Developing black and white

[ron_ficalmatter1]

I will be developing my first roll of 35mm black and white and I had a

question about mixing the chemicals. Is it ok to use tap water or am I

suppose to use something to soften the water before mixing? Should I just use

purified or distilled water? The packages say nothing about the type of water

to mix with. What have you guys done?

[michaelging]

The water here in Phoenix is pretty hard water,but I still use it to mix my chemicals. If your water is orange or stains your sinks,or if you see floaties in it , I would use distilled water or filter your water. You can buy a britta water filter or just filter it though a coffee filter.

[ron_ficalmatter1]

Well if your using plain old tap water without a filter then that is what I will do also :-) I think the tap water in my part of San Diego is good. Thank you for the quick response. By the way, I took a look at some of your work---Amazing!

[yann1]

Use distilled water for your final rinse, that is the most important.

[SCL]

You can use any water. But, the chemical manufacturers always establish their working parameters in a laboratory environment, which means distilled water. IMHO its use reduces some of the variability in the process, especially if you have water which has heavy mineral deposits or a pH significantly different than 7.0.

[craig_shearman1]

In 30 years of developing film both at home and at newspapes I have used only tap water. You would certainly not use distilled water for a final rinse -- the point of distilled water would be to be chemically neutral in mixing the chemicals and you're already past that state in the final rinse. Also, final rinse involves many gallons of water as you let the film sit and wash (for about five minutes if you use hypo clearing agent, 20 if you don't.)

[yann1]

...Distilled water for the final rinse to AVOID STAINS on your negative...

[frank.schifano]

Yes you can use tap water as long as the tap water is fit to drink and is reasonably clear of particulates and iron. I'm not kidding. Developers are compounded using buffering agents allowing them to be used with widely variable water supplies. I recommend that you use Photoflo or a similar wetting agent as the final step before you hang your films to dry. This will eliminate water spots from forming even if your tap water is fairly hard. Of course if you want to spend more money on distilled water, that's your choice. I live in an old house with crummy pipes, My tap water has a good dose of dissolved calcium in it. I simply filter my tap water and that's served me well for many years.

[ron_ficalmatter1]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their advice and suggestions. Distilled water looks like a subject that has been debated a lot. It would make sense to use distilled water to be on the safe side but it would be a big inconvenience for me. It might not be nessesary for my purpose. I think I will just use photo-flo for now. Thanks again to everyone.

[doc_w]

In rare cases where the tap water is very hard, you should probably use some sort of a filter. In my city (Ottawa, Canada), the tap water is very good, quite soft, and abundant. I have used it for years. I guess that if your water is very hard or problematic in some other way, washing in distilled water may be the way to go, but I wash in tap water. After fixing, I wash the film for about 30 seconds in plain water, then in hypo for 2 minutes, and a final wash of 5 minutes in flowing water (i.e., changing continuously). I then rinse in photo-flo and hang to dry.