Before I soup my next two rolls of tri-x - question. Lately my tri-x has retained a slight purpleness - i.e. the film hasn't gone to clear.
Am I not giving it enough time / hypo?
Too much time in the hypo?
I'm using Ilford Rapid Fix for 5 minutes, shaking every 30 secs. This is pretty much what I've been doing forever. Then I wash it for about 30 minutes.
What've I done wrong? I have three rolls to soup.
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Consensus is that the hypo isn't doing enough of it's thing (too cold, weak, not enough time). That's the easiest thing to fix (no pun intended) as I can take a piece of this film and put it through the fix again and see what happens.
I ended up down in Times Square around 11 p.m. (after seeing Spamalot) - and I was just having this great time with my new 35mm summicron buddy. I had been creeping through one roll of film over the last week or so - nursing it along - and then ZOOM!!! Times Square took over and neurons sped up; stuff was zipping around, and although I was shooting at f2, I could watch as people walked in and out of focus and just see it so clearly.
Oh - Spamalot is a great show if you like Monty Python humor (I'm a fan from way back). From even before - Beyond the Fringe - Peter Cooke et. al. Anyway - this was a tremendous production and frankly - when I left - I felt like I could sit through it again if someone would give me another ticket. Special kudos to the lady in the lake who stole my heart.
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THANKS ALL. I doubled the hypo time to 10 minutes and negs. look the way they should.
10 comments:
I use photoflo. That's neither here nor there. I guess It could be the temperature of the washing water was colder recently so it wasn't being washed as well. I think that the purple tint - (slight but there) - means that the hypo isn't being washed away properly. I don't happen to have hypo clearning agent in the house but bet that would fix it.
Dave, I remember seeing this and suspect weak fixer, or cold, or not enough fixing time.
Ken Reither
Dave, usually this means that you're not fixing long enough. More time in the hypo clear might also help.
Greg Coates
Divine Reflections Photography
thanks guys. i'm going to fix the next rolls longer. i sort of wanted to check because i've got some good stuff (finally) on these rolls.
I always use stop bath.
Now I remember why I like digital ;-)
yeh fix is weak, due to the low temps...
when it's cold, I fix up to ten minutes
I use the Ilford archival washing method,
which is much faster and saves tons of
water:
fill the tank with fresh water, invert 5 times, discard
the water and fill the tank again with fresh water.
Turn 10 times and discard, fill again and turn 20 times,
one final wash. This process takes less time and saves
gallons of water.*
Stop bath, fixing, washing. Great stuff, but you can't beat Monty Python:)
I've found a modification of the ilford method works best for getting rid of the purple stain. Fill the tank up. Shake vigorously for 1 minute. Emtpy. Repeat 5 times. Do one final bath with distilled water if your rinse water is hard.
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