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Fixing in table salt solution

jnanian said:
... in order to get the color tinge out of the film.
(tmy, tmx and tmz at least )
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I'm not sure what the big deal was here. I always use regular hypo and I don't see what the side effects could possibly be. The only valid issue I have seen would be with some pyros.
 
mrred said:
I'm not sure what the big deal was here. I always use regular hypo and I don't see what the side effects could possibly be.
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The main "side effect" is that Sodium Thiosulfate takes over three times as long as Ammonium Thiosulfate to fix film at the same molar concentration. Since T-grain films seem to be notoriously hard to fix properly (as indicated by the magenta cast that weak or used fixer leaves on the film), people tend to use the best fixers possible for these films.
 
I'm not entirely sure the cast is unfixed silver. A couple years ago I put some "coloured tmy" in the window for a few months with no change. The reason I did this test was that I was told the cast would go away with exposure to uv. I guess both are a myth.

I have read here that a bath of sodium sulfate would clear it up. ((there was a url link here which no longer exists)) post #6

I will concede the time. I rotory process and tend to go long anyway. Salt would be too long for me, but is an alternative.
 
hi mrrred:

to be honest i don't think it really matters the sort of fixer used ... i was always told to use speed fixer
mainly because, well, when i learned photo-stuff the teachers used sprint chemistry (speed fixer ), and not old skool hypo ...
but the more i read and think about it, it seems to matter less and less, and it seems a lot easier to use hypo than speed fixer ( low tech )
i think you are probably right about the cast, from what i remember whenever i got "it" i just washed the film a little
more and it went away, not necessarily over fix ... i was just being a parrot to be honest
" squawk use speed fixer to get rid of the magenta cast, squawk"

john
 

hi rudeofus

i was more concerned with using the salt to stabilize and then fixing,
thinking that too much fix or salt or that "stuff" could bleach the film
or paper as i have always heard (but not experienced) over fixing will do ...

john
 
Would there be a difference between rock or sea salt?
 
The real test for complete fixing is to use the Kodak test solution. if residual silver is present this would be shown by a color independent of any film dyes.
 
Hi, I am the guy, Chronocrator, that started this at Flickr!

Why did you use 150g/600ml and not 150g/500ml? According to my long experiments, a small increase in concentration brings a lot in fixing time. If you want to repeat this make following: put 150g salt in a heat resistant beaker and pour 500 ml very hot water, just boiled, and stir until most of the salt is diluted. This takes several minutes, maybe 20. Then filter the solution with coffee filter. This solution will not recrystallize for 24 hours and better if you dissolve some other salt in it like Potassium Bromide. Then try this for fixing films. If you use normal grain films like Ilfolrd FP4 or Fomapan 100 and so on, it will take less than 24 hours. T grain films need 48 hours or more to be (bad) fixed but scannable.
Regards!
 
I think we need to stop using the word fixed in relation to salt, as it is merely stabilised.
 
No, it wasn't and William Herschel recommended to him at the timeto use sodium thiosulfate (hypo), which worked a ton better. Sodium thiosulfate is still the working ingredient in all commercial fixers today.
 
RalphLambrecht said:
No, it wasn't and William Herschel recommended to him at the timeto use sodium thiosulfate (hypo), which worked a ton better. Sodium thiosulfate is still the working ingredient in all commercial fixers today.
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sorry this should read sodium or ammonium thiosulfate is the working ingredient in today's fixer.
 

Warning Warning Warning - folks Do you hear the sirenes?
You better know : Pull up / Pull up immediately from ATC - Service ?
Just remember : One of the worst failures in bw (films and prints) is incorect fixage.
If you don't believe : Use table salt as fixing solution.
with regards
 
I did a few tests "fixing" in salt about 3 years ago. The negatives have been stored in the dark and still look good but I don't expect them to be archival. The reason I did this was because I travel for work a lot and often develop film in my hotel room. I wanted to see if I could develop (caffenol) and fix (salt) film with simple store bought chemistry. I mixed up 225g of iodized table salt into 750ml of distilled water (equivalent to 300g salt in 1L), that's about all the salt that can be dissolved in the water. I let it sit at room temperature for about 48 hours giving it agitation whenever I happened by. The first image is a comparison of two negatives, "salt fix" and normal fix. So far I have not needed to do this, I usually find a way to bring some fix with me.




 

Alan - you won't seriously recomand the use of alternate fixing from using fixer bath times 72hours - with strong hope if this fixing last to more than 10years ?

with regards

PS : Yesterday I read an article a guy buried 120 films in the soil of his own garden.
3 years later he dig the film up again.
If you would imagine such result ?

with regards

PS : This guy better never dig up such films again.
 

First the iodide disproportionates to elemental iodine and iodate ion and so is useless even if it were in amounts high enough to fix silver bromide emulsions, Same thing for thiocyanate there just is not enough present.
 
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walking in Fox Talbot's foot steps!
 
Gerald C Koch said:
First the iodide disproportionates to elemental iodine and iodate ion and so is useless even if it were in amounts high enough to fix silver bromide emulsions, Same thing for thiocyanate there just is not enough present.
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Wouldn't metallic Silver quickly reduce any Iodine or Iodate formed that way? At least Iodine is known to work as bleach. You will therefore end up with grains which are covered with a thin layer of Silver Iodide, and that'll be stable for a while assume it's not exposed to too much light.
 
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