Chemical Exhaustian

Recently, I have been finding that some of the rolls of film that I have developed will have a strange tea colored streak running down the entire center of the roll. When this happened the first time, I figured that I had forgotten how many rolls I had developed and whipped up a fresh batch of chemicals.

Today, I developed four rolls in chemicals I had just mixed. The last roll had the tea colored streak running down the middle.

I use Kodak stop bath and fixer, and Orbit Bath. Is it possible that something has gone bad? None of the chemicals is more than 6 months old? I always make sure that I keep everything at the right temperature.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Richie

It sounds like the fixer has gone bad.

I agree with Kevin.

Test the fixer by dipping a section of film leader into the fixer. Agitate it constantly and time how long it takes to turn the film clear. The time it takes to clear the film is about half the time it takes to fully fix it. It should clear pretty quick. If it just gets cloudy or stains, the fixer is exhausted.

This test is a "down and dirty" way of checking fixer. It's not gospel. If the fix is old or a lot of film has been run through it, change it anyway.

You can re-fix your film in fresh chemicals and the stain will probably disappear.

Lee Shively said:

This test is a "down and dirty" way of checking fixer. It's not gospel. If the fix is old or a lot of film has been run through it, change it anyway.

You can re-fix your film in fresh chemicals and the stain will probably disappear.

Click to expand...

I agree with Kevin and Lee.

Something similar happened to my film recently when I decided to keep TF-3 (a rapid alkaline fixer) longer than I normally would, because I was going to give the keep your fix until it takes double the time for film to clear theory a try. In the case of this fix...not a good idea. Re-fixing in fresh fix cleared them right up.

Murray

Thanks for the replies. I figured it was probably something like that.

I have rarely put more than 8 films through dliuted fixer. Does this brown stain that I am getting mean that I need to get more fixer. I never keep developer for longer than it recommends on the bottle, but there is nothing on my bottle of fixer about an expiration date.

Also, I have already cut the rolls in question and filed them away. Can I just put them into a tray of fresh fixer and agitate like I would with a print?

Thanks,
Richie