Developed film or paper is supposed to go directly into the stop bath with no intervening wash in order to stop immediately stop the chemical action of the developer. If you're going to wash the film before the stop bath, you're going against the stop bath's purpose.
Some people don't use stop bath and just wash the film with water. You don't absolutely need it. You could use water instead.
Stop bath is designed to withstand some carryover of the developer. That's what the indicator is for. To tell you when the solution has reached its limit.
Fixer is also designed to withstand some carryover from the stop bath. I would bet that the fixer will become exhausted from absorbing too much silver by way of doing its job long before it becomes ineffective from carryover.
i agree!
If I was going to wash a print or film between steps, I would do it between the fixer and the hypo clearing agent. The reason would be to extend the life of the HCA.
agree again
If you washed in water between every step, I think you would introduce two problems.
First, you would be creating a dilute cocktail of mixed-up chemistry as solutions carried over into the wash water which could be detrimental to the process in the long run. You would have to use running water or change out the water often. Otherwise, you would need to have a container of water between every step. I've barely got enough room in my darkroom for four trays, let alone eight of them. I suppose you could use running water for your wash but that's a waste.
except for the hypo clear, I reuse that too, but I water wash rather than stop.
