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  #11  
Old 12th May 2021, 03:44 AM
Molli Molli is offline
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My reason for keeping separate bottles of stop and fixer for film and paper has always been because of fibre residue from the paper and not wanting that anywhere near my film.
I've never put that to the test, however, so I may simply have read it in a book when I was first starting out and taken it as gospel.
However, keep in mind that, aside from the new paper I buy to make consistent photo albums, the rest of my paper is from 1970s/1980s - perhaps it's more fibrous or less well finished than more modern papers?
At any rate, my darkroom, while lacking running water, is right near the kitchen. Carrying an armful of bottles and jars and mixing jugs there to develop film is far from being any sort of hardship, nor is storing two of everything in the darkroom 'between-times'.
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  #12  
Old 12th May 2021, 11:28 AM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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It is always a really good idea to filter your chemicals between uses.
It is amazing how much detritus they collect.

I use a Paterson filter and Funnel.
I filter all of my chemicals after each film developed and after each print session.

It is a good point about fibre based paper though.

At one of the Ilford tours I attended, one of the guys in the coating plant was complaining to us of all the problems they have with cleanliness after coating FB papers - so they do they last each week and have to thoroughly clean the coating room before they can start coating again.

Martin
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  #13  
Old 16th May 2021, 06:05 AM
Phdgent Phdgent is offline
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I have two different containers with a stop for film and one for paper. This is because I use a buffered stop bath as formulated by Ryuji Suzuki.
This formula, with a pH of about 6, is needed for the pyrocat-HD processing of my film, but as acids are rather hard to be washed out of the emulsion's gelatin, the whole of both of my processes are non acetic. By this I can save water as i have to wash for a lesser time.
I use a neutral-to-alcaline fixer, the non bleach one by Fuji-Hunt for C-41.
And the so called contamination by pyrocatechine thru the stop bath isn't that welcome in this fixer, and if there is by accident some pyro in the fixer, it might tint the FB paper base.
This stop bath can last very long as it can be 'regenerated' by topping of with a 2% Acetic acid.
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  #14  
Old 16th May 2021, 12:19 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phdgent View Post
...but as acids are rather hard to be washed out of the emulsion's gelatin, the whole of both of my processes are non acetic. By this I can save water as i have to wash for a lesser time.
I use a neutral-to-alcaline fixer, the non bleach one by Fuji-Hunt for C-41.
I've read the odd bit here and there over the years about alkaline fixers, and just reading the above post has made me wonder again.

So why is a neutral to alkaline fixer not talked about or promoted more by other photographers on forums such as this? Anything that saves water - and time - should be welcomed, I would have thought?

Is it worth going across to it from the usual acid stop bath that I've used forever, or is there a downside or two that isn't mentioned?

Terry S
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  #15  
Old 16th May 2021, 05:30 PM
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Martin Aislabie Martin Aislabie is offline
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I read somewhere (might have been Photo Engineer on APUG) that citric acid stop bath have shorter washing times than acetic acid stop baths.

I cannot explain the chemistry involved - way over my pay grade.

Martin
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  #16  
Old 17th May 2021, 07:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry S View Post
I've read the odd bit here and there over the years about alkaline fixers, and just reading the above post has made me wonder again.

So why is a neutral to alkaline fixer not talked about or promoted more by other photographers on forums such as this? Anything that saves water - and time - should be welcomed, I would have thought?

Is it worth going across to it from the usual acid stop bath that I've used forever, or is there a downside or two that isn't mentioned?

Terry S
From what I have seen, most alkaline fixers have been based on sodium thiosulphate (hypo) and as such are slow at >5 mins (10 mins if using two-bath fixer) for fibre paper. However, I believe there are some rapid ammonium thiosulphate alkaline fixers available now.

It looks like most companies' fixers are only mildly acidic - and those intended for commercial machine processing are usually nearly neutral in order to reduce odour in business premises. It may also be more to do with cost and/or shelf-life than anything else as far as Ilford, Fotospeed, Champion, etc are concerned, along with the expectation that you will be using an acid stop-bath, which the alkaline fixer will obviously not like at all - it will be buffered, but I imagine that can only deal with so much acid being carried over.
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  #17  
Old 17th May 2021, 12:20 PM
Terry S Terry S is offline
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Thanks for that explanation Bob.

Terry S
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