Photo-flo: do you need to use it with distilled water?

Markok765 · Oct 27, 2006

i am wondering, because distilled water has no minerals, is it ok to use it alone on the negs, so there wont be drying marks?

david b · Oct 27, 2006

I use it with distilled or bottled water.

eric · Oct 27, 2006

I keep a bunch in a 1 gallon container with distilled h20 and some rubbing alchohol. The alchohol prevents weird 10th grade science experiment growing inside it. I'm not sure how many rolls I can get through it but its a lot.

david b · Oct 27, 2006

I make a new batch every 20 rolls, when I change my fixer.

George Collier · Oct 27, 2006

It's the last thing to hit the film before drying, and it only takes one time with tap water that had cooties - I always use distilled (after the cootie experience) and only mix enough to coat the film - 300-400cc's. In a small beaker, holding the film at each end see-sawing it back and forth for 30 seconds. Too cheap to save.

htmlguru4242 · Oct 27, 2006

Its definetely a good idea to use it with distilled water. You don't strictly have to, but if you can use it with distilled water, do.

Photo Engineer · Oct 27, 2006

It is designed for use without distilled water and to eliminate the need of distilled water, but is best with distilled water.

PE

Mike Kennedy · Oct 27, 2006

I get an 8 liter jug of distilled H2o from our water delivery guy and use 2 drops of photo flo per 300ml of distilled. Works well for me.

Mike

TheFlyingCamera · Oct 27, 2006

I have a water filtration system in my darkroom, so I just use the filtered water with it and don't have problems.

Helen B · Oct 27, 2006

"...because distilled water has no minerals, is it ok to use it alone on the negs...?"

I do a final rinse in distilled water, but don't use any wetting agent. The answer to my interpretation of Marko's question is that, as far as I know, you don't need to use Photo-Flo if you are using distilled water, you can just use distilled water.

Best,
Helen

25asa · Oct 27, 2006

Alright, somebody has to fess up, and it might as well be me.

I use it with tap water. 5ml per liter mixed at the time of development.

2 changes of water after the photoflo soak and hang that film!
No spots, no problems.

kb244 · Oct 27, 2006

I just use a couple drops with some tap water each time i develop a roll or set of rolls. Works fine, may not be as conservative as other methods, but still last a damn long time. Also the idea of photoflo was to help situations where pure water isnt avail, and to let it dry faster (where as tap water can take longer to dry and leave mineral residue).

matti · Oct 28, 2006

I would say it depends on your water quality. Here in Stockholm I don't need to use distilled water.
/matti

jim appleyard · Oct 28, 2006

Helen B said:
"...because distilled water has no minerals, is it ok to use it alone on the negs...?"

I do a final rinse in distilled water, but don't use any wetting agent. The answer to my interpretation of Marko's question is that, as far as I know, you don't need to use Photo-Flo if you are using distilled water, you can just use distilled water.

Best,
Helen

Ahh, but doesn't Photo-Flo do much more? I remember a response somewhere from PE about the nice things that Photo-Flo does; lubricating the film, making the water run off faster so your film dries sooner, etc.

PE, please add more to the list if you wish.

Monophoto · Oct 28, 2006

In the darkroom in our former home, I used distilled water. The water came from the basement dehumidifier.

In our new home, we don't need a dehumidifier. So I use the water that is processed through a reverse osmosis drinking water filtration system.

Arelia99 · Oct 28, 2006

I have to admit I have just been taking the advice of the gentleman who owns a camera store locally....he said just put a drop in the development tank. Seems to work ok so far. I usually use watrer from the tap for washing, but use distilled for the rest of the process.

Nancy

Photo Engineer · Oct 28, 2006

Photo Flo is a surfactant when you get to the basics. It allows water to flow evenly over the surface of the film and prevent water spots even with moderately hard water.

With extremely hard water it may begin to fail and you will get calcium deposits on the surface of the film. So, with average water, photo flo will work wonders but with very very hard water, it may fail, leaving a dull white film on the surface of your film. Then, you use DW.

If you see oily spots and moire patterns on your drying film, then you may have oil in the water. In this case, you need an ionic surfactant such as TX 200.

PE

Photo-flo: do you need to use it with distilled water?

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