White spots on scans....

[MiniMoke]

I'm certai this has been discussed a lot here but I'd like to put the question once more before you.

I develop my film (usually HP5) in Rodinal 1+50 or 1+100 stand development, I don't use a dedicated stop bath but plain water, I fix in Ilford RapidFixer and do a good wash in tap water with PhotoFlo added in the last bath.

I get VERY annoying tiny white spots / dark on the negatives as well as water spots and traces. I include a photo with obvious defects - the dust and fibers are not in question here 😉. Some neagtives have even more spots!

I use tap water (normally quite clean around here) to mix the deveoper and fixer and for final wash.

I suspect siver deposits in the fixer..... This batch of fixer, tested OK with a bit of film, has been reused 7 times until now. I mix one litre, stored in an opaque plastic bottle.

Shall I try filtering the fixer each time I use it?

What about the water stains? I normally lightly wipe the film strips between fingers to get off most of the water, but the rest dries badly in spite of the PhotoFlo.... I fear to use a rubber squeegee - don't want to scratch the negs. Will distilled water + PhotoFlo for final wash work?

Can anyone chime in and give his opinion please.

 

[Ronald M]

Silver precipitate in fix as you guessed. It does not wash off, but you might get some off with a wipe of clean cloth, but you risk scratches.

I simply gave up and use fix for 24 hours, then it gets used for test prints.
Scanning shows more than printing.

Since it settles to the bottom of the bottle, pour off the top to fix. Use a centrifuge to clear fix. Cotton first aid squares over the filter of a filter funnel will remove the worst, but the small ones go right through.

The very best filter paper for chem labs might work, but is hard to find.

Use glass bottles and be sure to wash well and drain before refilling. The grey stuff in the bottom is silver and only the larger ones fall to the bottom.

3 micron water and HEPA air filters help immensely and surgically clean darkroom or drying cabinet, but new never used fix is best solution I have found for the silver issue .

Be sure to clean the neg and examine it with a loupe before scanning or printing.

Distilled water and photoflood will fix drying problems. Sometimes I look at the fresh hanging wet film with a loupe and large debris can be brushed off to short side with still wet. After dry, nothing will remove.

The stuff in the developer does not cause a problem.

Testing fix is of no value. I see precipitation after the first roll and 2 days wait.

Ditch plastic bottles as you can not see if they are clean. These are biggest waste of money going.

Your finger are dirty unless you scrubbed them with a brush and will leave traces. You also risk scratches. Let the reel drain on its side 2 minutes, tap lightly, then remove film.

We need to find someone who ran a commercial lab and see what their solution was. I suspect they drained off the bottom before starting in the AM or nothing or used some crude filtering device that got only the worst.

I know a wedding guy who did 150 rolls on sunday night with deep tanks and never had an issue, but chems were fresh every week. Like I said, it is not a matter of over use, just time even if you do one roll.

Keep all your tools dry and dust free when not in use.

 

[MiniMoke]

Thanks Ronald,

I'll keep an eye on my fixer! Try to filter it somehow or not reuse it though that is additional cost.

As for drying I'll do the final wash in distilled water & PhotoFlo now.

Hope this works.

Happy new Year!!

 

[MiniMoke]

Filtered my fixer - latest developed films are clean.... well, mostly so!

Are there any other fixers I can use that are disposable and don't cost a lot?

Too bad to throw out good fixer after only a handful of rolls. Or after each developed roll....

 

[znapper]

Do you reuse your bottle?

Opaque bottles for fixer is not always the best idea, because you cannot see any sludge building up on the inside of the bottle.

The accordion-bottles are even worse to reuse, as the crevices in the bottle seems designed to both accumulate grime and sludge, as well as releasing that sludge once you push or pull on the bottle.

For that reason, I have my (ilford rapid) fixer in a 1.5L coca-cola bottle and throw away that bottle once I see signs of sludge, very cheap and inexpensive. (I have no more issues with sludge and grime in my fixer).

 

[MiniMoke]

Great idea about the coke bottle! Will do, though I might take some water bottle... I hate Coke.

My brown plastic bottle gives no clue about sludge though I washed it out as best as possible