Pre wash or no pre wash ?

DREW WILEY

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I'm retired too. I still have a boss, but don't even get paid ! - or I should clarify, three demanding bosses, all female, one with two legs, the other two with four legs apiece, plus tails,claws, and whiskers.
 

Augustus Caesar

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Using a pre-wash does no harm, and I have never had any problem with air-bells since I started using a pre-wash. I did occasionally have them before I started using a pre-wash.
 

Sirius Glass

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Augustus Caesar said:
Using a pre-wash does no harm, and I have never had any problem with air-bells since I started using a pre-wash. I did occasionally have them before I started using a pre-wash.
Click to expand...

Once I started prewashing I found I had fewer problems with air bells or uneven development.
 

John Wiegerink

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I can't remember prewashing film before I started using Pyrocat developers. I decided I would try it with a couple (Rodinal, MCM100 and ID-11) that I also used at the time. I came to the conclusion that it did more good than harm and now use a prewash for everything. Now I only use two developers as my "go-to" developers, which are Pyrocat-HDC(gly) and XT-3-R. Both of those developers benefit from a prewash. Pyrocat-HDC gets it because Sandy King recommends it and XT-3-R gets it because I don't want to put the anti-halation junk and color back into my XT-3-R jug. Works for me and I give it!
 

bernard_L

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Augustus Caesar said:
Using a pre-wash does no harm, and I have never had any problem with air-bells since I started using a pre-wash. I did occasionally have them before I started using a pre-wash.
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+1
In my book "does not harm" is not a good reason to introduce an extra processing step.
BUT. I have been struggling with airbells developing 120 Neopan400 (stockpile). Possibly this started when the origin of our water distribution changed. Tapping of course. Increasing dev volume from 500 to 550ml changed nothing. UNTIL in desperation I tried a pre-wash with PhotoFlo. It worked. Interestingly, 400TX is free from airbells with straight processing. Different surface properties.
 

Sirius Glass

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mshchem said:
I pre-wet with color to get up to temperature.
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Good point. I forgot to mention that not just for the film but also the tank and reel(s).
 

Rob Skeoch

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Just a guy out having fun but I never pre-wash any of my black and white except..... I always pre-wash Rollei400 IR. And the pre-wash water comes out like mud.
 

PicklesFrog

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i've always rinsed my bw negatives before hand. just four filled and dumps. takes like 30 seconds for me.
 

Sirius Glass

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RalphLambrecht said:
not sure about that. Even old people make mistakes; just slower.
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Slow motion mistakes. The worst of those is the falls that older people see in gruesomely s-l-o-w--m-o-t-i-o-n.
 
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