Kim Catton said:
Whats the best way to "stop" ?
Stop development that is. To do that the developer
with in the emulsion must be inactivated. No problem.
Water alone may well be a faster stop than any acid stop.
Water molecules are small, and fast, with long path. They will
reach deep within the emulsion far ahead of those large, and
slow, short path acid molecules.
Within a few seconds the developer's ph has dropped to a
level where it could, for any practical purpose, be considered
active. With in those same first few seconds a considerable
dilution of the developer takes place.
The amount of developer to be dealt with is almost non
existent. Some don't think it enough to bother with and skip
the "stop", whatever it might be. That is my usual method;
develop, fix. I use a metered amount of fix, use it once
and done with it. If I do use a water stop it is distilled
water at room temperature.
I place no value on a quick stop. Acid stops were the
norm for many years because acid hardening fixers followed.
To days films are prehardened. Dan
