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Martin Aislabie
26th March 2009, 03:33 PM
Until now I have used regular Acetic Acid Stop Baths without problems.

However, over the course of a long days printing with open trays, I found the smell slightly irritated my nose

So I have just tried Fotospeed Citric Acid Stop Bath (SB50) but have found that although there is very little odour from the stop bath I am very aware of it and find it far more irritating and unpleasant than the regular acetic acid :(

Are there any absolutely no odour stop baths I could try

I can quite easily go back to regular Acetic Acid Stop Baths and just be a bit more disciplined about opening the doors to the darkroom more regularly to keep the overall levels down.

Thanks

Martin

Argentum
26th March 2009, 03:39 PM
something doesn't need to have an odour to cause an irritation. It will still be evaporating into the air. The solution is good ventilation with a supply of fresh air or a vertical processor with minimal fluid surface area so you get less evaporation. And maybe less strong stop bath. Does it need to 1.5% ? I don't think so. 0.5% is enough. It just doesn't last as long.

Les McLean
26th March 2009, 03:43 PM
Are there any absolutely no odour stop baths I could try



Water, I've used it for both film and prints for at least 20 years without staining on prints or any other problem. There is the argument that stop will prolong the life of your fix but how many times have we read of the damage that over used fix will do to your prints? I use both film and print fix twice and dump it.

Bob
26th March 2009, 03:44 PM
A bit surprised by that Martin. I can stick my nose right up to citric acid (once diluted) and can't smell a thing.

You can buy citric acid (a powder) from Silverprint and just use that at around 10-20g/litre but you will also need indicator strips to measure the acidity.

Alternately, don't use stop at all - just use water if you have your trays in a sink to take the inevitable splashes: 2-3 changes of water over a 1 minute wash should do you for fibre; a quick rinse for RC..

B&W Neil
26th March 2009, 03:54 PM
I have always used just plain water for films but do use a stop bath for papers in the Nova wotsit :-)

Neil

Dave miller
26th March 2009, 04:46 PM
I'm another plain water user, three rinses for both film and paper.

Richard Gould
26th March 2009, 05:42 PM
I use either fotospeed odorless stop or the ilford, which is odourless, without problems,certainly without smell, Richard

Martin Aislabie
27th March 2009, 09:51 AM
A bit surprised by that Martin. I can stick my nose right up to citric acid (once diluted) and can't smell a thing.


The smell is not strong but I am obviously very sensative to it.

I can not only smell it, I can taste it too :(

Martin

Bob
27th March 2009, 10:12 AM
I was wondering if it was the indicator dye you can smell, or some reaction of the developer in the stop, hence the suggestion to try pure citric acid. I find the normal acetic acid stops far too pungent and smelly fixers give me a sore throat, plus my darkroom is in a spare bedroom, so I try to keep odours down as much as possible too.

darkclassical
29th March 2009, 03:18 AM
I've struggled for months with tracing the causes of vapor irritations in the darkroom. In this case, I agree with the suggestions of trying water as an experiment and also Bob's notion of tracing the actual source of the irritation. In my case, the main cause was developers for both film and paper. I was wrong in assuming the problem came from a vapor that bothered my sense of smell. Good luck!

Rob Archer
29th March 2009, 07:19 PM
I've been using Ilford IN1 for years and it does stink. I generally use it at very weak dilutions (at least twice the recommended dilution) which does help. I've nearly run out now, and will mix up some pure citric acid solution. I did try using a plain water bath, but got stains and blotches on the prints. I suspect the fairly hard water in my area may be a problem, which slightly-acid stop helps eliminate. More scientific minds than mine may be able to confirm or correct this?

Rob

Dave miller
29th March 2009, 08:28 PM
I've struggled for months with tracing the causes of vapor irritations in the darkroom. In this case, I agree with the suggestions of trying water as an experiment and also Bob's notion of tracing the actual source of the irritation. In my case, the main cause was developers for both film and paper. I was wrong in assuming the problem came from a vapor that bothered my sense of smell. Good luck!

Same here, I try and use products without Metol in them, which helps. But as much as possible I use closed containers for processing.

Martin Aislabie
30th March 2009, 09:09 PM
Guys - thanks for all the advice and suggestions :)

A water bath won't work for me as I don't have access to running water in the darkroom and changing it every 2 or 3 prints is too much of a pain to contemplate

However, I have come up with a workable solution - double the dilution - instead of 1:20 I did 1:40.

Worked fine for a long days printing on RC.

FB might be more of a challenge - but I can always change it mid session.

I have ordered some Ilfostop to try - but for some reason only comes in 500ml bottles :mad:

Bobs suggestion of plain citric acid powder from Silverprint is worth a shot - will get some next time I put an order their way

Regards

Martin