Kodafix

I never have used this fixer but B & H was out of my usual Ilford Rapid fixer so ended up buying a bottle of this chemical.

I should have read about it first as I find that Kodafix is a hardening fixer. Is this fixer OK to use with regular films? I get confused as to whether or not hardening fixers are good or bad for film (as opposed to paper).

Maybe I should just pitch it down the drain and get my usual Ilford fixer.

I would have thought so but I am no expert. Wouldn't this be particularly good stuff for those films that allegedly are not quite as tough as, say, Ilford?

pentaxuser

The hardener is packaged in a separate bottle. Just don’t use it. Hardening fixers are preferable for film because they harden emulsion thus protecting from scratching, etc. For papers use unhardened fixers if you intend to spot or color.
However, absolutely don’t leave film in hardening fixer longer than necessary, otherwise film tends to have nasty curl.

guangong said:

The hardener is packaged in a separate bottle. Just don’t use it. Hardening fixers are preferable for film because they harden emulsion thus protecting from scratching, etc. For papers use unhardened fixers if you intend to spot or color.
However, absolutely don’t leave film in hardening fixer longer than necessary, otherwise film tends to have nasty curl.

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It's a single bottle, not two and is a hardening fixer.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/27937-REG/Kodak_1464080_Kodafix_Solution_Liquid_for.html#!

Also beware that you must wash the film for a much longer time with hardening fixer. You can use a washing aid solution (e.g. Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent) to shorten the wash time.

photog_ed said:

Also beware that you must wash the film for a much longer time with hardening fixer. You can use a washing aid solution (e.g. Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent) to shorten the wash time.

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Thank you. I'm not going to bother with this. I'll get a bottle of Ilford fixer somehow.

RattyMouse said:

Thank you. I'm not going to bother with this. I'll get a bottle of Ilford fixer somehow.

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If you can't get Ilford Fixer then Tetenal, who make Ilford fixer for them make a very good rapid fixer, as do Champion, with their Amfix, and , at least over here, Fotospeed, all pretty much the same and pretty much interchangeable, and, over here cheaper than the Ilford, personally I use Amfix, so don't restrict yourself, also, there was one fixer that had a hardener in a seperate containe, many years ago, before Champion took ove May and Baker's chemistry, the original Amfix came in a 1 liter bottle with a container of Hardener around the neck, so that you had the choice of using it or not, many of the much older films of Yesteryear needed a hardener so it was included just in case

i only use hardener with liquid emulsions ( soft ).
hardener is not recommended for any film or prints anymore
efke i think was the last soft emulsion film .. using hardener will just make it
extra difficult to wash your film and prints ... and make it so you can't
tone your prints if you do that sort of thing ..
it used to be packaged in a big box with 2 bottles one was hardener one was concentrated fixer you diluted
( we used it for deep tanks and get rid of the hardener, we used tri x and ortho tri x and retouched with lead.
hardener makes that impossible as well ).
kodak also sell a powder fixer with hardener mixed in it is an all in one product, you don't want that either.
if you dind't get the bottle of hardener i'd call b/h and find out from them what they sold you ..
or if there is a customer service # for kodak ask them what it is you bought.
there are other non hardening, non ilford rapid/speed fixers out there that you can also order off of the internet / amazon &c...

RattyMouse said:

It's a single bottle, not two and is a hardening fixer.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/27937-REG/Kodak_1464080_Kodafix_Solution_Liquid_for.html#!

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My Kodak rapid fixer comes packaged with large bottle of stock fixer and a small bottle of hardener. Either Kodak has changed packaging or we are talking about two different fixers. Have unopened box in darkroom and must take a look.

I use Kodafix with EFKE 25 (soft emulsion); all others see non-hardening fixer.

guangong said:

My Kodak rapid fixer comes packaged with large bottle of stock fixer and a small bottle of hardener. Either Kodak has changed packaging or we are talking about two different fixers. Have unopened box in darkroom and must take a look.

