photo-flo

[Rinthe]

do you guys put mixed photo-flo in a plastic bottle and pour enough into beaker and dip film in it, then pour it back to the plastic bottle? that stuff can be reused over and over right?

oh how how much photo-flo do you guys mix at a time?

 

[Stregone]

I fill the tank up with water and put a bunch of drops in. Then toss it out. You only need a teeny bit!

 

[removed account4]

same here ...
i just put a few DROPS into whatever container has my film in it ..
sometimes that is a tank ( 1, 2,3 reels ) or a tray ( 4x5, 5x7 or 8x10 tray )
or even a oriental print washer ...
it takes very little photo flo to do the trick. i just finished a bottle opened in 1980

 

[tkamiya]

I pre-mix PhotoFlo in one liter bottle for convenience. I use Kodak's recommended mix rate that is 5 ml for 1 liter water. I re-use them IF I have more than one film to process per session but never save any used one beyond the session.

 

[bdial]

It can be reused, but stuff will start growing in it eventually. As noted, a little goes a very long way, so using it one-shot isn't a bad strategy.
I've had the best luck using it in measured doses, so I take a 1 gallon jug of distilled and put in 1/200 of a gallon of Photoflo (18ml). Then I take my Sharpie and write "Photoflo" on the jug.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

You can reuse photoflo. If it gets too old, scum and alge can grow in your solution. I use Edwal LFN. It comes in a bottle that's has a dropper. I use a couple of drops per pint of solution then toss it after use.

 

[Denis R]

re-use

I re-use fixer, stop, and flo

flow mixed 3 ml to 300 ml distilled water

all 3 chemicals in gallon brown bottles, pour directly into tank as much as needed, return to bottle when done using filter funnel

used d-76 1:1 developer is also saved to develop paper

 

[Athiril]

I mix my photo-flo 200 how it says... 1 part to 200 parts water... its so economical it'd be a waste of a good bottle to keep it.

 

[PVia]

Add a few drops to your tank or tray...that's it!

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

If you're going to mix it up and save it Distilled water will slow the 'growths'.

 

[Dave Martiny]

I've found that a dash of alcohol in a batch of working strength fhoto-flo solution eliminates the growth/scum problem without affecting it's performance, allowing it to be re-used for a very long time.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I dilute Photo-Flo with 91% isopropanol and then dilute it with water to make a working solution.

If you dilute PF 200 1:24 with alcohol (add 1 1/3 oz to a quart of alcohol) you would then add 1 oz of the mixture to 7 oz water to make 8 oz of working solution.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

You only need a little bit!

Jeff

 

[mesh]

I've only just started processing... In my ignorance, when I ordered all my chems a few weeks ago, I thought I'd stock up and bought 3 bottles of PhotoFlo. I reckon I'm sorted until about 2076 ;-) Yeah it only needs a little bit - too much and it's way too frothy to make it comfortable to use. That said, it didn't cause me any issues when I used about 10ml.

 

[removed account4]

I've only just started processing... In my ignorance, when I ordered all my chems a few weeks ago, I thought I'd stock up and bought 3 bottles of PhotoFlo. I reckon I'm sorted until about 2076 ;-)

i think you mean 3076

 

[Monophoto]

Rinthe -

Please understand that when you ask a question here, the answers are more likely to be opinion rather than fact. Photography isn't actually rocket science, and there are about as many ways to do things as there are people doing them.

My approach is to dilute a small amount of PhotoFlo concentrate in water that has been processed through a reverse-osmosis filtration system. I have also used distilled water, but since we have an RO filter in the house, RO water is more convenient.

I do save and reuse this working solution. At the point the photoflo solution is used, the film should have been thoroughly washed, so in theory it can't become contaminated and could be used indefinitely. I'm more cautious, and dump it periodically.

Re Mesh's stocking up on Photo-Flo -

I've been doing photography in my own darkroom for more than 30 years, and I'm currently on my second bottle of PhotoFlo. So the only reason I see for buying more than one bottle at a time is that when you need to buy a second bottle 20 years later, you may not be able to find it.

 

[Rinthe]

Thanks Monophoto, yes i understand that i'm just getting everyone's opinion and that is what i'm looking for. I can test all these things based on everyone's opinion

Sweet, sounds like i just need to buy one bottle of photoflo then haha

 

[cmacd123]

I've been doing photography in my own darkroom for more than 30 years, and I'm currently on my second bottle of PhotoFlo. So the only reason I see for buying more than one bottle at a time is that when you need to buy a second bottle 20 years later, you may not be able to find it.

I think mine was from the 80's - If you can't get it from Kodak when you need some more, Ilford and Freestyle both sell substitutes. The small amount really makes it not owrth fussing about re-useing, unless perhaps your water supply is such that you have to use bottled water. The old Kodak Instructions were to use a cap-full to a (US) Quart. The official 1:200 would be 5ml of concentrate to a liter.

If you want a lifetime supply for your grandkids - get a US gallon of Photoflo 600 while it is still available. (or the Legacy pro equivalent at $36.59US plus shipping.)

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Rinthe,

Your question is really two in one, although most responses are only to the obvious aspect.

First, yes, you can theoretically re-use Photo-Flo and other wetting agents and still have them deliver the "sheeting action" that the surfactant is designed for. This keeps the water from beading up on your negatives and prevents drying marks caused by uneven drying and the resultant stretching/distortion of the emulsion.

What people are not mentioning here is that the wetting agent, by design, is the last bath that your clean, freshly-washed negatives are put through. If you have been processing in hard water, or softened water with lots of salt in it from the water softener, these will cause deposits on your otherwise well-processed film as they dry.

In order to prevent deposits in this case, you need to mix your wetting agent with distilled water and soak them long enough for the larger part of the dissolved minerals to diffuse out into the distilled water. This means that your the mineral content of your wetting agent will increase as you treat film and eventually reach a point where it will not remove enough of the mineral from your film to keep deposits from forming.

You need to discard your wetting agent before this point is reached.

Keep in mind that most tap water has a bit of mineral in it (otherwise the water would not taste good) and that it takes a surprisingly small amount to cause mineral deposits on film as it dries. My "mountain spring" water here in Vienna, Austria leaves deposits on my negs if I don't have a final rinse in distilled water. Not only that, I can't run more than 12-15 4x5 negs through 400ml of distilled water/wetting agent without getting deposits. My policy is to mix 400-500ml of distilled water/wetting agent and use it for no more than 12 4x5 negatives (this equals about 3 rolls of 135-36). I then discard it and mix new. This works well with my work flow as well, since my film washer holds 12 negs.

The well water in my Oregon darkroom is, surprisingly, somewhat better than that, but, since my film washer there holds 12 negs as well, I follow the same routine.

You need to consider the mineral content of your processing water and add that into your calculations of when to toss the wetting agent bath. If you are mixing it with tap water and are having no mineral deposit problems, then by all means, save it and use it till it starts to get "growies" in it (do filter it through a coffee filter before each use to check this, however!). If you get mineral deposits on your film, even with fresh wetting agent, then you need to mix with distilled water and toss the wetting agent bath before enough minerals build up in it to cause deposits on your film.

Best and have fun,

Doremus Scudder
www.DoremusScudder.com

 

[johnnywalker]

I use the Ilford product, and following someone's advice from a while ago, add a bit of isopropyl alcohol. I also throw it out after one session. It may be my imagination, but the negatives seem "cleaner" when the alcohol is added.

 

[Tim Gray]

I used to reuse mine until the floaties got me. Now I mix it fresh. One drop per ounce of water.