The best Water for mixing your Developer?

[Pirate]

So what's the latest word on the best water for mixing up a batch of developer? Hard, Soft, Filtered, RO, Distilled...?

I'll be mixing up some Xtol in the next week and would like to find what works best with it. Before I havn't bothered caring much, but I'm to the point where I'd like to start taking this into consideration.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Particular]

Holy water is best, but if all you can get is distilled that should be sufficient.

 

[newsgrunt]

I've only ever used tap or filtered tap, no probs with Rodinal etc..

 

[Teuthida]

I only ever bother to use distilled or filtered water for the final rinse. When mixing solutions I use tap water.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Distilled is really the only way to go for consistant work. Tap water has chlorine and other nasty chemicals added. Distilled water costs $1 a gallon. Not a big expense.

 

[Greyscale]

If I tried to use tap water here, I think that it would be like using sandpaper. Our water is almost crunchy. And I think that it glows in the dark.

 

[x-ray]

A Kodak rep told me to always use tap water. They formulate their chemicals based on an average mineral content. Imagine having to buy distilled water to mix chemicals in a commercial labs processing machines. The processes aren't that critical esPecially B&W.

Every company I've worked for has always used traitor tap water.

 

[film nut]

I use distilled water for everything except the final wash. I just get it from my sons dehumidifier. When it's running a lot we load up as many gallon jugs as we can and it usually last for a long time.

 

[meso]

I only use tap water, but luckily our water does not contain chlorine or any other nastyness.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

I use carbonated holy water. I don't have to agitate, and all my photos have that "Leica glow"...

Chris

 

[it'sawhat?]

xtol use distilled xtol tends to be less forgiving of minerals than some other developers and kodak recommends distilled for xtol I belive.

 

[goffer]

I use distilled for both development and final rinse. Don't have the best tap water 'round these parts.

 

[Trius]

As I live in Rochester, I suppose I could just use tap water ... since Kodak formulated their chemicals here. 😀

But ... I don't. Since we have enough humidity to run a dehumidifier in the basement, I use that. I use a Melita filter first, then run it through a Brita. The Brita probably isn't necessary, but it makes me feel more comfortable.

The reason I do this is to be consistent and eliminate variables. Wolfgang Moersch strongly recommends using distilled water for his staining developers (Tanol, Tanol Speed & Finol), and I use Finol from time to time.

 

[Classique]

Since So Cal water has a lot of other junk in our tab, I use distilled water.

I learned the hard way after my solutions started behaving funky after the first couple rolls.

 

[DNG]

I use a higher quality (filters smaller minerals: 200+ Micron in size), Charcoal Filter on my kitchen tap. it has a LED gallon gauge so I know when 200 gallons is reached, so I know when to change the filter.

 

[Sylvester]

I just use tap water and get perfect results...

 

[nikon_sam]

I've never had a problem with our tap water...

 

[yossarian123]

Distilled all the way. I can get 3 rolls out of a gallon, so it's about $.33 / roll.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A Kodak rep told me to always use tap water. They formulate their chemicals based on an average mineral content. Imagine having to buy distilled water to mix chemicals in a commercial labs processing machines. The processes aren't that critical esPecially B&W.

Every company I've worked for has always used traitor tap water.

Commercial processors adjust the developer based on test trips each day, which compensates for water quality differences. I've seen major differences between films developed in the tap water in different cities I have lived in. The Kodak rep lied to you. Chemists ALWAYS use distilled water, because they need repeatable results. Many developers have chemicals added, like EDTA, to reduce the effect of dissolved minerals and other chemicals. It is still better to use pure water.

 

[Rob-F]

St. Louis City tap water from the Mississippi river, the same as A-B uses to brew Budweiser and Michelob. I've been happy with it for nearly 50 years!