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Yes, Kodafix is a one part liquid rapid fixer, no separate bottle of hardener. It works fine but your wash times will be longer. Kodak Rapid Fixer comes with a separate Part B which is the hardener solution. It can be mixed either with or without the hardener. The two are not the same and I suspect that the hardener in Kodafix is chemically different from the hardener in the Rapid Fixer. Fixing times and washing times for Kodafix and Rapid Fix with hardener should be similar.

Ratty,

Just use the Kodafix for film. It's a fine fixer but will need a bit more washing time. If you use a staining developer (pyrogallol or pyrocatechin), don't use a hypo-clearing agent, as it will remove the stain. Just wash for 20-30 minutes. With other developers, hypo-clear will reduce your wash time. See Greg Davis' sticky thread on washing here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/film-washing-test.69416/

Don't use hardening fixer on fiber-base prints if you can help it, but for RC prints it's just fine.

Best,

Doremus

I only use it with Acros, since it's a soft emulsion. My working bath is good, but the stock solution went south very fast. I won't be buying more.

Most modern emulsions, and this includes Acros, are properly prehardened and do not need a hardener or hardening fixer. There are two big advantages of hardening fixers today:

1. extra stuff in fixer slows down fixer
2. hardening fixers have to be acidic to work, this causes longer wash times and poor concentrate and working solution shelf life.

RattyMouse, do yourself a favor and get some neutral rapid fixer, they should all work well regardless which brand. Even if the label/manual/instruction sheet doesn't say whether it's a neutral fixer, the MSDS typically does.

Rudeofus said:

Most modern emulsions, and this includes Acros, are properly prehardened and do not need a hardener or hardening fixer.

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That's not my experience with Acros. A hardening fixer stopped my issue with the emulsion flaking.

Further, the Acros data sheet recommends a hardening fixer for the film.

I normally use Ilford fixer, but I've used hardening fixer occasionally (but not recently) with no problem. I've never known it do any harm, but, as others suggest, probably extra washing would be a reasonable precaution.

bvy said:

That's not my experience with Acros. A hardening fixer stopped my issue with the emulsion flaking.

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Very strange. I don't use Acros that often, but I fix all my B&W film with a neutral, non-hardening fixer which is loaded with further emulsion softening Ammonium Thiocyanate. My B&W film is mostly 120 format roll film, maybe different formats are different? Very strange ...

bvy said:

That's not my experience with Acros. A hardening fixer stopped my issue with the emulsion flaking.

Further, the Acros data sheet recommends a hardening fixer for the film.

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Strange. I've developed close to 1000 rolls of Acros using Ilford Rapid Fixer and have never seen the slightest problem.

I've dumped the Kodafix and will get another bottle of Ilford fixer when I can.

RattyMouse said:

Strange. I've developed close to 1000 rolls of Acros using Ilford Rapid Fixer and have never seen the slightest problem.

I've dumped the Kodafix and will get another bottle of Ilford fixer when I can.

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Might have been a bad batch. Or that it didn't like being frozen. It got me through the problem stage though, and I might try reverting back to Ilford Rapid Fixer to see if I still have issues.

I have been using the simple Kodafix single concentrate for fixing film at home 20+ years, use wash aid followed by 5-10 mins wash. Never experienced any problems whatsoever, I use the wash aid to make the base tint of the film stock’s respective color as light as possible.

I prefer hardening fixers with film. Too much discussion is wasted worrying about what the hardener will or will not due to permanence.

On this kind of thing, people know what they read, or they have actual experience. In my experience - I have hundreds of rolls of negatives today, which were made to far less than archival processing methods dating back to 1980.

The vast majority of these were made with 35mm Tri-X, fixed in Kodak Rapid Fixer with hardener in Associated Press darkrooms, no wash aids applied. They probably got at best 10 minutes wash. We were only under deadlines, not thinking about permanence of the film.

These still print just fine today, most you couldn’t tell much variation except the base tint color and some of that is that film base tint changed some over time. -- I don't need them to last forever, the important images have been printed or digitized, but approaching 40 years of age, with 35mm, it's pretty durable stuff even when washing methods are less than ideal.