Single use batch size fixer?

I like to shoot B&W film occasionally, but not often enough to keep chemicals mixed. I like Rodinal for its long storage life and easy small batch mixing.

Is there a film fixer out there that has a long storage life and is easy to mix in single-use sized batches?

Thanks for any information or advice,

Bob

Fixing needs to go to completion, so there has to be an excess in the solution, so single use of a fixer is bound to be wasteful.

I keep fixer for ages, but if it's been a long time since I used it, I check the clearing time with a scrap of film, and I filter it between uses (nothing fancy; a paper coffee filter).

Single use developer is wasteful, too, but not usually so bad.

Developers rely on a somewhat critical concentration and timing,

so the capacity is carefully set. As fixers get overused, the

complexed silver builds up, and it doesn't work as well.

As for fixer, rapid fixers come in liquid form for easier mixing.

They aren't all that expensive for single use, though I would probably

reuse a mixed batch through one session.

A 35mm reel gets the same film area in half the chemistry

as does a 120 reel. That makes it half as wasteful for single

shot, but you don't say which film size you use.

Using a drum, such as the Unicolor FilmDrum, uses half as much

chemistry as a tank. The chemistry covers the bottom half of the

drum, and reaches all the film as it rotates.

The design of the Unidrum (for prints) is to allow single shot

print processing using the appropriate amount of chemistry.

Similar for film drum, and especially for color.

From: https://www.ilfordphoto.com/amfile/file/download/file_id/2012/product_id/711/

the capacity for mixed (1:4) film fixer is 24 rolls (135-36 or 120) per liter, or

six rolls for the 250ml usual for 35mm film tanks. You can figure out how wasteful

it is to do just one roll, compare the cost, and figure out how to use it.

I will (may?) be developing B&W 35mm film occasionally (TMax, Neopan). I have single and double spool tanks and some Hewes reels from many years back when I used to shoot more B&W.

These days, I might only shoot a roll or two a couple of times a year. I guess I'd be better off sending it to a lab but I sure like doing it at home in the kitchen sink. I use an old Nikon Coolscan V ED negative scanner to digitize images.

It seems like all the fixers I've looked at have a limited shelf life which seems to be reduced to just weeks after it's opened. I don't know how realistic those numbers are in general, but I get the impression that if I opened a bottle of fixer concentrate and mixed up single batches, the bottle of concentrate would deteriorate before I used much of it. I got totally spoiled by the shelf life of the Rodinal developer; a perfect product for the occasional kitchen sink film developer.

And on the environmental side of things, I'd hate to be disposing of nasty chemicals that were barely used. If I don't up shooting a decent amount of B&W film, I guess I'll use a lab.

Thanks for your input,

Bob

There aren't so many black and white labs around, and are usually at professional pricing.

(You can use XP2 and C41 labs, though.)

I usually don't worry about the shelf life of opened concentrates other than developer,

and as you note, some developers have a long life.

If you have a pH meter, or pH test paper, you can test the diluted fixer, and if

needed adjust the pH. Both ammonia and acetic acid are volatile, and can change

the pH of solutions. Also, developer carry-over can raise the pH, which isn't good.

I have had diluted fixer silver plate the inside of bottles, even when it was below

the recommended capacity. I believe this is due to pH change.

For black and white chemistry, the one they mostly worry about is silver in used

fixer, so less used is less bad. There are ways to get it out, but mostly it is big

(or mini) labs that generate the volumes to worry about. Silver usually comes

out of solution with the sulfides that are in sewage, anyway.

Otherwise, mixing developer and fixer before it goes down the drain

helps somewhat.

The big companies like Kodak used to sell packages of just enough of each chemical to do some limited number of rolls. It was ideal for people that don't develop so frequently. Alas, I know of nothing like this that is available today.

The sort of thing-- A vintage developing kit

There was Tri-chem pack. They were supposed to work for either film or prints, but it isn't so easy to find a developer that does both well.

I had some when I first started, and now have some that I got from an estate sale.