Tap vs distilled water

[tobey bilek]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

NO NO NO.

 

All chems are water bath soaked at 68 before starting.

 

Wash water comes from a gallon jug that is temp checked.

 

I used scratch mixed D76, be bought a pack from Kodak.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Mike Rawcs]

After the gentle finger squeegee (or without) hang the film up and use some lint free kitchen towel folded over on the back of the film. Since doing so my terrible problems with drying marks have vanished entirely. I get perfectly clean film, no fluff, scratches etc. I started this recently and have done about 10 films with no trouble at all. The kitchen roll was teh real winner for me.

 

Good tip! Which scanner do you use?

[noah_addis]

I've always used tap water. Photo flo, finger squeegee then hang to dry. No problem.

[atlfoto]

I've always used tap water. Photo flo, finger squeegee then hang to dry. No problem.

 

Thank you. I have used for the last 8 rolls distilled for dev and fix and tap water for the last cleaning with very good results (even without photoflo).

Noah, your work is very very good, congratulations.

[Mike Rawcs]

After the gentle finger squeegee (or without) hang the film up and use some lint free kitchen towel folded over on the back of the film. Since doing so my terrible problems with drying marks have vanished entirely. I get perfectly clean film, no fluff, scratches etc. I started this recently and have done about 10 films with no trouble at all. The kitchen roll was teh real winner for me.

 

Do you just use dry kitchen roll for this? Do you just dry the back i.e. non-emulsion side?

 

Thanks,

 

Mike.

[semi-ambivalent]

(Steam)Distilled for mixing chemicals, diluting developers and final rinse with Photo-flo. Tap water for everything else.

 

s-a

[pico]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

(Steam)Distilled for mixing chemicals, diluting developers and final rinse with Photo-flo. Tap water for everything else.

 

Same here. We have hard water which helps with washing. The minerals in the water help carry away the chemistry. Final rinse in distilled water is necessary.

 

I have a distiller and run it when I'm home and empty it into a 20 gallon plastic water barrel so there is always distilled water available.

 

Originally Posted by tobey bilek

I can only say I used tap with Rodinal, Microdil, and D76 for 40 years without a problem.

Then I broke the golden rule and tried distilled. I got grain a big as glof balls.

 

That's scarey. When I lived in Chicago (Lincoln/Fullerton area) I used tap water and everything was good. Used D-76 1:1 exclusively with Tri-X (1969 version). Today I live in a rural area and the water is terrible but without distilled water outcome is still good. Could it be a Ph problem, Tobey?

[semi-ambivalent]

I can only say I used tap with Rodinal, Microdil, and D76 for 40 years without a problem.

Then I broke the golden rule and tried distilled. I got grain a big as glof balls.

 

A friend in a neighboring suburb of chicago who did beautiful T Max 400 prints with Leica APO glass had the same experience.

 

We both went back to tap and the problem went away.

 

So test before you ruin something valuable.

 

I never got salts on black& white scanned negs.

 

Tobey,

 

Here at my local Safeway they have four different types of jugged water. One is steam distilled (my gold standard), one is spring water and the other two use reverse ionization, with one having various minerals re-added to make it 'better' for you. The labels are similar so you have to know what you are looking for. Perhaps your experience is Ph-based as noted above, but I've had bigger problems with agitation. I like grain mind you, especially when it comes with the incredible mid-tones that Rodinal has but I'm trying to find the right grain. I'll have to try your tack and see what I get.

 

Apologies for sidetracking,

 

s-a

[Orient XI]

I've come to this thread very late but I've been worried about the references to ph and Ph in some of the posts. I've never come across this nomenclature in over 50 years in chemistry with regard to hard and soft water. I hope nobody is confusing it with the pH scale which is used to express the acidity or alkalinity of water. Maybe some reference to common solutions will help clarify the confusion. Pure water should be neutral and have a pH of 7, however, it dissolves CO2 (the anhydride of carbonic acid) from the air and on standing has a pH of ~5. Developers have a pH of about 8-9 except lith developers which can have a pH of upto 12 (very alkaline). Stop baths can have a pH of somewhere between 5 and 3. Perhaps those of you who quoted the other uses of the ph and Ph scales could provide some further information?

[jpattison]

I have a de-humidifier which deposits the water it takes from the air (in my cellar) into a 5 gallon container. I use this water to mix dev, stop, fix and final rinse (this stage with a drop of photo-flo). The Jobo ATL I use is connected to mains water through a Tempatrol 7 heater, which is fed via charcoal filtered mains cold water. This is used for the rinse cycles within the Jobo processes. I squeegee wipe the film after flicking off excess final rinse (by "snapping" the film, holding each end) and then dry in a Durst UT 100 film drying "tent', first on warm, and then running cool for an hour.

 

No problems scanning, or printing normally.

Call me obsessive, but I got to this stage after years of trial and error.

Reading Orient XI, am I weakening the dev by using the de-humidifier water?

 

Pure water should be neutral and have a pH of 7, however, it dissolves CO2 (the anhydride of carbonic acid) from the air and on standing has a pH of ~5.

 

Thanks,

John

[jaapv]

When I still had my darkroom I always added a few drops of dishwashing detergent to the final rinse, it eliminated the drops forming on the surface by reducing surface tension and with that the drying marks.

[Jeff S]

Wetting agents like Photo-Flo, designed for this purpose, cost pennies and last forever. Some detergents can leave spots, have coloring or perfumes, suds too easily, etc...no need to DIY or scrimp IMO.

 

Jeff

[erl]

I bought my first wetting agent, May & Baker Cascade', more than 50 years ago. I still have it, in the original bottle with the retailers sticker on it!

 

I have processed 1000's and 1000's of film (file # is greater than 20,000), finishing with it. The bottle is about half full still. Seems I still need a lot of life to get my full value from it.

[250swb]

When I still had my darkroom I always added a few drops of dishwashing detergent to the final rinse, it eliminated the drops forming on the surface by reducing surface tension and with that the drying marks.

 

Here are some of the contents of Fairy Liquid

 

• Aqua

• Sodium laureth sulphate

• Alcohol denat

• Lauramine oxide

• C9-11 pareth-8

• Sodium chloride

• 1,3-Cyclohexanedimethanamine

• PPG (polypropylene glycols)

• Dimethyl aminoethyl methecrylate/hydroxyproply acrylate copolymer cirate

• Parfum

• Geraniol

• Limonene

• Colourant

 

 

Steve

[jaapv]

Well, the stuff I got a decade and a half ago was simple and straightforward. I think the Aldi stilll sells some of the el-cheapo stuff without the fancy additions.

And I suggested adding two drops - not drinking a glass full of it

[jpattison]

I guess a piece of Litmus paper will tell me what I need to know.

 

John

[Orient XI]

J. Pattison – no, all water absorbs CO2 from the air and the alkali (sodium carbonate and the like) is present in sufficient concentration not to notice the slight acidity of the water used.