Post-Development Agitation Technique

[clayne]

So we all know that agitation during development makes a significant difference.

But in the other stages of the process, does agitation style even make a difference? Does it even matter if one chooses to not rotate whatsoever and just wrist-twist?

I tend to use the same developing agitation while fixing, but hurry it up a bit more.

During rinsing there have been times where I'm just doing 30 wrist-twists very quickly. Haven't really seen any "differences" per se with regards to using a gentle agitation method once I'm out of developer land. Anyone else have any data? Opinions?

 

[Ian Grant]

As long as the initial agitation is good in the stop & fix then it'll make no difference.

Ian

 

[Ross Chambers]

I've always wondered about this too, so I've subscribed to the thread to learn.

Of course when you are down under in Wellington you should invert in the opposite direction from that you use in SF

Kia Ora - Ross

 

[j-fr]

There is one important difference between developing and all other steps in the process: During the developing, when the picture is formed, the action must be uniform all over the surface of the film. During the other steps substances are removed from the emulsion, first unexposed silver, then chemicals, and this processes does not necessarily have to be uniform all over the surface at any given time - just as long as any part of the film gets enough.

j-fr

www.j-fr.dk

 

[dancqu]

Besides Taking Time Agitation Is Over Rated

Why tie up one's hands unnecessarily agitating.
Admittedly some little agitation is necessary.
For consistency and the record it needs to
be at regular intervals.

Over all, developer through wash, I rely upon
the diffusion which takes place during relatively
long intervals twixt agitations. The intervals
allow for other tasks.

Paper processing is another story. Because of
my one-shot use of very dilute print chemistry
agitation is continuous. For washing I revert to
a very few long soaks. Very little agitation,
lots of diffusion. Dan

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

For film, I agitate initially by inverting twice and for fix I have taken to agigtating identically as with developing. For paper I agitate quite often, actually with RC papers throughout. Of course, I like contrast and this seemsto provide the look I am generally trying to acheive.

 

[trexx]

So why do we agitate? To move spent chemistry and allow fresh to take it's place. In development this can be desired as in normal processing or not with stand, where spent chemistry may give more gradation in shadows. With stop, when using acid the time is only 30 sec and agitation at first is all that is needed. If a water stop then the water should be flowing and the equivalent constant agitation. For fix there are a lot of by products being produced. But most are in the first few seconds. So again initial agitation is needed, and intermittent for the remainder.

 

[gainer]

I've always wondered about this too, so I've subscribed to the thread to learn.

Of course when you are down under in Wellington you should invert in the opposite direction from that you use in SF

Kia Ora - Ross

I've always wondered about that. Doesn't the fact that you are also upside down make a difference?

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I've always wondered about that. Doesn't the fact that you are also upside down make a difference?

Now that's funny. ;P

 

[neelin]

I've always wondered about this too, so I've subscribed to the thread to learn.

Of course when you are down under in Wellington you should invert in the opposite direction from that you use in SF

Me too, but more questions are being raised if you have to consider what hemisphere you're in. If I'm on the equator I'll be flummoxed, in the twilight zone, or something.

 

[clayne]

Well one of the things I've heard in the past about the fixing stage is that increased agitation promotes fixer activity level. However, since, as trexx pointed out, we're agitating to shift chemicals, why do we see some recommendations for 30 seconds of agitation? Is there actually much chemical activity occurring at the moment of agitation? It would seem that with chemicals moving around in the tank and on/off the surface of the film that the most activity happens when the solution is at rest, with fresh local chemicals.

 

[keithwms]

When the film/paper gets transferred from dev -> stop and from stop -> fix, it has some residual chemistry on it from the prior bath. So I agitate strongly when transferring from one bath to the next, to try to ensure simultaneous, full coverage of the entire surface by the new chemistry. This is followed by much less frequent agitation.... in the fix bath, I agitate maybe once or twice overall.

The main thing is to agitate strongly right after transfer- a few lifts / inversions. That is my religion.

If I had doubts about the life of my fixer then I would agitate vigorously.