B&W film dev. questions

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm Alan Browne wrote:


'kay. OTOH, the distilled water bottle is almost always at the right
temp....

If you keep your room at room temp then the chemicals follow.




Yes, "indicator" stop bath. After it's done I'll just switch to white
vinegar and toss. (dilution of vinegar?).

Depends on which one. 5% I guess would be something like 1 part vinegar
to 2 parts of water. It's not hyper critical.


Yeah. OTOH, I don't intend to do the printing... one of the gals at the
lab has the sub contract to do the printing at her home... I don't
consider developing a roll of negatives to be "darkroom" (I take your
point, that group is the chems division of photography on NGs).


Printing is the fun part. Processing film is fairly mechanical. Printing
OTOH is a world of choices. With my setup I read the paper while the tank
rotates. Every so often I pour the next chemical in.

Nick

"Nick Zentena" wrote in message
...

If you keep your room at room temp then the chemicals follow.

Yer never going to live that one down, Nick.

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm jjs wrote:
"Nick Zentena" wrote in message
...

If you keep your room at room temp then the chemicals follow.

Yer never going to live that one down, Nick.


Yogi made sense to me-))

Nick

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...

1. Is it better to use

a) Photo Flo and let dry,

b) Squeegee (no photo flo)

c) Both?

Is there a risk of scratches with the squeegee?


2. I bought distilled water to dilute my chems. Is this necessary? Tap
water here is pretty low in mineral content, but does have a little
chlorine.


3. I assume that with proper amounts of developer in the tank (Patterson
in my case), that the developer is thrown out. But do we keep the stop
bath, or throw it out too?


4. Kodak instructions for the film say to wash for up to 30 minutes
following fixing. Ilford Fixer says 5 - 10 minutes. Is 10 enough?


Cheers,
Alan

--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--
I've gotten more stains with PhotoFlo than without, so I don't
use it at all. I use water for stop bath. Whatever water you use, you still
have to make tests. Putting a filter in the line will almost surely change
times. I fix till it's completely cleared, then give it another 5? mins. I
never use anything twice. Stick to one film, Don't make that film the new,
new 400TX. Bob Hickey

"Alan Browne" asks:

1. Is it better to use

a) Photo Flo and let dry,

b) Squeegee (no photo flo)

c) Both?

Is there a risk of scratches with the squeegee?


All mechanical contact with a surface risks damaging it. Once scratched,
you cannot easily go back. This is ancient clean room, high tech wisdom
based on 30 years in Product Development. I suggest two minutes with Photo
Flo and let drip. If there are water spots, increase the Photo Flo, if it
sudses too much then cut back. (I use well water that has been thru a
softener.)


2. I bought distilled water to dilute my chems. Is this necessary? Tap
water here is pretty low in mineral content, but does have a little
chlorine.


I am on a well, so I can only guess that you might let the water set
overnight for the chlorine to come out, or boil it first. Tropic fish are
easily killed by the chlorine, and so those pet fans set water out to degas.
Should work for you. You may not find distilled water; ion exchanged is more
popular if I recall correctly. It might even be better.

3. I assume that with proper amounts of developer in the tank (Patterson
in my case), that the developer is thrown out. But do we keep the stop
bath, or throw it out too?



The developer is cheap (HC 110 in my case) so I don't save it. I also don't
use stop, just make two water rinses before going into the fixer.


4. Kodak instructions for the film say to wash for up to 30 minutes
following fixing. Ilford Fixer says 5 - 10 minutes. Is 10 enough?



The darkroom course I took suggested ten water rinses in 5 minutes with
agitation. That uses less water than a continuous rinse flow and should be
more effective in removing fixer. So far that has been fine with my neg's.

Nice to see a flame free posting. Isn't it?

PSsquare

I've gotten more stains with PhotoFlo than without, so I don't
use it at all. I use water for stop bath.

I'm not a chemist but I don't think PhotoFlo contains any chemicals that are
likely to cause staining. However,use of an acidic stop bath does help
prevent staining (see Adams, "The Negative," p. 190) and water doesn't. If
you have a staining problem I think it's more likely that the problem was
created by your use of water as a substitute for an acidic stop bath than by
your use of Photoflo. Water is a poor substitute for an acidic stop bath.

