Digital BW, The Print

On Sep 18, 2010, at 11:42 AM, Clayton Price wrote:

> If I were you I'd be very careful about messing too much with the chemistry. David's advice about "fixing the stuffing out of it..." is not even close to a
> good idea, because it's very easy to start loosing shadow details in a negative from too strong or long fixing.

This advice is nonsense. No such thing can happen unless you use a far too highly concentrated rapid fix for a ridiculous amount of time and even then, you would probably have to heat it.

I know what I am talking about. Refix your film for twice your normal fixing time in fresh fixer (you should really use a two bath fixing scheme) with substantial agitation. (The only thing overfixation can really do is cause unnecessarily long wash times but with film, this means little if your washing technique is good to begin with. If in doubt, double your wash time.) If the discoloration is still there, use the 10% sodium sulphite solution. Ten minutes should do it, but you can safely leave your film in the sodium sulphite till Tuesday. The emulsion will slide off the film base due to too long exposure to water before the sodium sulphite can hurt it.

To make this more clear... the reason to refix your film instead of just using sodium sulphite is that the anti-halation dye should be removed at about the same rate as the film is fixed. (That is the theory.) So if you still have anti-halation dye, you probably also still have inadequately fixed film. However, I have seen early T-max films cling tenaciously to their anti-halation dye after far more than adequate fixation, thus requiring additional Rx in sodium sulphite.

Eastern European film stocks are not "unstable". They are simply made using older technologies that result in larger grain and perhaps a bit less resolution. Mr. Price may not have seen blue anti-halation coloring but I have. Some film bases do have a slight coloration to them but it is very subtle. A stronger color, what in many cases people "think" is the "natural color" of their film base is the result of the fact they have never in their lives properly processed a roll of film and therefore they believe their film base has a color it does not really have!

If after refixing and sodium sulphite Rx you still have the heavy blue color, it is safe to assume the film  base itself is a substandard material and the color is there forever. Not unstable, just substandard. Scan your negatives if you need scans. Otherwise, don't waste your time.


David Kachel

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