper. So a lengthy rinse in water between developer and stop is required, but the small amount of developer carried into the fix isn't so important because it has nearly the same PH as the fix.
As far as I know there are no alkaline fixers on the market ready to use. You'd have to make your own.

 

[mhv]

The best reason I've found for using a stop bath is that I can develop my test strip, put it in the stop, and then check it under the lights to see if I'm in the right ballpark.

I don't need to spend fixer for tests.

All the other good reasons mentioned above apply, but to me, that is the feature making stop bath a Killer App.

 

[Pablito]

I'll be using Kodak Dektol as my developer. Also, does anyone have any good times for this developer and Ilford paper? I was thinking of about 1:30 or so.

Thanks,
Eric

dev. time depends on whether its RC or fiber. For RC 1 minute will do it. For Fiber, 1:30 minimum, but pick a time and be consistent.

 

[Ronald M]

Water and alkaline fix does it for me.

 

[MikeCassidy]

I use stop both with film and printing; even when I'm developing for 18 minutes. I like to be very consistent. I recommend that if you developed with film/developer combination that had times less then 10 minutes use Stop; I don't
think without Stop you can get consistent times without Stop when you have short development times..

Consistency when you work gives you consistent results.

Also, as stated not using Stop will weaken your fix.

 

[MikeCassidy]

Oh yeh, I develop RC for 1.5 minutes and 3 minutes for fiber.

I mostly use Detkol 1-2. Sometime I use Dektol 1-1 and 1-3, sometimes Dektol 1-2 and Selectol 1-2 together; and I spot develop with straight Detkol [nasty highlights].