"Bob Hickey" wrote in message
...

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...

1. Is it better to use

a) Photo Flo and let dry,

b) Squeegee (no photo flo)

c) Both?

Is there a risk of scratches with the squeegee?


2. I bought distilled water to dilute my chems. Is this necessary? Tap
water here is pretty low in mineral content, but does have a little
chlorine.


3. I assume that with proper amounts of developer in the tank (Patterson
in my case), that the developer is thrown out. But do we keep the stop
bath, or throw it out too?


4. Kodak instructions for the film say to wash for up to 30 minutes
following fixing. Ilford Fixer says 5 - 10 minutes. Is 10 enough?


Cheers,
Alan

--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--
I've gotten more stains with PhotoFlo than without, so I don't
use it at all. I use water for stop bath. Whatever water you use, you
still
have to make tests. Putting a filter in the line will almost surely
change
times. I fix till it's completely cleared, then give it another 5? mins. I
never use anything twice. Stick to one film, Don't make that film the new,
new 400TX. Bob Hickey

PSsquare wrote:

Nice to see a flame free posting. Isn't it?

Thanks for the info.

It seems the more we talk about photography and ignore trolls that we
get low flame rates.

Cheers,
Alan

--
--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

Alan,

Washing - follow the manufacturers time. ( the times are set to pull the chems out of the emultion)

Distilled water - Small mixes you can use distilled. Last wash should be distilled. Questions on whether water quality will affect
the chems should be directed to the manufacturer, but in most cases there is little effect. ( I allways use distilled)

Squeege _ Yup rubber laytex gloves and the scissor fingers. Rubber squeegies tend to scratch, but the film canisters usually scratch
the film if you dont pop the ends off the canisters.

Cheers

"Alan Browne" wrote in message ...

1. Is it better to use

a) Photo Flo and let dry,

b) Squeegee (no photo flo)

c) Both?

Is there a risk of scratches with the squeegee?


2. I bought distilled water to dilute my chems. Is this necessary? Tap
water here is pretty low in mineral content, but does have a little
chlorine.


3. I assume that with proper amounts of developer in the tank (Patterson
in my case), that the developer is thrown out. But do we keep the stop
bath, or throw it out too?


4. Kodak instructions for the film say to wash for up to 30 minutes
following fixing. Ilford Fixer says 5 - 10 minutes. Is 10 enough?


Cheers,
Alan

--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

Martin Riddle wrote:

Alan,

Washing - follow the manufacturers time. ( the times are set to pull the chems out of the emultion)

Distilled water - Small mixes you can use distilled. Last wash should be distilled. Questions on whether water quality will affect
the chems should be directed to the manufacturer, but in most cases there is little effect. ( I allways use distilled)

Squeege _ Yup rubber laytex gloves and the scissor fingers. Rubber squeegies tend to scratch, but the film canisters usually scratch
the film if you dont pop the ends off the canisters.

Cheers


Thx Martin.

Cheers,
Alan

--
--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm Alan Browne wrote:

: 1. Is it better to use

: a) Photo Flo and let dry,

: b) Squeegee (no photo flo)

: c) Both?

: Is there a risk of scratches with the squeegee?

I use photo-flo and run the film through two fingers instead of a squegee
If you use a squeegee make sur ethat it's clean and wet the rubber before
using it.

: 2. I bought distilled water to dilute my chems. Is this necessary? Tap
: water here is pretty low in mineral content, but does have a little
: chlorine.

A lot of people insist that you should use distilled water to mix the
chemistry. My understanding is that Kodak, Ilford, etc design their
chemistry to use tap water. If they didn't they would recommend distilled
water. If you have hard water it would be a good idea to use the distilled
water though. I do use distilled water with photo flo.

: 3. I assume that with proper amounts of developer in the tank (Patterson
: in my case), that the developer is thrown out. But do we keep the stop
: bath, or throw it out too?

I use an indicator stop bath and reuse it.

: 4. Kodak instructions for the film say to wash for up to 30 minutes
: following fixing. Ilford Fixer says 5 - 10 minutes. Is 10 enough?


10 minutes is fine.

--




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