how long do chemicals last?

whitewash

whitewash

Fishy Fingers
Suspended / Banned
Messages
5,307
Edit My Images
Yes
i bought some chemicals (ilford) about a year a half ago, used them for one film and then never got round to doing anymore? are they past their best now (i presume they are)?

should i get new chems

and who from?
 
well - you can test fix by doing a clip test - snip a little off the end of the leader of your exposed film. Dunk it in a mix of the fix solution, and time how long it takes to clear your film. If it takes longer than 5 minutes to clear the film, the fix is stuffed. If it takes less, you need to fix your film for twice as long as it took to clear the film.

Main thing that makes chem's go off is exposure to air, so if you can either squeeze the air out of the bottle, or inflate a plastic bag into the bottle to eliminate air contact, the chem's will last longer.

that said - a lot of it is down to the chemical - Rodinal dev (and it's variants) seems to last for ages, Ilfosol 3 is generally just starting to go brown and mankey around about the time I finish the bottle (at probably 1-2 reels of 35mm / week) - about 4 months :shrug:
 
If developer looks brownish then I'd not use it, when I used to develop/print i'd always use a fresh batch of developer to get consistant results.

Fix and stop normally last ages.
 
just to clear up the chems are

ilfosol 3 (i presume this is goosed and ill be buying some new stuff)
Ilfosto
ilford rapid fixer
might just buy three new chems and that'll be it, atleast then im starting at square 1

where should i buy the chems from, i cant for the life of me remember where i got these from?

i remember, it was firstcall photographic, i shall be re-ordering!
 
stop is pretty much just acetic acid and a dye that changes colour when it's going off, so it definitely lasts for yonks. As I said in #3, do a clip test for the fix, see if it's okay...
 
i think for £8 from Wilkinsons i think ill defo buy some new developer, ill do a clip test with some old film (ive got an old exposed film lying around somewhere) for the fixer, thanks :)

how should i dispose of the unused but old chemicals? dilute and drain, pour into an oil container and dispose of at the tips oil disposal? or should i just find the best fish stocked river and pour it in? (joke?)
 
according to Ilford's website - "Amateur and home users in the UK should dispose of small amounts of used photographic processing solutions by dilution with plenty of water and washing them down the drain. Do not mix solutions." and also "It is not advisable to dispose of photographic chemicals to a septic tank."
 
thanks bigyin,

sorry to ask another question, when you say do a clip test, i did as you said, i found an old film that had been exposed to light (but not developed) and clipped a bit off of it, put that in a solution of 1+9, left the clip in the solution of ilford rapid fixer for 5mins and took it out, it looked no different from when it went in.

when you say cloudy what do you mean? ill try it with a piece of another film (new) later and see if anything happens, atleast then i can be certain the film is black and white!
maybe im just best doing away with this fixer and getting some new stuff, ill keep the stop bath though, and get new chems at the weekend
 
If you put black and white film in the fix, it should go a clear transparent colour - the emulsions just disappear away, leaving the clear background film. If you do the same with C41 film, iirc, the emulsions come away, leaving the pale orange/brown of the film. I THINK that E6 goes clear, but it's been 20+ years since I clip tested tranny stock, and I can't remember.

I don't recall saying cloudy about anything - i did say that ilfosol 3 when exposed to air goes "brown and mankey" - i'm down to the dregs of the bottle of mine, and didn't want to open a new one for a test reel, so I used some at 1+9 to dev. this shot...



which still turned out pretty well. The Ilfosol 3 undiluted looked like flat newcastle brown ale :) I reckon i've about 30ml's left in the bottle - one more roll this week, which I'll risk i think, and anything over's getting disposed of.
 
Sorry - just noticed you said a solution of 1+9 - do you mean a 1+9 solution of rapid fix? Because you use rapid fix at 1+4 on film, 1+9 is for fixing photo paper...
 
ah right, i shall retest later, make sure i use B+W film and see what happens, i probably mixed two of your posts together and took 'brown and manky' as 'cloudy' ill do another test and see what happens! (but at the rate im doing it by the time ive acertained that its ok to use, ill have non left :):bonk:
 
well - the fix will keep for a few months if the source chem's are okay - just keep it in a airtight bottle. One mix will probably do 24+ films - just clip test it occasionally - at as new strength it should only take a minute or so to clear the film, just add 15 seconds per film it fixes...

for myself, I'd have grabbed a roll of cheap B&W and just gone for it. What's £2 - less than the price of a pint, and you'd have known :shrug:
 
1.5 years and the developer won't be worth the risk. Time doesn't really have much effect on stop or fix. Only use.
 
i hope wilkinsons cameras have some in stock on saturday :)

been repracticing spool loading in the blackout bag while ive been watching tv in anticipation!
 
2 films developed this evening :)

had an issue with both, the first one jammed in the can giving the impression i was at the end of the film so i didnt get the last 6 frames.
the second film i damaged trying to use the fim leader retreiver and i knackered a frame as well, ive learnt my lesson, ive got a bottle opener now!

but they're drying nicely in the kitchen


won a cheap scanner on ebay earlier as well to scan them in
 
some of my scans, the scans arent very sharp, whether this is down to focus issues in camera or otherwise im not sure,

need to get used to scanning and get used to developing

gingercat.jpg

chilling in the sun, bit of dirt on the scanner for this one!

onthebeach.jpg

windy beach!

suzie.jpg

i think the shutter speed might have been a bit slow for this one, hence its not too sharp,

all of these pictures have been sat in a film canister for about a year and a half so i cant remember!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top