Kodak Photo-Flo 200 Dilution?

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

As indicated by the name, Kodak recommends a dilution for this wetting agent of 1:200. My experience is that I need far less (1+2,000) to avoid water marks, and our water is not very soft either.

How do you dilute Photo-Flo, and what are your experiences with this product?

ic-racer · Mar 7, 2011

1.5ml to 300ml distilled water without problem since 1974.

brianmquinn · Mar 7, 2011

The dilution you need varies with the quality of your water.
The 1:200 is probally for the worst case water quality.
I use distilled water for the final rinse and just a few drops is all I need.

Ottrdaemmerung · Mar 7, 2011

I use one drop per roll of 35mm and two per 120. My experience is that less, rather than more, is better.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Ottrdaemmerung said:
I use one drop per roll of 35mm and two per 120. My experience is that less, rather than more, is better.

That's my experience too.

If I use it at 1:200 with distilled water, I don't get water marks, I'll get Photo-Flo marks!

alroldan12 · Mar 7, 2011

I now use it as Kodak recommends without problems; but I've also accidentally used photo flo even more diluted than 1:200 (1+1000 or so) without marks. I dont think water is very soft were I live.

Sirius Glass · Mar 7, 2011

When all else fails, try following the directions. They were printed for a reason. 200ml PhotoFlo to 1ml water. This is not exactly rocket science stuff.

If you do not follow the instructions, you will be back posting that PhotoFlo ruined your film and that you are going to sue Kodak.

Steve

bdial · Mar 7, 2011

I put 15 ML into a gallon bottle of distilled, which makes it slightly more dilute than 1:200 (1:252).
1:200 (18 ML in a gal.) was a little too foamy for my taste, though it didn't cause any problems.

Steve Sherman · Mar 7, 2011

8x10 tray for 5x7 film, shake the photo flo bottle and wash cap out with water until 8x10 tray has 1/2" water.

7x17 film gets two caps rinsed out into 16x20 tray @ 1/2" deep of water, probably 1:1000 or more

Rick A · Mar 7, 2011

I stopped using Photo-Flo years ago and switched to Edwal LFN. Edwal calls for two drop of LFN per one pint of distilled water, and is reusable for quite some time.You can also add one drop of LFN to developer to eliminate bubbles from forming on film during development. IMO, a far superior product to Kodak's.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Sirius Glass said:
When all else fails, try following the directions. They were printed for a reason. 200ml PhotoFlo to 1ml water. This is not exactly rocket science stuff. ...

Steve

200ml PhotoFlo to 1ml water? Wow! :confused:

djhopscotch · Mar 7, 2011

I use it at 1.5 ml photo flo to 500 ml of water. At any higher concentration i get photo flo marks on the film after it dries. I use distilled water, but even when i didn't i had the same problems.

Tim Gray · Mar 7, 2011

I do 1:300. Seems to work for me. With my current water, 1:200 was too much, and less than 1:300 wasn't enough.

It works out to 1 drop from my dropper per oz of wash water, so it's easy to measure.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Kodak recommends 5 ml to 1 l of water and The Film Development Cookbook recommends only 1 ml to 1 l of distilled water. I use as little as 0.5 ml to 1 l of distilled water, and it works fine for me. However, what really interest me is what other dilutions people use to avoid water marks without getting marks from Photo-Flo itself.

john_s · Mar 7, 2011

Sirius Glass said:
When all else fails, try following the directions. They were printed for a reason. 200ml PhotoFlo to 1ml water. This is not exactly rocket science stuff.......

Being a rocket scientist could help, though.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Tim Gray said:
I do 1:300. Seems to work for me. With my current water, 1:200 was too much, and less than 1:300 wasn't enough.

It works out to 1 drop from my dropper per oz of wash water, so it's easy to measure.

One drop per ounce is probably more like 1:350 to 1:560.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_(unit)

Robert Hall · Mar 7, 2011

My mix is 2.5 ml per liter with 50ml rubbing alcohol. I have softened and filtered water.

However... I use LFN if I can instead. Recommended amount but still add 50ml of rubbing alcohol.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Robert

Do you use distilled water?

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Originally Posted by Sirius Glass
When all else fails, try following the directions. They were printed for a reason. 200ml PhotoFlo to 1ml water. This is not exactly rocket science stuff.......

john_s said:
Being a rocket scientist could help, though.

Rocket scientists are just people too!

Erik L · Mar 7, 2011

After using photo flow and edwal lfn I came to the conclusion that the edwal product is much better ime. A drop or two without thinking twice about it's dilution and there are never any drying problems or spots. I'll never use photo flow again after using lfn.
Regards
Erik

Tim Gray · Mar 7, 2011

RalphLambrecht said:
One drop per ounce is probably more like 1:350 to 1:560.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_(unit)

Who said my dropper was standardized? I measured it out when I did this and it works out to 1:300ish. My dropper does about 10 drops per milliliter.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Tim Gray said:
Who said my dropper was standardized? I measured it out when I did this and it works out to 1:300ish. My dropper does about 10 drops per milliliter.

Thanks, Tim.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Erik L said:
... I'll never use photo flow again after using lfn.
Regards
Erik

Interesting. I wonder why there is a difference. According to the MSDSs, both use very similar ingredients.

tkamiya · Mar 7, 2011

I use Kodak's recommended dilution and never had an issue that can be attributed to Photo-flo.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 7, 2011

Thanks for the information. Good to know that for most the Kodak recommendation seems to work well.

Kodak Photo-Flo 200 Dilution?

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