Fixing and washing time

[marciofs]

On the bottle it says 3-4min fixing. But is it actually enough time?

And washing?

If I leave the negative long enough in the fixer the pink colour vanish so I can know it is there for enough time? Or only after washing?

 

[R.Gould]

With most films and most fixers diluted at 1/4 then 3 minutes in the fixer is fine but with the Tmax films you need to double the time in the fixer to 6 to 8 minutes to clear the pink anti halation layer, so for all film bar Tmax I fix for 3 minutes,
Richard

 

[David Grenet]

With 35mm I always do a test with the film leader and fix for 2-3 times the time it takes for it to clear. With larger formats I go with whatever I remember my most recent 35mm time to be and add a little to be certain...

 

[marciofs]

I just mixed a fresh Ilford fixer (1+4 = 100ml fixer and 400ml water). The negative is in the fizer there are 30min and it is still a bit pink.

Maybe after wash the pink vanish?

I am asking because last film I developed I left very long in the fixers and very long in the water and was still pink. But now I want find out if I just needed to change for a fresh fixer.

 

[marciofs]

Ok I just washed it and the pink colour vanished.
Sorry I freaked out after last experience so I was wonder if I could check if it was enough time in the fixer, or if it was exhausted before washing.

 

[marciofs]

[...]
If you overfix in a standard acidic rapid fix you can start to bleach away developed silver in the negatives.

Thank you for the info.

So I can not re-use fixer? I use to reuse at least 5 times the mixed fixer as well as stop.
I think I read somewhere that it was ok.

 

[marciofs]

Ok.
Thank you.

 

[removed account4]

Thank you for the info.

So I can not re-use fixer? I use to reuse at least 5 times the mixed fixer as well as stop.
I think I read somewhere that it was ok.

you can replenish and / or reuse your developer, fixer, stop bath even fix remover
they all have "capacities"

not sure why michael r1974 suggests otherwise -- convenience ? humbug!
it is a total waste of money to use fixer as a 1-shot chemical ...

to assure your fixer is not "spent" do a clip test as mentioned in a previous post to this thread
take your film leader and in room light see how long it takes to "clear" ( to clear film base )
double that time between 2 baths ..
when that clip test becomes that doubled time the fixer is spent ...
make a new bath #2, take out bath #1, and original bath #2 is new #1 ( rotate out ) .. do a clip test + double
the time once again ... bath #1 does most of the work #2 just finishes the job.

( if this makes no sense and is confusing ... original unused fixer clear time was 2 mins, double to 4 mins between 2 baths ..
but when clip is 4 mins rotate out )

wash times ...
use fixer remover or perma wash or something similar
and wash the way they recommend ...
i usually double the recommended perma-wash -wash time.

for PRINTS its a bit different, fix for whatever is recommended by whoever makes your paper.
still do the double fix ( half time in both fixers ) and still discard/recycle/waste-haul &c the fixer when it takes 2x the film leader clear time.

good luck !
john

 

[jp498]

The instructions usually have some factoring built in knowing the fixer will be reused and slowly lose performance.

I have a well used jug of tf-5 fixer that's done quite a few 8x10 prints. The jug has silver starting to show up on the inside plastic. I wondered if it was still good. Formulary fixer tester chemical showed it was good. I threw a piece of fp4+ film into the tray of tf-5. It cleared in 24 seconds. Double that time is still less than the instructions would probably say, so I consider that good fixer.

I use separate fixer for film so I don't get any paper fibers in my film chemicals. But a piece of film is still good for testing.

You don't need permawash/hypo remover with the tf4/tf5 fixers, but I still need a long soak and wash to make sure the pink is gone.

 

[pentaxuser]

The OP hasn't said what film he is referring to but there was a long thread(sticky?) on removing TMax stain on APUG some while ago.

In my experience there appears to be little if any problem with stain and Ilford films so I'll assume it is not Ilford but one where the dye is difficult to remove and in the case of TMax I found that the best way is by pre-soaking for up to 5 mins, giving occasional agitation. I had initially tried one minute but found that while a lot of dye is removed, it is too short to remove all. I experimented by pre-soaking and dumping at one min, then three and finally five mins. Even at 5 mins there was still some dye but the fix and then the final wash removes all of it or as near as makes no difference.

Using no pre-soak and relying on the fixer and final wash to do the job was much less successful in my experience

pentaxuser

 

[marciofs]

Thank you.
The negative is Delta100.