Photux
Hello everyone,
My Protectan has run out and it seems it’s not currently available either.
As it seems quite expensive for the ingredients listed, I’d be happy with an alternative. I’ve read in some places that lighter or camping gas is supposed to work – and, as far as I understand, it should – but then the question arises of how to apply it safely and effectively.
How do you sort this out? Do you use any kind of oxidation protection at all? I don’t think the topic was entirely uncontroversial anyway, but I’ve preferred to stick with it so far... after all, it can’t do any harm.
With plastic chemical bottles, you can simply squeeze the air out, but that only works to a certain extent; it gets tricky once you reach the last third at the latest.
Best wishes,
Daria
Wolf_XL
I’ve been using lighter gas from large bottles for ages. I hold the refill pen in place with a pair of needle-nose pliers whilst the gas bottle is upside down, position the whole thing over the opening of the refill bottle, press the gas bottle down, and the gas goes into the refill bottle. You could also use a hand-held blowtorch – that would have the advantage of allowing you to use the larger Camping_Gaz cartridges. The larger, elongated bottles for gas cookers work too – it’s just that they contain a foul-smelling gas additive...
Pitt23
As I don’t have any Protectan, I also use lighter or camping gas in the hope that it will help. But I haven’t tried any alternatives.
Caution is advised: a mixture of air and gas like this can explode. VENTILATE WELL.
My method: the nozzle with a hose from a WD-40 can fits onto the lighter gas canister (Ronson). This allows you to slowly ‘layer’ the gas into a small bottle. For larger containers (e.g. paper developer), a small blowtorch with a camping gas cartridge works well; instead of a burner, use a short, slender hose over the nozzle to let the gas flow slowly over the liquid in the canister.
Strange: over time, however, plastic bottles (e.g. Tetenal) can become ‘smaller’ – it is as if the gas in the bottle creates a vacuum, causing the bottle to be compressed. (A forgotten, quarter-full Ultrafin T+ had been compressed to just under two-thirds of its volume after four years; the Ultrafin is still in perfect condition.)
Perhaps the gas and the Tetenal E6 primary developer are not compatible; does the developer crystallise (even) faster as a result?
Does anyone have further experience on this subject, perhaps also with CO2 from a cartridge?
Happy shooting! Pitt
Sanug
I use single-use developers (Adox FX-39 II and Fomadon LQN) and don’t use Protectan; instead, I decant the concentrate into 50 ml brown wide-neck pharmacy bottles. I fill the bottles to the brim, which means they hold 60 ml each and there’s no air inside. It’s also important to always store the developer away from light.
An alternative to Protectan is to fill the bottles with glass marbles. But I find that too fiddly. The glass apothecary bottles protect the chemicals much better than a plastic bottle and cost next to nothing.
I put the paper developer working solution (Adox Neutol NE) into a brown plastic bottle filled to the brim, which I squeeze slightly as the level drops to force the air out. For me, the developer batch lasts six months without any problems.
lantau
In the positive darkroom, where I’m working with larger volumes, I use ‘air from a can’, which is sold for dusting computers. You can find it at Media Markt and all the other shops that sell this sort of thing. These cans are filled with butane, just like Protectan. You can’t put real air in tin cans, as they can’t withstand the necessary pressure.
The advantage of Protectan is the lower discharge rate. The ‘Dusters’ blow out much more forcefully, and with smaller bottles you have to be careful accordingly.
As a former chemist, I am a great believer in inert gas. It is, of course, primitive compared to laboratory techniques. Having suitable glassware for storage and connecting it to a vacuum/nitrogen line to remove the air and introduce inert gas would, of course, be ideal. Degassing by bubbling nitrogen or argon through photographic solutions using a frit would also, in theory, be brilliant for storing developers for virtually an unlimited period. With the right technology, laboratories store chemicals far more hazardous than our harmless developers.
