Acros Developing Questions

After running a bunch of rolls of Acros through my HC-110 process (Dil E, 7 mins) some questions come from observations. I"m not sure if these observations are Acros specific, but I noticed them during the processing of these rolls.

First, the fixer (Ilford Rapid Fixer) comes out of the film tank when finished a dark color, but upon standing clears to water white. What exactly is going on with this color change and does it provide any information about how well I'm processing?

Second, during the wash stage, the rinse water comes out of the tank VERY pink. I keep rinsing until the pink color is mostly gone, about 7 full changes of water with agitation. Sometimes up to 10 changes of water until there is no noticeable pink. This seems like a lot of washing. Again, does this say anything about my processing that may need improvement?

Thanks!

I've never used Across, but I have kept up with your latest developing endeavors, and so far, so good. I wouldn't worry or think too much about these peculiarities you're noticing.

I've not seen the colour change in the fixer you are seeing, but I process across with a presoak prior to development in Pyrocat HD and the presoak water comes out a very rich, deep blue-green. I'm guessing we're washing off some sort of sensitizing dye...?

I get good negs and I love the film so I'm not going to change what I'm doing.

Well, I use Acros and HC-110 and Ilford Rapid Fixer. I wouldn't say that the fixer comes out 'dark.' I would say that it comes out pink. Anyway, this color DOES disappear by the next time I develop film. I have no idea what is going on exactly. Maybe the iodine is fixed out, and then exposure to light kills it?

The rinse also comes out pink. Since I don't save this water like I save fixer, I can't say if this color will disappear over time? Maybe I'll save a cup of it one day and see what happens.

Anyway, I've found that TIME is the one solution to getting rid of the pink. I do 6 water rinses- pouring water into the tank, letting it sit, pour out and replace with fresh. I've found that the longer I wait between changing the water, the 'quicker' the pink goes away. So if I rush three rinses in five minutes OR I do one rinse in five minutes, it seems I end up with a similar level of pink remaining. So I do my 6 rinses over 20-30 minutes, letting the water sit longer each round (well, the first two rounds are 10 and 20 agitations, then dump, so I can look at the negatives without dripping bright pink everywhere).

I've tried hypo-clear, one common answer I've seen. Now it TURNS PINK and STAYS PINK! Weird.... Well, I gave up using it to reduce the number of chemicals I need around, and my film is not pink by the end of my washing.

OP, your wash sounds about like mine and agree with the time aspect of clearing it vs. just running water through. I do standard Ilford agitation schedule then let it soak a bit (2-3 minutes) for a couple cycles and the pink is generally gone by that point. Sometimes if the water is colder it takes longer.

I have not noticed the fixer taking on any color.

Fixcinater said:

Sometimes if the water is colder it takes longer.

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My fixer comes out pink(ish) but my rinse water is very pink! Clears to the usual grey/blue base in about 3 min with a 30C wash.

I think it was recently posted somewhere else on here that the pink colour is the AH layer washing out and so nothing to be concerned about.

Do you pre rinse? I normally do and Acros takes about three washes to get rid of its blue anti halation layer. The first rinse comes out a very dark blue.

If you don't, then the developer seems to bleach the blue away. I have noticed a bit of a pink colour to the fixer but not enough to think anything of it.


Steve.

I have the same experience with acros. I use the Ilford rinse method but basically do it twice. Even then, the photo-flo still has a pink tinge when i dump it. And the negatives have a slightly blue cast. But much like the purple of tri-x negatives, I don't sweat it since it doesn't have any effect on scanning or enlarging.

Thanks everyone. I'm glad to know my experience is normal. I just wonder what chemical reaction is happening in the fixer. It comes out of the tank a darkish brown color, and within a few mins is then water white. Pretty dramatic color change.

I find it weird, but then I do prewash, my developer is Fuji Microfine (I don't think that makes much difference). My Tetenal Superfix Plus never comes out pink, always clear.
There's still a bit of stain left, and I use washaid and that gets all of the pink stuff out. After that I do normal water rinse.

My guess is that tetenal and ilford fixers are a bit different.

I presoak Across for three minutes prior to development in D76. My fixer comes out clear. I do a 3min wash of HCA and the water from the final rinse comes out clear as well. Before the film goes into the HCA the base of the film is pink and will be clear afterwards. I guess that this is the pink you see in your wash.


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For years there have been discussions about pink stain in TMAX films, and there is strong reason to believe that the same solutions (use fresh, strong fixer and wash well) that worked well for Kodak TMAX will also work for Fuji's version of tabular grain film.