help with stop bath,fixer, and other chemicals

[thewaker43]

I have searched for the past two days for an answer with no luck.

Developer, developer, developer. I have decided on Tri-x and HC-100

but know nothing about other chemicals. When in school i used Sprint

and was pretty happy, i guess because i had used no others chemicals

to compare. Like I said I shot Tri-x and plan on developing with

HC-100, based on the examples I have seen of this combination. I will

be using Ilford MG IV paper. I would pretty much like suggestions on

what chemicals people prefer to develop this paper and what stop bath,

fixer, hypo clearing, and wetting agent would work well with Tri-x and

Ilford paper. Also I am a bit confused about the whole hardening

thing. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Casey

[ann_clancy3]

Ilford indicates that a hardening fixer is not necessary with their films.

If you are going to tone your prints, a fixer with harder is not recommend. There are a few exceptions but not with the most common toners.

any stop bath, fixer hca or wetting agent will work with tri x or hp5/

Paper developer; dektol or LPD may be the most common. The same stopbath and fixer can be used with paper (different ratio's) as with your film. We have been using LPD for years and found it to be very stable with a long tray life. I am sure others will chime in with their favorites. IMHO, pick one developer for film and one for paper and stick with it for at least a year, until you really understand and can control your tools. Every developer on the market will produce printable negatives and prints. Controling your tools is the test of time.

check Ilford's website, they have some very specific pdf files that will be help.

[don_karon1]

My two cents: For paper (including MG-IV) I use Printol developer and Rapid Fix and it works well. They are manufactured by NACCO and are in liquid form. I use Kodak indicator stop bath and I use two fixing baths. When the fixer test says the first bath is old I dump it out and the second bath chemicals become the new first and fresh fixer becomes the new second bath. I don't use hypo eliminator but I do have a good washer.

 

I use HC-110 for film but I don't use Tri-X these days (no special reason, just settled on Ilford HP5+ as my film). I use Photographer's Formulary TF-4 fixer for film. It is a base (most fixers are acidic, it seems) so my stop bath for film is a couple of minutes with agitation in distilled water. This avoids the problem of the gelatin shrinking and getting pin-holes from the sudden change from basic developer to acid stop-bath - the process is at basic pH all the way through. I use Edwal LFN wetting agent, used to use PhotoFlo, and I must say I can't see the difference.

 

As for hardeners: it's not clear they are necessary and they are said to slow the clearance of fixer from the emulsion in the washing stage. Ilford recommends a non-hardening fixer followed by three rinses in water with agitation after each change. I've been doing this for five years or so and have no fixer stains on any of the film washed this way. Saves water. TF-4 is non-hardening fixer.

 

Stick with liquid chemicals for ease of measurement and dilution. HC-110 seems very nice but I'm new to it. I plan to stick with it for a few years. I don't think paper is as sensitive to choice of chemicals as film is.

 

Have fun.

[john_cook1]

Casey, every photographer worth his salt has a special secret formula for everything. You may as well ask us what we think are the best toppings on pizza or our special homemade barbeque sauce recipe.

 

Since you have chosen Ilford paper I would strongly recommend a very long visit to their website, before we all drive you crazy with conflicting advice. There are well over two hundred pages of pdf files of extremely useful technical information. It would be wise to let the scientists who formulated these materials hold your hand while you use them. At least for a while.

 

http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html

[conrad_hoffman]

The fact is, any of the popular brands of chemistry work just fine. There are a couple combinations that one might avoid, but you won't find universal agreement even on that. If you like Sprint, use Sprint. HC-110 and Tri-X is a well proven combination. Hardener increases wash time and wastes water. You probably don't need a hardening fixer. OTOH, I still use Kodak powdered fixer (has hardener in it) sometimes. There is no suggestion from Kodak that it can't be used for all their films and papers, if you want to. Rapid fixer is better, and Photographers Formulary TF-4 is, IMHO, better still. Lots of people prefer LFN over Photo-flo, but they both do the job. Use sparingly! For Tri-X, I use HC-110 dilution B, stop in several changes of plain water, then fix in TF-4. Don't use the most recent published developing times, as they're a bit short. For prints I use RC, Dektol 1:2, though lately I've switched to 1:3. Seems to work as well or better. Kodak indicator stop bath at the dilution on the bottle, and Kodak powdered fixer. That's for contact sheets, work prints, prints for the scanner, and prints I'm not giving away. For "fine" prints, especially if I'm giving them to someone, I use fiber paper, increase the wash time, and possibly tone. I've never had a problem toning a print fixed in Kodak powdered fixer. If you're worried about it, use the more expensive Rapid Fixer.

[paul_hoyt]

Subject: Response to help with stop bath,fixer, and other chemicals

 

Developers: Dektol is a good all purpose developer. I find it is an agressive developer diluted 1 part Dektol and 1 part water (1:2). For me Dektol diluted 1 part Dektol + 3 parts water (1:4) with 3 minutes developing time will give a full range of print values.

 

Stop Baths: Boric acid is a good oderless stop bath. 50 grams of Boric acid to a liter of water (5% solution). This must be made up in advance. Boric acid dissolves better in warm water and takes a day to completely dissolve.

 

Fixing baths: The current position on Sodium versus Ammonium fixing baths, is Ammonium is the one to use. It is usually referred to as a Rapid Fixer. It is also available in Acid and Alkaline fixing baths. Alkaline rapid fixers do not dissolve the developed silver and are preferred. There is some debate whether the old standy, Sodium Thiosulfate, can adaquately fix modern film and paper. Then should you add hardner to the fixing bath. The current feling is no. If you are processing over 80F, then you should add hardner for film processing. It will not do any harm to add the hardner for film processing, it just slows down the washing process. Personally I add harderner to my film fixing bath and I process at 68F.

 

Hypo Clearing agent is necessary with acid fixing, aklaline fixing can go straight to the wash.

 

Wetting agents: Any one will work, it just reduces the surface tension of water and permits it to run off the film quickly. Just use less of the wetting agent that the direction call for. Photo-Flo calls for 1:200 dilution, 1:400 works better, less scum.

 

Film developer: I like HC-110 (I assume HC-100 is a typo) with Tri-X on medium and large format film. You did not mention your format. There are better developers for Tri-X with small format. What size film are you using?

 

Paul

[chris_waller]

As John says, if you put twelve photographers in a room and ask them for the best combination of film/developer etc. you will get at least thirteen different opinions. But here's my combination of choice. Films: Ilford Delta 100, Kodak Tri-X (TX 400). Film developer: Agfa Rodinal. Stop: Kodak Indicating Stop Bath. Fixer: Ilford Hypam/Rapid Fixer. Paper: Ilford MG IV RC, Ilford MG Cooltone RC. Paper dev: Ilford PQ Universal. Stop: as for film. Fixer: Ilford Hypam/Rapid fixer. Other chemicals etc: Paterson Acuwet Wetting-agent (preferred) or Tetanal Mirasol.

 

HArdeners are rarely necessary these days unless working in tropical conditions.