Gast
Hello forum,
I’m working on the development of my first roll of film. I’ve got two quick questions before I get started:
1.) Tilting. That much is clear. But: do you tilt the can 180 degrees or 360 degrees?
2.) “Mark the bottle with a permanent marker – after 10 marks, one litre of Fix is used up” from “How to develop a film” on the FOTOIMPEX website. Does that refer to the pure concentrate?
Markus
Urnes
Hi Markus,
You should always tilt it 180 degrees and then back again. Don’t do it too hastily, and after tilting, tap the can gently on the surface once to allow any air bubbles to escape from the reel.
The bit about the ten strokes and the fixer can only refer to the solution. Normally, though, the bottle also states the capacity of the solution. Be that as it may. According to Ilford, it shouldn’t be used for longer than two weeks; Andreas Weidner writes in his book that the maximum is four weeks. So I never leave the solution standing for longer than four weeks; after that, I make a fresh batch. If the fixer is too old, you can no longer fix the films properly. The result is, at best, yellowish negatives, which, if you’re lucky, you can re-fix with fresh fixer.
Regards, Sven.
rherz
Hi Markus,
We’ve already mentioned 180 degrees – a tilt like that takes about 3 seconds, so don’t go overdoing it.
I’ve got another suggestion regarding the fixer: when you reuse fixer that’s already been used, the fixing time changes. This means you have to recalculate the fixing time each time by doubling (or, with flat-crystal films, tripling) the clearing time. I perform dilution on Tetenal Superfix 9 + 1 and use this fixer exactly once (I mix exactly the amount I need). This way, the fixing time always remains the same (depending on the film type) and I don’t have to worry about potentially under-fixed films – this might only become apparent later and cannot be rectified at that point. I may be wasting a tiny bit of the potential capacity, but I’m definitely playing it safe.
Best regards
Robert
