Ilford simplicity

Just bought Ilford simplicity pockets (fixer and stop bath) out of a clearance sale, then I realized the chemical composition must be different than the usual Ilford products. Somehow I thought small amounts of those would just keep me "updated" with my chemicals. But I realized those "simplicity" chemicals don't last long according to the Ilford's instructions.
Indeed, the simplicity stop bath, for instance, doesn't have phenoxyethanol which helps maintaining the product "alive".
Same with the fixer one, so far, only good for 2 rolls...
Reading the reviews, the simplicity line is made for beginners or those who only use their cameras once in a while.
Some thoughts related to this?

It's advertised as being good for one roll of 120 or two rolls of 35mm. I'm seeing it at $32. For that price, you could buy enough developer, fixer, and wetting agent to do 100 rolls of film... so yes, probably for people who do one or two rolls per year and don't want to keep solutions around. Maybe something to buy when you are away from home in a hotel.

photogear said:

the simplicity stop bath, for instance, doesn't have phenoxyethanol which helps maintaining the product "alive".

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I don't know what's there to keep a stop bath alive other than the acid that is the essence of the whole thing. That's typically acetic or citric acid. I suppose the phenoxyethanol is there to prevent biological growth (bacteria, general sliminess) which esp. citric acid stop bath can suffer from. The solution is simple - ignore commercial stop bath and instead just keep a jar of citric acid crystals or a jug of acetic acid (choose whatever concentration you're comfortable with) and mix fresh stop bath whenever you need it. Discard after use.

photogear said:

Same with the fixer one, so far, only good for 2 rolls...

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Fixer is fixer, there's not a whole lot that can go wrong with it. Ilford Simplicity fixer is just rapid fixer. The only 'drawback' of this particular product is that it apparently comes in sachets of 600ml. Yes, I see Ilford claims it's good for 2x135 or 1x120, but the same applies as to any fixer: if you fix for twice the clearing time, you can safely assume it's still OK especially if that clearing time isn't outrageous. And also, the fixer is OK as long as it's clear and doesn't throw down a precipitate.

photogear said:

Some thoughts related to this?

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Yea, dev is dev (in the case of Simplicy, it's just Ilfosol 3), fix is fix and stop is just acid. The variations are packaging and the Simplicity line is indeed intended for occasional use so people can open a single sachet, do their thing and then discard. That way they don't have to worry about old chemistry sitting around that may or may not still work. It's a convenience thing.

Where to go from there, you decide; the stuff should be perfectly usable - or it might make a nice gift to a friend who's just starting out with B&W film.

It should be great for storing in case you run out of your usual photo chemicals and need something until you can get more.

koraks said:

I don't know what's there to keep a stop bath alive other than the acid that is the essence of the whole thing. That's typically acetic or citric acid. I suppose the phenoxyethanol is there to prevent biological growth (bacteria, general sliminess) which esp. citric acid stop bath can suffer from. The solution is simple - ignore commercial stop bath and instead just keep a jar of citric acid crystals or a jug of acetic acid (choose whatever concentration you're comfortable with) and mix fresh stop bath whenever you need it. Discard after use.


but the same applies as to any fixer: if you fix for twice the clearing time, you can safely assume it's still OK especially if that clearing time isn't outrageous. And also, the fixer is OK as long as it's clear and doesn't throw down a precipitate.



and stop is just acid.

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In the case of fixer, I manage to strech it out to its very end by testing it out with HypoCheck or short unused film [30s immersion]. So I will do the same with the simplicity fixer...

in the case of bath stop, I am wondering if the simplicity turns blue with oxydation, so that would be an indicator...

loccdor said:

It's advertised as being good for one roll of 120 or two rolls of 35mm. I'm seeing it at $32. For that price, you could buy enough developer, fixer, and wetting agent to do 100 rolls of film... so yes, probably for people who do one or two rolls per year and don't want to keep solutions around. Maybe something to buy when you are away from home in a hotel.

