Legacy Pro Eco chemicals

[Terryro]

I've relocated and my darkroom space has really gotten smaller. I've been a Kodak chemistry user forever but the odors are very bad in a small space. Anyone have any experience with the Legacy Pro Eco chemicals from Freestyle? How they would compare to the Kodak versions (Dektol, Indicator Stop, and Rapid fixer with no harder added)? I have a ceiling vent fan but it really only brings in fresh air when the door is open. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Roger Cole]

I don't know about that, but in my experience in black and white darkrooms odors come primarily from three things: stop bath, fixer, and (worst of all for the sulfide ones) toners - and you shouldn't use sulfide toners in the darkroom anyway as the fumes will fog sensitive materials. I've had it happen and learned the hard way. For the other two, my recommendation is to use a citric acid based odor free stop bath. I've used those exclusively for years, if you even use a stop bath as for most processes a water rinse will suffice. And for fixer TF-5 if you really want odor free (TF-4 much less than regular acid fixer.) Both are alkaline fixers. Of the black and white developers I've used none had much odor, though I've not used HC-110 which I've heard does (I have an unopened bottle of the old formula which I will try.)

 

[Rick A]

I use EcoPro citric acid stop and Neutral Fixer, switched years ago and love them. I only use stop for conventional printing, but the smell of acetic acid in an open tray was getting unpleasant. I preferred TF-4 fixer, but the ammonia smell in an open tray was just too much to bear, EcoPro Neutral has almost no scent at all, plus it lasts longer than any other fixer I've used, has greater capacity for use, economical
.

 

[Pieter12]

I use Eco Pro fixer and paper developer. Just fine, no strong odors. For the stop bath, I use Stop Block. It has a sort of vanilla smell and works fine.

 

[MattKing]

Citric acid based stop bath will make the biggest difference. Kodak Rapid Fixer without hardener at the print dilution isn't bad at all, and I would be surprised if you can smell Dektol at working strength.

 

[GregY]

I've used both Eco-Pro devoper & fixer (just because it was in stock). I still use glacial acetic acid.... but agree with the others... the Photo Formulary T4/T5 are pretty much odourless.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

... I have a ceiling vent fan but it really only brings in fresh air when the door is open. Thanks for any advice.

Install a lightproof vent either in the door or wall with a filter. Then, when you turn on the fan, it will pull in fresh, filtered air.

Switch to fixer and stop that don't bother you. Kodak Indicator Stop will have a vinegar smell (acetic acid). Ilforstop is citric-acid based. It won't last as long (you can't store it for long periods like the Kodak product), but it smells better.

Ilford Rapid Fixer is less smelly than the Kodak counterpart. Some alkaline fixers can be pretty ammonia-stinky so you may not want them. TF-5 is supposedly fairly odor-free. I do fine with the Ilford products.

Best,

Doremus

 

[gone]

I get most of the smells from the vinegar stop bath and fixer, very little from the developer. Switching to the Clayton Odorless Fixer fixed the fixer issue. If I went to the Eco Pro stop bath, it would also resolve the stop bath smell. This is a big space though, smells are basically only around the trays.

Freestyle has a lot of odorless fixers and stop baths. Didn't see any odorless developers on their search.

 

[Terryro]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll be putting in a Freestyle order very soon.

 

[Renato Tonelli]

Another option is Clayton Odorless Fixer and Odorless Stop Bath. Both available from Freestyle.
Formulary TF-5 is very low odor but not odorless; a friend gave me several gallons of it and I noticed a difference. Also worth mentioning is that TF-5 mixes 1+3 for both film and paper; most other fixers mix 1+7 for paper making the concentrate last longer.

 

[Roger Cole]

Well you CAN mix them 1+7. I use the Ilford fix routine, fixing paper in film strength, non-hardening fixer. That's for fiber based papers. No real need to do that for RC since the reason is to fix for much shorter time to save wash time and they wash so quickly anyway.

 

[Terryro]

Thanks for the information. My biggest concern is the stop and fixer as great deal of my printing lately has been "Lith" printing. I was given several boxes of old photo paper (Agfa, Dupont and Kodak) from a friends grandfathers darkroom. Mostly 70's & 80's exp dates. Some very interesting "Lith" effects and color tones. Usually Moersch Easy Lith or SE5 kit developer. Thanks again for the info looking forward to a printing session soon.