Ilford Rapid Fixer = No Stop Bath?

[jaimeb82]

New guy here in my way to develop second roll of film ever. I was reading that if I use Ilford Rapid Fixer I don't need to use an acidic Stop Bath. Is that correct?

Thanks.

 

[WolfTales]

Yep.

 

[david b]

Just use water

 

[pentaxuser]

I'd use several changes of water to remove all dev from the film. That way the fixer lasts longer

pentaxuser

 

[Aurum]

Stop bath serves two functions. It halts development dead, which allows slightly more accurate timing of development. In practice not that critical unless you're dev times are very short indeed
It also helps reduce developer contamination of the fixer making it last longer.
Again, unless you're developing a lot of film, not critical, more personal preference

If you're developing prints it becomes more Important as paper holds onto developer longer, and the fix bath takes a hammering due to the acreage of material its handling.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

You can do it either way. I use a stop bath, because I know it works for me. The fixer does last longer, and fix is more expensive than stop bath.

- Thomas

 

[MattKing]

I'm with Thomas.

It's not so much the cost, as it is the predictability of how long the fixer lasts.

Matt

 

[hoffy]

For me as a new user, I use the stop. The more regimented the routine I have with development, the better understanding I have of effects when I change part of the process.

 

[eddie]

I use a stop bath. With a water bath, development continues, albeit in a much diluted way. Odds are, the extra development isn't significant, though.
The longevity of the fixer is probably a better reason to use it.

 

[Chazzy]

Stop bath is so cheap that it makes little sense to try to save money by using plain water. The only good reason I've seen for using plain water instead is that, allegedly, some Efke film emulsions develop pinholes in an acid stop bath. But that's only something that I've read on the Internet—I would like to see it confirmed one way or the other by someone who likes to make tests.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Metol is an orgaic base. It is dissolved more rapidly in acid than in base or without aids to making it dissolve. Therefore, a wash in a neutral or alkaline stop is more efficient when a stop is used, just in terms of removing metol. If you have a developer with no metol, then this is no problem.

Actually, the acid stop just makes the wash a bit more rapid. Nothing spectacular and the wash can work just fine without an acid stop. But the reasons given above all show how useful a stop can be.

PE

 

[Martin Aislabie]

Acidic Stop Bath is cheap as chips.

You can store and re-use it.

Lasts for ages

Extends the life of the Fixer - which is critical

Martin

 

[bill spears]

There's another thread running here about stains on prints.
Preserve your fixer and use a stop bath



Edit: Sorry, just realised we're talking film, not paper..... Same principle applies but I always use a very very weak stop bath with film and use it one shot

 

[Dave Pritchard]

Metol is an orgaic base. It is dissolved more rapidly in acid than in base or without aids to making it dissolve. Therefore, a wash in a neutral or alkaline stop is more efficient when a stop is used, just in terms of removing metol. If you have a developer with no metol, then this is no problem.

Actually, the acid stop just makes the wash a bit more rapid. Nothing spectacular and the wash can work just fine without an acid stop. But the reasons given above all show how useful a stop can be.

PE

Does anyone have a good guess whether Rodinal contains metol in significant amounts?

 

[Photo Engineer]

Dave;

There are 2 threads going right now about Rodinal. You may want to look at the formulas posted there.

No, it does not contain any Metol, but the p-amino phenol developer is a very close relative to Metol.

PE

 

[dancqu]

No Stop

I was reading that if I use Ilford Rapid Fixer I don't need
to use an acidic Stop Bath. Is that correct? Thanks.

When I was using fix concentrate I would, after dumping the
one-shot developer, pour in a very dilute one-shot fix. A 120
roll; 500ml solution volume, 20ml of it rapid fix concentrate.
Slow, maybe 10 minutes, but fresh fix each roll. Dan

 

[wogster]

New guy here in my way to develop second roll of film ever. I was reading that if I use Ilford Rapid Fixer I don't need to use an acidic Stop Bath. Is that correct?

Thanks.

Most developers work in an Alkaline environment, so stop bath being an acid will cause the development to stop, quickly. This is needed with paper which typically has a very short development period, sometimes as short as 30 seconds. As the development time gets longer, rapidly stopping development becomes less and less critical, so an acid stop becomes less critical. Where stop bath can help is it helps your fixer to last longer. Each chemical carries over into the next, using stop bath means that the stop bath, rather then developer carries over. Developer carried over into the fixer will shorten the life of the fixer. If you use a neutral or slightly alkaline fixer, then as more and more developer carries over, development can continue slightly and you will become bald from tearing your hair out wondering why your getting uneven development. The rule really should be, if you use your fixer one shot then use the water stop, if you want to reuse your fixer, then use the stop bath. Even so, stop bath isn't that critical, and if you run out, it's not a show stopper, like you would get if you ran out of developer or fixer.

One thing that is recommended though, if you reuse your fixer, do a clip test to determine if it's still good, for every session. Here is how you do it, with 35mm, when you clip off the tongue, keep it to the side, do not develop it, put a drop of fixer on it, wait 30 seconds, then drop the piece into a small dish of fixer, time how long it takes for the spot to disappear. When using freshly mixed fixer, write the time on the bottle. This is your initial clear time.

Next session you do this test again, you will notice the clear time gets a little longer, when it gets to double the original time you wrote on the bottle, dump it and mix fresh. To determine fixing time, double the clear time, and round up to the next minute, so if your clear time is 45 seconds, double that is 90 seconds or 1½, so you would fix for 2 minutes. If your clear time is one minute, double is 2 minutes, fix for 3 minutes. If the initial clear time was 30 seconds, then when your clear time gets to 1 minute, you mix fresh fix. Using this method means that if you use a different brand or type of fixer, you still know the fixing time.