Kodafix 1:3, 120/32 equivalent

ChristopherCoy · May 2, 2020

I bought some Kodafix to develop my TriX with. I was reading here that a gallon of the 1:3 dilution is good for 120/32 8x10 sheets in a tray/tank. But I'm not sure how that converts to rolls of film.

Additionally, since gallon jugs take up significant space, I was planning on mixing smaller 1:3 quantities at a time, just enough to fill the 2 roll steel tank that I have, so about a quart.

How many rolls of film will a quart of fixer dilution be good for?

MattKing · May 2, 2020

What that sheet says is that a (US) gallon will fix 120 8x10 sheets and a litre will fix 32 sheets.
Each 8x10 sheet is equivalent to one 120 or 135-36 roll.
A quart is slightly smaller than a litre - a quart will have a capacity of 30 sheets or so.

ChristopherCoy · May 2, 2020

MattKing said:
What that sheet says is that a (US) gallon will fix 120 8x10 sheets and a litre will fix 32 sheets.
Each 8x10 sheet is equivalent to one 120 or 135-36 roll.
A quart is slightly smaller than a litre - a quart will have a capacity of 30 sheets or so.

Ok I think I get it. 1 liter will fix 32 rolls of film. Which means that it is more likely to go bad on the shelf before I ever get 32 rolls of film through it.

ETA: duh... 36 negatives or 16 negatives fill up an 8x10 contact sheet. So it’s a surface area equation. That totally makes sense.

MattKing · May 2, 2020

Decant the concentrate to smaller, full bottles - glass is best, reasonably heavy PET next and thick HDPE after that.

cjbecker · May 2, 2020

I never pay attention to how many sheets/rolls go threw my fixer. I just test it every so often and when the clearing time is double of what the fresh mix time was, i mix up a new batch. I use tf4.

ChristopherCoy · May 3, 2020

cjbecker said:
I never pay attention to how many sheets/rolls go threw my fixer. I just test it every so often and when the clearing time is double of what the fresh mix time was, i mix up a new batch. I use tf4.

How do you test it?

cjbecker · May 3, 2020

ChristopherCoy said:
How do you test it?

In daylight, in a beaker, I will put a piece of cut film into the fixer and swirl it around. And time how long it takes to turn from foggy to clear.

I keep on hand a roll of 35mm to keep cutting pieces off of for tests like this.

ChristopherCoy · May 3, 2020

cjbecker said:
In daylight, in a beaker, I will put a piece of cut film into the fixer and swirl it around. And time how long it takes to turn from foggy to clear.

I keep on hand a roll of 35mm to keep cutting pieces off of for tests like this.

Interesting. Didn't know you could do that. Thanks!

MattKing · May 3, 2020

ChristopherCoy said:
How do you test it?

For more detail, here is a How To "Resource" that I posted on just this subject.
https://www.photrio.com/forum/resou...ixing-procedure-for-black-white-negatives.75/
I use scraps of T-Max film for the tests, because they are so demanding on fixer.

tomkatf · May 3, 2020

In addition to the methods above, there's also this stuff... https://www.amazon.com/Edwal-Hypo-Check-Chemical-Exhausted-Fixers/dp/B00009R6Z5

ChristopherCoy · May 3, 2020

MattKing said:
Decant the concentrate to smaller, full bottles - glass is best, reasonably heavy PET next and thick HDPE after that.

I ordered some 4oz blue glass bottles to store the fixer in, and I ordered a 16oz brown glass bottle to keep my working dilution in. Since I have a 16oz tank, this is perfect for 1:3 dilution.

Donald Qualls · May 3, 2020

ChristopherCoy said:
I ordered some 4oz blue glass bottles to store the fixer in, and I ordered a 16oz brown glass bottle to keep my working dilution in. Since I have a 16oz tank, this is perfect for 1:3 dilution.

That look like you've got it covered. BTW, in my experience, unless you leave the lid off, fixer remains good long past the expiration date on the bottle, and as noted up the thread, it's easy test when you mix up a new batch of working solution.

ChristopherCoy · May 3, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
That look like you've got it covered. BTW, in my experience, unless you leave the lid off, fixer remains good long past the expiration date on the bottle, and as noted up the thread, it's easy test when you mix up a new batch of working solution.

I figured the less air in the bottles the better, so if I top them off and cap them and store them in the back of a dark cabinet they should be ok until I use them. And the smaller glass bottles will be easier to store since we live on a boat. There's plenty of little places to store them in the dark.

Donald Qualls · May 3, 2020

ChristopherCoy said:
I figured the less air in the bottles the better, so if I top them off and cap them and store them in the back of a dark cabinet they should be ok until I use them. And the smaller glass bottles will be easier to store since we live on a boat. There's plenty of little places to store them in the dark.

Sure, you could actually measure the exact 4 ounces into each bottle, then top them up with water to eliminated air space, then just top up to 16 ounces when you mix a batch of working solution. You'll use up the capacity of working solution fast enough not to worry about a little air space in the 16 ounce bottle. Light isn't something I'm aware of as a problem with unused fixer -- with used fixer, especially if near exhaustion, it can cause the dissolved silver complex to plate out (I used to have a storage bottle that was well plated on the inside after standing with nearly exhausted fixer in it, in a lit room, for several months).

Kodafix 1:3, 120/32 equivalent

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