Initial Evaluation of Fine Art Photo Supply Tabular Grain Fixer

[Tom Hoskinson]

I received a 4 liter bag of this fixer from Peters about a week ago with his request that I mix it, try it out and post my results on APUG. Here are my intial results.

This fixer is packaged as a mix of dry chemicals in a sealed bag. The net weight is 706 grams and the fixing agent is Sodium Thiosufate, together with another ingredient with an ammonium base, according to the information printed on the label.

I speculate that the ammonium compound is probably ammonium sulfate.

I mixed the dry ingredients in 3 liters of 100 degree F water (deionized 18 megaohm water from our continuously monitored filtration chain). The powder dissolved quickly and easily. I detected no ammonia odor. Cold deionized water was added to make a total volume of 4 liters. A very slight "sulfate" odor is detectable from the mixed fixer, but I do not find this odor objectionable.

At 70 degrees F, the newly mixed fixer had a pH of 7.01.

I measured the time required to clear a conventional (non-T grain) film. The film was 35mm efke KB 25 Emulsion number 310499, Expires 2006-9. At a fixer temperature of 70 degrees F 1 minute, 20 seconds was required to clear a 3 inch long piece of film. I repeated this test with the same result. I saw no visible remnant of antihalation die in the fixed and washed film.

Time permitting, I will test the clearing time for Kodak TMY 400 4x5 sheet film tomorrow.

I will also continue to monitor the fixer pH.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Today I measured the clearing time for Kodak 400 TMAx 4X5 Sheet Film, Estar Thick Base, Emulsion #411, Expiration date: 04/2006.

The clearing time in Fine Art Photo Supply Tabular Grain Fixer was 3 minutes, 20 seconds at 70 degrees F. Fixer pH was 7.01

I pre-soaked the film for 5 minutes in deionized water before fixing (I used the same procedure with the efke KB 25) .

The fixed and washed film is clear, no sign of residual antihalation dye.

 

[Peter Schrager]

presoak??

Tom-why the presoak? I never had any trouble with antihalation clearing with this fixer. Just curious
Best, Peter

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

I pre-soaked the film because that is the recommended procedure for determining fixer clearing time. I did not do it for the purpose of removing antihalation dye.

In any case, I always pre-soak my film before developing it in Pyrocat-HD. I have found that this pre-soak step does not remove all of the antihalation dye in Kodak TMAX 400. Also, it is my experience that TF-4 fixer does not remove all of the antihalation dye in Kodak TMAX 400.

However, the Fine Art Photo Supply Tabular Grain Fixer did remove all of the antihalation dye in the Kodak TMAX 400.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Today I measured the clearing time for efke R100 120 Roll Film; Emulsion #310580, Expires 04/2006.

The clearing time in Fine Art Photo Supply Tabular Grain Fixer was 2 minutes, 30 seconds at 70 degrees F; Fixer pH was 7.01

The fixed and washed film is clear, no sign of residual antihalation dye.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Tuesday, May 17 I developed three rolls of 120 film in Pyrocat-HD and fixed in Fine Art Photo Supply Tabular Grain Fixer. I used the clearing times established in my earlier tests (approximately X 2). I developed 1 roll of efke 120 R100 (fixed for 5 minutes with agitation). I developed 2 rolls of TMAX 400 (fixed for 7 minutes with agitation). All 3 rolls of film were clean after fixing with no sign of residual antihalation dye.

Fixer pH (both used and unused solutions - I split the 4 liters into 2 bottles) was measured at 6.03 at 70 degrees F (calibrated against a standard buffer solution). Recall that the just mixed fixer pH was around 7.01 at 70 degrees F. We will see how stable the pH is over time.