I am mainly using 120 film so 500ml to 600ml of final working solution would be perfect. Consider these as secondary sources to the manufacturers, to be used only when the manufacturers' guidelines either do not work or do not cover your specific situation. A simple two tray system unreplenished is the same general idea, minus the replenishment. If you don't let anything touch the wet emulsion you may not need the part B. Fixation is fixation, as Lex says, when fixer approaches exhaustion, serious problems occur frequently having to do with sulfurization which will inevitably cause fading and staining. Modern films have a larger silver iodide content than older films and again, according to Anchell and Troop require amonium thiosulfate fixers, i. Just follow the instructions provided by the manufacturers of the chemicals and films.
Fix for three times the clearing time, not two as is often stated, in order to ensure that the silver iodide component is completely fixed. When the clearing time exceeds double the clearing time in fresh fix, discard the fixer; it is exhausted. Since the mid 50's that has changed to the point where it doesn't really happen any more with modern films. Similarily for paper they have 1 and 5 gallon instructions. However, when I switched to a hydroquinone developer no metol or Elon the recipe has no retarders , the importance of the fixer changed.
If you don't use the hardener when you mix up your fixer, just replace it with water. And there's no rule, formula or guideline for using old or exhausted fixer that could be considered good standard practice. Using a two-bath method ensures that complex thiosulfates do not remain in the emulsion. If you used glass bottles, you can see them. I intend to only use this to process the Lane plates from the early batches.
The thread that follows may help you with that: Monkey see, monkey do I guess. After batch 17 I intend to use tf4 same as I do for film? He said this in another post also, I asked why, and never got a response. As a test to determine if the fix is exhausted, he recommends you check the clearing time each time you use the fixer. Note: the fixer tank solution is the same as the fixer replenisher solution. It is easy and convenient to use in the temperature range of 18-40°C 64-104°F. With every rapid fixer and contemporary film I've used over the years fixing for 3-5 minutes is fine. The ratio between the two tanks mainly depends on the flow difference between carry-out due to the film and the reverse direction flow of the replenisher.
It's obvious Kodak wants me to mix a full batch and purchase again soon as possible. I do use a two bath fix for final prints and the second is never used film fix. But don't rely on it. As Lynn points out above, modern films can stand more fixation than actually necessary and not be adversely affected. I have been reading up on posts that debate whether to use hardener or not. I understand that it makes toning harder near impossible? This makes it more difficult to recover the silver or more costly if you ship offsite. Without the addition of a hardener it is suitable for all black and white film and paper, manual and machine processing applications in the temperature range of 18-40°C 64-104°F.
Do I need to state that the vast majority of fixing occurs in the first fix tank? You will get various opinions on the use of the hardener. Bruce - Kodak gives a range of fixing times because different films have different fixing requirements. So according to the instructions, Part A and Part B are to be mixed at a ratio of 1:9, and Part A and water should be mixed at a ratio of 1:3. If I do not want to add the hardner initially can you add it later and at what ratios? On the 11th roll clearing times became longer but would still clear after double the usual time. That is generally a good idea, because for some chemistry the addition of different constituent parts results in a change in volume. Rather, the process may be likened to the art of the juggler in keeping many balls in the air at one time! Which one of these should I use and do also need to mix in the hardner? At that point I had discovered Hypo-Check, and used the same time of 10 minutes until exhaustion. That results in nice, simple 1 + 3 and 1 + 7 dilution ratios.
My point - the times you refer to are meant to get you a printable image and nothing more. I used each batch to exhaustion, checking the clearing for each batch with every use, and testing with a fixer check agent a drop turns cloudy in exhausted fixer. Kodak recommends starting with part of the water, adding the concentrate, and then adding further water to bring the total to the target. So I did some searching came across this and I still have a question or 2. It would never clear completely. Dennis Curtain in his book wants one to be precise in the fixing time and discusses the dangers of overfixing and underfixing. In a nutshell, following is the basis for two-stage fixing, using countercurrent flow replenishment.
It is not suitable for film developing. If you have a Photrio account, please log in and select 'stay logged in' to prevent recurrence of this notice. I will dispose on my chemistry properly. The overall effect is that the film development seems more physically gentle on the negative. You can't skip a stop for a water bath instead. The exact time of fixing depends on the film and the state of the fixer.
I presume I need to follow the 1 Gallon instructions? We do not recommend its use for high temperature or machine processing applications. I want to mix small single batches to process 2 or 3 rolls of 120 film at a time. Still have not made up my mind to use it or not the hardener. So far I have never had any problems. Two-bath fixing makes more sense in that case. I don't know what the components of Kodak rapid fixer are, but I would suppose that they are the same as in Ilford's: amonium thiosulfate, sodium acetate, sodium sulfite, and sodium bisulfite.
While it's been years since I used anything other than rapid fixer I can give you an example of what happens with exhausted rapid fixer. It is easy to use as no starter solution is required. If stored in a cold area, crystals may be deposited. There are two main reasons I want to lean how to make small batches. The basic dilution is 16 oz of concentrate to the gallon for paper fix, and 32 oz. The fixing times my paper manufacturer Ilford recommended, seemed to be dead on.