Accidently added stop bath to my developer stock solution.

RowanBloemhof · Mar 29, 2014

Hi guys,

So im pretty much a beginner in film photography. Been at it a couple of months now. So a few weeks ago i ordered a package of Kodak Xtol. Last thursday i mixed it up to make 5L of stock solution. Now after developing my film in it. I pretty much made the worst mistake so far. I accidentally poured back some 600ml of stop bath in my stock solution. Well damm.

So im talking about a citric acid based stop bath from Adox. Adox Adostop. Contents of the bottle is 0.5% 5-chloro-2-methyl-2 H-isothiazol-3-one and 25-50% citric acid monohydrate. I presume the rest is water. I have diluted that stock solution to 1+9 to create my stopbath.

Ive learned so far that your developer should be basic(most developers atleast). As i basicly added a certain amount of acid. I was wondering, could it be possible to neutralize that acid by adding a certain amount of say Na2CO3 or NaHCO3? Or i dont know, perhaps sulfite. As that is already present in the developer as preservant. Be it if nescecary at a shorter shelf life. It just would be a waste to just discard the batch.

Once more thanks in advance.

MSchuler · Mar 29, 2014

I would throw it out and start fresh. Developer is cheaper than both film and the time spent exposing the film.

bdial · Mar 29, 2014

You are better off discarding the developer.
Think of it as the cost of a lesson learned.

snapguy · Mar 29, 2014

yes

These dudes are right. If you even THINK you have compromised the developer you should toss it. Remember, to be good at this you have to make all of the mistakes. You just hope your mistakes will be on the rolls of film that don't mean too much to you.

RowanBloemhof · Mar 29, 2014

Good point guys. Il toss it out then. The local photography shop owner will probably wonder how the hell i managed to go trough 5l of developer so fast haha.

jp498 · Mar 29, 2014

THe purpose of the stop bath is to neutralize your developer, so you don't want it in there. Toss the contaminated stuff.

Sirius Glass · Mar 29, 2014

All of us have made similar mistakes when we were learning. Even the experts make mistakes sometimes.

Gerald C Koch · Mar 29, 2014

I don't know your work method but every container should be labeled. Before pouring anything back in a bottle always check the label twice. Your mistake only cost you the price of new Xtol. However some photographic solutions are not innocuous and a mistake could be dangerous.

Sirius Glass · Mar 29, 2014

Gerald C Koch said:
I don't know your work method but every container should be labeled. Before pouring anything back in a bottle always check the label twice. Your mistake only cost you the price of new Xtol. However some photographic solutions are not innocuous and a mistake could be dangerous.

Oh Oh I thought it was "Measure once, cut twice". Woe is me.

MattKing · Mar 29, 2014

Many of us who make up largish quantities of any particular chemical find it useful to split the result into several smaller bottles (e.g. 5 one litre bottles). This may be a good argument for that.

Hope this is the toughest lesson you will ever learn .

removed-user-1 · Mar 29, 2014

At least you know what you did. It would be unpleasant to develop another roll of film and not know why it was under-developed (if you got anything at all).

The first darkroom class I took, back in 1992, I had a similar experience. One of my classmates poured stop bath in the developer tray (in place of developer). Under the safelights I could not tell this had happened and I went through a few sheets of rather expensive paper before I figured out that no matter how long I made my exposure, I was never going to get an image!

wiltw · Mar 30, 2014

If you simply wanted to ruin a roll of exposed film, you didn't need to take on the expense of ruining two different chemical solutions. You could accomplish ruining the roll of film by pouring in fixer...and still have good fixer left over after ruining the film. What a shameful waste!

Dennis S · Mar 30, 2014

That is why it is called "Stop Bath". it does stop the developing. There is probably NO one here that has NOT done that same mistake. Life is a bitch & then you die.... You know the stop does work.

shutterboy · Mar 30, 2014

If it makes you feel any less bad, here is what I did:

I shot a couple of roles of 120 as a part of my homework. I measured out the developer in a measuring container labeled fix and measured out the fix in a container labeled developer and completely forgot about the reverse labelling. I have no idea why on earth did I do something so awesome. When the films came out of the tank, it was clear as daylight . Shit happens, when you expect it the least to happen.

piu58 · Mar 31, 2014

I filled an empty developer bottle with water for cleaning it and srewed the cap. Guess what happened nex time ...

Dr Croubie · Mar 31, 2014

Coincidentally, I'm right now reading an article on the BBC about a sushi chef in Japan. One of his quotes is, "You need to understand that you never graduate, you never stop learning, not until you die."

I think we can apply the same quote to photography. It's a lesson learnt, one that might have only cost $10-15 or so. I learnt that XTOL goes off after a few months and it cost me 2 rolls of TXP with some photos of the cricket (no biggy).
I'm sure more learned people than you have made sillier mistakes...

cmacd123 · Mar 31, 2014

I have had just a splash of Stop bath get into the developer tray while making prints. It was enough to ruin the developer. These days my stop bath is on the other side of the sink from the developer tray.

In theory you could add "JUST" the right amount of Lye to the developer to offset the stop bath. The indicator dye will turn a nice purple for you. But do you want to take the risk?

Xmas · Mar 31, 2014

well if you pour stock back into stock bottle you should then replace stopper/lid on bottle.

If you only have one cap on the sink at any time you are not going to interchange caps or liquids.

Don't ask how I know this.

Sirius Glass · Mar 31, 2014

Xmas said:
well if you pour stock back into stock bottle you should then replace stopper/lid on bottle.

If you only have one cap on the sink at any time you are not going to interchange caps or liquids.

Don't ask how I know this.

I learned this probably the same way you did.

sly · Apr 1, 2014

Being tired or distracted causes a lot of waste in the darkroom. Just tonight, after tray developing some 8X10 sheet film, I managed to pour stop bath into the bottle with hypo-clear in it. They are labelled and the bottles look different, but I did it anyway. I was tired and just wanted to get things tidied away quickly while the film was washing. I've been doing this waaay to long to make such a stupid mistake. The good news is that I do stuff like this less often than I used to. Oh, and the negatives look promising too.

Richard S. (rich815) · Apr 1, 2014

Back around 12-13 years ago I used fixer first then used developer second and I wondered why the film came out perfectly clear...

Xmas · Apr 1, 2014

Sirius Glass said:
I learned this probably the same way you did.

Yes understand but alas I some times batch up development over four multi tanks and pour the eg 2l of stock from one 1.5l tank to next. That needs concentration 20 film clips and 20 cloths pins, bit like juggling. The 0.5 l of stock needs to be used properly.

I label stock bottle sides and caps fix, clear, ID68. etc

Sirius Glass · Apr 1, 2014

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
Back around 12-13 years ago I used fixer first then used developer second and I wondered why the film came out perfectly clear...

So are you clear on the subject now?

Accidently added stop bath to my developer stock solution.

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