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as I said, I was buying from a store about to shut down [paper and rolls altogether], so the occasion made me attracted to purchase it at a very fair price.
otherwise I would have not seen any interest in that format.

MattKing said:

It should be great for storing in case you run out of your usual photo chemicals and need something until you can get more.

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as a back-up of course.

photogear said:

in the case of bath stop, I am wondering if the simplicity turns blue with oxydation, so that would be an indicator...

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Stop bath doesn't go off due to oxidation. The pH drifts upwards due to carryover of developer and that ultimately renders it ineffective as soon as the pH approaches the point where the developing agents become active again (probably 8-ish). The color shift in some commercial stop bath is an indicator dye that changes color with pH. I don't know if the Simplicity stop bath has this dye. Either way, as I said before, I wouldn't worry about it. Just just a little acid in water. I never buy commercial stop bath nor do I see the point in doing so.

I've found the Simplicity Stop and Fixer quite long lived, well beyond what Ilford reckon anyway. Unless you're super-specific or super-fussy about your B&W processing, I doubt lifespan is a big problem.

Like the OP, I bought a whole carton of each at below-wholesale cost a few years ago when my local shop was divesting themselves of chemicals. Too good a deal to pass up.

I tended to refresh both at 10 rolls in sync with Microphen's recommended lifespan, which was the developer I started out using. At the time I was lucky to be developing more than a 2-3 rolls a month and would often drag out chems for ~6 months. Storage in plastic bottles under the laundry sink, nothing fancy. No failures, always reliable results (dependant on source film of course, expired Tri-X haunts my life constantly).

I've since moved onto Xtol... sorry, Xdev... which I use via replenishment method for economy. Still working through the Simplicity sachets and getting great results even with months'-old chems. I recently did 6 rolls in an evening, and the fresh film (FP4, HP5 and Kentmere 400 pushed +2) turned out lovely, dense and contrast.

I'm yet to see the Simplicity Stop change colour, even after 10-12 rolls on a single 600ml batch. It's supposed to turn purple when the pH rises, from the Data Sheet:

"Stop Bath:
The stop bath contains an indicating dye to tell you when it is exhausted, and the solution will turn from straw coloured to magenta. Re-use only in same session. Max capacity 8 films"

I'm sure Ilford's recommendation is based on selling more chemicals and avoiding any potential complaints than actual reality. YMMV. I'm not doing client work or trying to make fine art for sale, minor issues I can compensate for in Lightroom don't keep me awake at night ;-).

benderscameracorner said:

I'm sure Ilford's recommendation is based on selling more chemicals and avoiding any potential complaints than actual reality.

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I tend to agree with you just the same...

koraks said:

Stop bath doesn't go off due to oxidation. The pH drifts upwards due to carryover of developer and that ultimately renders it ineffective as soon as the pH approaches the point where the developing agents become active again (probably 8-ish). The color shift in some commercial stop bath is an indicator dye that changes color with pH. I don't know if the Simplicity stop bath has this dye. Either way, as I said before, I wouldn't worry about it. Just just a little acid in water. I never buy commercial stop bath nor do I see the point in doing so.

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OK I did not know about the pH criteria.
Thx !

Some time ago someone had given me developer and fixer (they sell them separately or as a set of all three). The developer turned out to be Ilfosol, so I'd consider using it for a second film. I can't quite remember, but if I’m not mistaken, the fixer also had a slightly longer clearing time. Probably half of the price comes just from the packaging.

lamerko said:

I can't quite remember, but if I’m not mistaken, the fixer also had a slightly longer clearing time.

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It's just Ilford rapid fixer. It's specified on the Simplicity product page. Clearing time will be in the same ballpark as other rapid fixer from the same manufacturer.

I may be mistaken. It was years ago - they were given to me as a gift, and they were already past their expiration date anyway. I ran one short strip of film that I had shot to test a camera after servicing the seals - nothing important. Since I was in a hurry to see the result (the guy was waiting on the spot), I opened the tank shortly after pouring in the fix. Usually, with fresh fixer my film clears in about 30-40 seconds, but I think that time it took longer, maybe around a minute.