Stop Bath

mrred · Sep 16, 2009

I often lack foresight when buying chemicals. I keep forgetting to buy indicator stop bath. yea, a personal problem....

Is there an easy way, outside of buying an expensive ph meter, to show me when it's done? Could ph strips do the job? I know Kodak made a test solution, but I have never even seen that one on the shelves in 20 years.

Photo Engineer · Sep 16, 2009

Use Heinz white vinegar if you must. It is a distilled acetic acid with a concentration close to stop bath and is not too critical. Dilute to 1 - 2%

Don't use colored vinegars, just white distilled vinegars.

PE

mrred · Sep 16, 2009

Photo Engineer said:
Use Heinz white vinegar if you must. It is a distilled acetic acid with a concentration close to stop bath and is not too critical. Dilute to 1 - 2%

Don't use colored vinegars, just white distilled vinegars.

PE

Sorry PE, I have lots of stop bath. I just want to know what my alternatives are to test for exhaustion.

Anscojohn · Sep 16, 2009

mrred said:
I often lack foresight when buying chemicals. I keep forgetting to buy indicator stop bath. yea, a personal problem....

Is there an easy way, outside of buying an expensive ph meter, to show me when it's done? Could ph strips do the job? I know Kodak made a test solution, but I have never even seen that one on the shelves in 20 years.

******
I don't know about film. But with paper, when the slipperness disappears the paper is stopped. I suppose that if it stays slippery, your stop bath is shot.

Sodium bisulphite can be used to make a stop bath. As PE says, Heinz white distilled vingegar is about 5% dilute ascetic acid. Diluted 1:2 with water works great. I buy it in five quart jugs at Costco and use it in the laundry. Fresh stop bath is important to me becaus I use D23.

Photo Engineer · Sep 16, 2009

Smell is the best test for stop bath.

If it smells like vinegar it is good, if it does not, then it is bad. The slippery test is also quite valid.

The pH should be below about 6.0 on average. This is a loose figure.

PE

Mahler_one · Sep 16, 2009

Great idea PE...cheap, and effective. Of course, can one use water as a stop bath? Indeed, water stop bath is suggested by PF when using TF4 Rapid Fixer.

Photo Engineer · Sep 17, 2009

Water as a stop is fine as long as it is running water. A still water bath rapidly becomes a weak developer. A still water stop can also promote non-uniformity in the photo as development may not stop quickly enough. This becomes evident with high activity developers and/or large prints. Kodak suggests either a stop or a running water rinse. I have used both with TF-4.

PE

Willie Jan · Sep 17, 2009

Stopbath is so cheap, so why not using a bath per print session?

I bought 6kilo citric acid for about 15 dollar, with 15gram per liter I can work a couple of years (400 sessions)

Lowell Huff · Sep 17, 2009

If you use a 'STOP-FIX", no stop bath is required.

Stop Bath

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