I need a long lasting fixer solution.

[Radost]

Quick side question.
I am done using stabilizer on my c41 devs. I want to reuse my stabilizer Jono black bottle for my xtol replenishment.
What is a good way to wash the formalin throughout the bottle?

 

[esearing]

My first Gallon of TF5 is now 4 years old in its original jug with nothing added to preserve it stored in my garage. Still works but only have enough for about 1 or 2 more sessions out of it. If you use it infrequently buy smaller containers and distribute the stock. TF4 was good for over two years but would always settle and require remixing. You can buy smaller quantities of Ilford Rapid for infrequent use too.

 

[John Wiegerink]

My first Gallon of TF5 is now 4 years old in its original jug with nothing added to preserve it stored in my garage. Still works but only have enough for about 1 or 2 more sessions out of it. If you use it infrequently buy smaller containers and distribute the stock. TF4 was good for over two years but would always settle and require remixing. You can buy smaller quantities of Ilford Rapid for infrequent use too.

I'm stuck on the TF-? fixers and see no reason to change. They have a long enough shelf life for this guy. That's just me, of course. Like I said before, if I didn't make and use TF-2 I'd be using a C41 fixer.

 

[Radost]

Non rapid fixers struggle with T-Max and Delta films.

Struggle? You mean need longer times?

 

[MattKing]

Struggle? You mean need longer times?

And lose capacity really quickly - leaving you vulnerable to incomplete fixing.

 

[Radost]

And lose capacity really quickly - leaving you vulnerable to incomplete fixing.

Good to know.
Will get rapid fixer for TMax/delta films. Do you advise to mix all the liquid concentrate for longer storage?


Just developed some Trix400 and it looks great.
Really enjoy the Eco developer lack of smell.
It went purple after fixing but I guess that is normal

 

[MattKing]

Will get rapid fixer for TMax/delta films. Do you advise to mix all the liquid concentrate for longer storage?

I never have. Given your concerns, I would just decant the concentrate into smaller, good quality bottles - glass would be perfect (but slippery and breakable).
I re-use the working strength solution for ~ 75% of the number of rolls that the manufacturer's recommendations indicate - monitored by doing a clip test for each roll of film I develop. I use a clip of T-Max film for the tests.
And for fixers like Kodak Rapid fixer, I do not add the hardener.
In case you haven't seen it, here is my approach to fixing film: https://www.photrio.com/forum/resou...ixing-procedure-for-black-white-negatives.75/

 

[Radost]

I never have. Given your concerns, I would just decant the concentrate into smaller, good quality bottles - glass would be perfect (but slippery and breakable).
I re-use the working strength solution for ~ 75% of the number of rolls that the manufacturer's recommendations indicate - monitored by doing a clip test for each roll of film I develop. I use a clip of T-Max film for the tests.
And for fixers like Kodak Rapid fixer, I do not add the hardener.
In case you haven't seen it, here is my approach to fixing film: https://www.photrio.com/forum/resou...ixing-procedure-for-black-white-negatives.75/

Thank You so much.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I see no reason, why crystals, which fix slowlier, should not also develop slowlier, and I see no reason, why anyone would want to make a crystal, which is hard to develop. Therefore I would not expect this to actually happen in flat grain emulsions.

Tabular grains are used because they give more sensitivity with finer developed grain compared to cubic grain halide. It's that simple. Formate doping was the last big innovation I recall in emulsion making; it doubled sensitivity for a given halide crystal size. That was a big deal, and IMO it would have been acceptable to be "harder" to develop and fix as a trade-off -- but in fact, it wasn't.

Tabular grain fixes slower and less completely in sodium thiosulfate fixers than cubic grain, but doesn't develop significantly slower. Ammonium thiosulfate fixers can be made so fast that you don't notice the difference (2x clearing time is still very short), and as a bonus have significantly higher capacity, especially with high-iodide emulsions (which tabular grains generally are).

 

[Radost]

Here is color of the eco natural fixer after 3 rolls of tmax 2 triX and 1 ADOX CMSII.
After fresh stop bath for 1 minute.

Can it stain my films?
I have been scaning my black and white like color and somewhat like the results. TMax and TriX Blue/Purplish. ADOX is pink. Have not scanned it yet.

 

[koraks]

Can it stain my films?

Nope, not if you rinse the film afterwards.

 

[Radost]

Nope, not if you rinse the film afterwards.

Thanks.
This is my first time using natural fixer.
My rapid Kodak and Milford never did that.
My fuji C41 did a little bleach stain.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Here is color of the eco natural fixer after 3 rolls of tmax 2 triX and 1 ADOX CMSII.
After fresh stop bath for 1 minute.

Can it stain my films?
I have been scaning my black and white like color and somewhat like the results. TMax and TriX Blue/Purplish. ADOX is pink. Have not scanned it yet.

What you're seeing is mostly the carryover of stop bath to your fixer. The stop bath has an indicator dye (bromocresol purple) that is yellow at acidic pH and gradually turns to purple when in neutral pH solutions. There's also some of the film's dye in there, which will gradually fade. This film dye washes away during washing and it is very evident if you leave film soak for 10-15'.

