What is 'stabilizer'?

OptiKen · Oct 5, 2015

This weekend I was developing 18 rolls of color print film using the Tetenol powdered kit.
In one of the tanks I had 2 rolls of Kodak Motion Picture film (5248 - EXR100T) which has a remjet coating.
Well, I screwed up................

After using the developer, instead of adding the Blix, I poured in the Stabilizer.
Realizing suddenly that my brain had left my body, I dumped the Stabilizer and put in the Blix and continued with the development normally.
I haven't printed or scanned any of the negs yet, but it looks like 'no harm - no foul'. The negatives appear fine.

What prompts my post is because when I dumped the Stabilizer I had put in between the Developer and the Blix, it came out really black after souping for less than a minute - possibly less than 30 seconds. The Stabilizer had completely removed the remjet coating wonderfully.

My question becomes, what is 'stabilizer' really and is there harm in using the chemical prior to developing to remove the remjet?

Thanks in advance

Ken

Photo Engineer · Oct 5, 2015

Ken, stabilizer is a mix of a bacteriostat, a dye stabilizing chemical, and Photo Flo 200. It is there to stabilize your images over the long term and so you will see no change for the first few months or years. But, in the long run, dyes will fade faster and the Dmin will come up. Read the thread about this here.

PE

Rudeofus · Oct 5, 2015

Check out (there was a url link here which no longer exists) for foundation&theory, and for recipe how to mix your own.

Since the stabilizer supplied with C-41 and E-6 kits is usually thought to be used as final rinse, and since you now contaminated your STAB, you will need to mix a fresh batch.

OptiKen · Oct 5, 2015

Thanks for the information and the link to PE's former thread on the subject.
It answered a lot of questions for me

Vonder · Oct 5, 2015

While I think PE's formula may be for some stabilizers, I only see one chemical listed for mine. Hexamine. I don't know what other kits contain. My kit is variously labeled Tetenal, Jobo, or Unicolor, and I had assumed the stabilizer was all the same. I have quit using it, specifically this hexamine one, because no matter what I do or how I mix it with distilled or plain tap water my film comes out with numerous white spots after drying.

Wish there was a way to get just the stabilizer that has the trio of ingredients PE lists.

Rudeofus · Oct 5, 2015

AFAIK Hexamine decomposes into Formalin in aqueous solution. So it's basically a Formalin based stabilizer which is much easier to ship than Formalin.

Photo Engineer · Oct 5, 2015

Stabilizer or other similar photo rinses will never cause spots on negatives.

PE

wombat2go · Oct 6, 2015

I am on Rollei Digibase
I just added an extra step: A rinse of water ( I use 50% distilled+50% tap water) before the stab.
I am doing rolls of 120 1 by 1 with 500 ml solutions. All the solutions are at 39 C.
Tonight I am on 7th roll of the batch, and pleased to say, the spots are very much lower, or completely absent..
Another trick I am doing ( a bit hard to describe) is to pull the film off the spiral, and while it is still hot, grab both ends , pulling the length tight and tapping the edge on the bench top.
That is so most of the drops and froth are encouraged to fall sideways off the film.
I found that if the film is hung up vertically with droplets on, the droplets slide down as they dry, becoming more sticky as they go down.

Rudeofus · Oct 6, 2015

Photo Engineer said:
Stabilizer or other similar photo rinses will never cause spots on negatives.

Tetenal's final rinse, even if mixed with deionized water, most definitely causes ugly white dry marks on my film. BTDT. The good news is: unless these marks are extremely strong, they will not show up in scans or prints. I still wonder whether one could wipe these off with a moist sponge and still maintain the anti germ action of the final rinse.

Xmas · Oct 6, 2015

If you clean a negative squeegee and use it immediately after hanging up to drain then the spots will be much reduced in frequency.

Never had scratches in nine years yet...

A soak in deionised water (90% full tank vigorous inversions until wrist hurts) before stabilisation might help, the deionised can be kept as stock. If you are processing REMJET you will need to filter it. note I get get gelatine chips with cine which does not have REMJET.

I stopped the deionised as the squeegee is effective enough.

You do need to keep the Squeegee clean ie scrub it with a protein scraper and surfant before each use.

trythis · Oct 6, 2015

Just adding that the stabilizer in the rollei blix (not digibase) kit does not leave spots for me but I used distilled water which is cheap and easy to get in the USA.

Sent with typotalk

cmacd123 · Oct 12, 2015

Assuming c-41 chemicals , might not hurt to treat in fresh stabilizer and redry, alter you are sure you have all the rem jet off.

Only problem is that the separate chemicals tend to come in ridiculously large quantities. I suspect that the capacity of the Stabilizer is Much larger than the rest of the kit, so ypu may be able to get away with using the stabilizer out of another kit and holding it.

Terry Christian · Oct 13, 2015

If you need more stabilizer, you needn't use it from another kit. It has a very long useful life, so save your next batch of it to use with another batch, or order "final rinse" from a photo retailer like Adorama. A tiny bottle will last a long time since the dilution ratio is high.

If you get marks on your film from excess stabilizer, then simply gently wipe the offending mark with a soft sponge dampened with stabilizer.

madgardener · Oct 14, 2015

So far I've only used the Unicolor kits and the Hexamine stabilizer. At first I was getting white spots but when I started mixing the stabilizer with distilled and later deionized water, I haven't had a problem since. With the concern about BLIX though, I'm looking into separating bleach and fix to make my negatives more archival.

blockend · Oct 14, 2015

Xmas said:
If you clean a negative squeegee and use it immediately after hanging up to drain then the spots will be much reduced in frequency.

Never had scratches in nine years yet...

Ooh, ah, ooh, I respectfully disagree!! Those things are print squeegees, designed to remove excess water from paper, which is much tougher than wet gelatine on an acetate base. In various communal darkrooms over the years I've seen more tramlines from squeegeeing negatives than any other neg damage. Even with scrupulous cleanliness you're abrading film with a rubber blade at its most sensitive stage. It will end in tears.

Photo Engineer · Oct 14, 2015

I'm sorry, but hardened gelatin is hardened gelatin. Different companies use different hardeners such that it takes place fast, slow or over a really long period, but once completed to a given point, then scratching should (SHOULD) be the same or similar.

I have use a sponge squegee or my fingers on film for over 50 years with no problem. It is a matter of cleaning the equipment to prevent solids from forming on the squeegee.

PE

John51 · Dec 7, 2015

The guy that got me into photography back in the 70s had all kinds of cheapo tricks. Like using a blank colour neg in a slide mount as a viewing filter for B&W.

What I learned from him was to use my first and middle finger as the neg squeegee. I guess this is wrong but I never had a problem with my B&W negs back then. Is the practice bad enough for me to never do it again or is it a case 'If it works for you...'

JaZ99 · Dec 8, 2015

Rudeofus said:
Tetenal's final rinse, even if mixed with deionized water, most definitely causes ugly white dry marks on my film.

I'm pretty sure that I've read this piece of advice some time ago on ridiculously long thread about Digibase kit.
Here it goes (from memory): the C-41 stab needs to be 2 times less strong than described in the leaflet.

What is 'stabilizer'?

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