 

[Radost]

What you're seeing is mostly the carryover of stop bath to your fixer. The stop bath has an indicator dye (bromocresol purple) that is yellow at acidic pH and gradually turns to purple when in neutral pH solutions. There's also some of the film's dye in there, which will gradually fade. This film dye washes away during washing and it is very evident if you leave film soak for 10-15'.

It never happened before using the same Xtol developer and Kodak stop bath with Kodak and Milford rapid fixer.
It must be something the Eco fixer does...

 

[koraks]

It never happened before using the same Xtol developer and Kodak stop bath with Kodak and Milford rapid fixer.
It must be something the Eco fixer does...

This supports what @Anon Ymous offered as an explanation. Kodak & Ilford (I assume that's what you mean) rapid fixers are acidic. The bromocresol purple will be yellow in those fixers and since it's diluted, it may not even be very noticeable. In your Eco pro fixer that's apparently > pH6.8 it'll turn purple, which is very noticeable. The MSDS for Eco pro fixer gives a pH of 6.75 for the concentrate which will likely be very close to the working strength fixer. This happens to be smack at the turning point of the indicator dye.

 

[MattKing]

It never happened before using the same Xtol developer and Kodak stop bath with Kodak and Milford rapid fixer.
It must be something the Eco fixer does...

The indicator is telling you that your fixer is (slightly) alkaline. If your stop bath turns alkaline, it is used up - that is what the indicator is there to tell you. But once the indicator gets into the fixer, you are glad that the indicator turns purple, because it tells you that your fixer is exactly what it is intended to be.

 

[Radost]

The indicator is telling you that your fixer is (slightly) alkaline. If your stop bath turns alkaline, it is used up - that is what the indicator is there to tell you. But once the indicator gets into the fixer, you are glad that the indicator turns purple, because it tells you that your fixer is exactly what it is intended to be.

Thanks.
And if my stop is dying it will turn purple as well?

 

[MattKing]

Thanks.
And if my stop is dying it will turn purple as well?

The indicator in the stop bath turns purple when the stop bath is no longer acidic enough to neutralize the alkaline developer that gets carried over into it with the prints.
Essentially, it turns purple when you have used up its capacity by adding too much carried over developer to it.
If you continue to use the purple stop bath, the non-neutralized developer then starts travelling with the prints into the fixer, which isn't good for the fixer.
In addition, if your stop bath turns purple, it is at least a warning to check whether or not your developer is getting close to exhaustion.

 

[relistan]

Maybe I missed it but didn't see anyone mention the ADOX powder "express" fixers: https://www.fotoimpex.com/chemistry...er-fixer-to-mix-1000-ml.html?cache=1670694866 . Presumably also using sodium thiosulfate and something like ammonium chloride rather than ammonium thiosulfate.

These are cheap and ought to keep for ages.

Along the same lines, if you are willing to mix from scratch, I've had very good experience with @Rudeofus excellent fixer: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/a-neutral-quick-fixer-formula.157021/ . That's *even* cheaper and is available to easily mix any time you feel like it.

 

[Radost]

Maybe I missed it but didn't see anyone mention the ADOX powder "express" fixers: https://www.fotoimpex.com/chemistry...er-fixer-to-mix-1000-ml.html?cache=1670694866 . Presumably also using sodium thiosulfate and something like ammonium chloride rather than ammonium thiosulfate.

These are cheap and ought to keep for ages.

Along the same lines, if you are willing to mix from scratch, I've had very good experience with @Rudeofus excellent fixer: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/a-neutral-quick-fixer-formula.157021/ . That's *even* cheaper and is available to easily mix any time you feel like it.

I love adox . Will check it out.

Quick note on the word "Cheaper".
The whole idea of this post was how much money I waist dumping fixer.
I am not a lab and I don't process a bunch.
I dont mind paying more for chemicals that can last me 2 years considering how long a fixer can last.

 

[bags27]

I use Photographers Formulary TF-5 Archival Fix, it lasts a very long time. It takes me over a year to go through a one liter bottle of concentrate which will make 4 liters of solution. I only mix up a new batch because it gets gunky from all the silver, not because it stops working. I don't do anything special to store it.

https://stores.photoformulary.com/tf-5-archival-fix/

+1

 

[relistan]

I love adox . Will check it out.

Quick note on the word "Cheaper".
The whole idea of this post was how much money I waist dumping fixer.
I am not a lab and I don't process a bunch.
I dont mind paying more for chemicals that can last me 2 years considering how long a fixer can last.

Oh yeah sorry, didn’t think you were being cheap. Was just emphasizing that it was inexpensive to use dry fixers and they last a long time, too. Hope it helped

 

[wiltw]

'Long lasting fixer'...standard Kodak fixer is $18 to make one gallon, which processes 100 rolls of film, and lasts for 6 months.

 

[Radost]

Oh yeah sorry, didn’t think you were being cheap. Was just emphasizing that it was inexpensive to use dry fixers and they last a long time, too. Hope it helped

So if the fixer is only one powder and not mix of 2 like Xtol can I mix as I go and store the fixer powder?

 

[relistan]

So if the fixer is only one powder and not mix of 2 like Xtol can I mix as I go and store the fixer powder?

I wouldn’t do that because the powder won’t be evenly distributed in the pack. But you can buy 3-4 packs of 1L working solution (at like €3.25) and just mix them and use them when you need. Then you at worst throw out a partially used single liter.