Re-Fixing Film?

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Carl Hall

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So after my fiasco of dropping my camera in Paris I developed my film as normal and it didn't quite go to plan (I did say in my other thread that I'd do something wrong that I couldn't blame on the camera! :D ) after washing my film and hanging it up I noticed that the centre of the film has a dark patch.

At first I thought it was an error when taking the photo, but after noticing that the dark patch ran across the film between frames I began to think it was a processing mistake. After a bit of googling I found that the issue could be down to not being fixed enough. I used the same process as normal with a fixer that had only been used 5-6 times, so I'm not sure what I did wrong but that's history now :) I've read that I can put the film back into fresh fixer and possibly salvage my holiday snaps... not sure if that's true though! Trouble is I've already cut the film into 3 shot strips which are now in folders...

What is the best way for me to go about re-fixing my film once it's already cut? In assuming light isn't too much of an issue now as they're partially fixed and have been sat in daylight for two days anyway as I couldn't bring myself to chuck them out.

As they're cut up and I can't really put them back into the dev tank, I was thinking of putting the fixer into a print tray and soaking them for about five minutes to see if I can rescue a photo or two. Is this a good way forward or is there a better option? Not even sure if it'll make any difference but I have exactly zilch to lose!

I've attached a photo of the film in question, any advice on how to go forward is really appreciated :)

View attachment 29224
 
What Steve said really - too late to worry about exposing it, but if you were patient you could also try re-winding it on a reel to go back in the dev tank.
 
Soaking in a tray will be fine.
But you will also have to wash them again to get rid of the fix out of the emulsion..
Standing them in a dish with clean water for 5 minutes and repeating 7 times will give an excellent wash.
the negs you show look very underexposed.
 
Steve Smith said:
I think emulsion up in a tray would be allright. There's nothing to lose in trying.


Steve.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve, I put them in some fresh fixer and they look much better now :D Didn't realise how yellowish the old fixer was until I made up some fresh stuff... it was like white wine compared to fresh spring water :s
 
ancient_mariner said:
What Steve said really - too late to worry about exposing it, but if you were patient you could also try re-winding it on a reel to go back in the dev tank.
Click to expand...

Thanks Toni, they're hanging and drying now. I already cut them into strips of three but I guess I could have wound each strip onto the end of a reel... would have taken a while though :lol: I don't think the exposure mattered too much as they were sat on the side in my room for two days in the sun!
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Soaking in a tray will be fine.
But you will also have to wash them again to get rid of the fix out of the emulsion..
Standing them in a dish with clean water for 5 minutes and repeating 7 times will give an excellent wash.
the negs you show look very underexposed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, I put them in a tray of water and changed it every few minutes like you said. They're underexposed but they were pushed two stops and taken at night, and I wanted to have darkish photos :) I guess I'll find out how underexposed they are pretty soon!
 
Carl Hall said:
They're underexposed but they were pushed two stops and taken at night, and I wanted to have darkish photos
Click to expand...

They might not be as under exposed as you think. If they are night shots, you will probably want them to look like they were taken at night.

A common mistake is to use a meter reading as is, but this will try to make a night time shot look like a normal, average daylight shot. The trick is to under expose a stop or two from what the meter says.

Also, I have been very surprised in the past at how much detail I have been able to put onto a print from a negative which is not very dense at all.


Steve.
 
Kevin Allan said:
I have refixed a film by loading the pieces onto a reel - you just need to be careful to push each segment as far as you can onto the reel without overlapping them.
Click to expand...

Ahh I didn't think of that! I just thought to put one piece on and fix it, and then take it off and put another piece on, which would have taken ages! :lol:
 
Steve Smith said:
They might not be as under exposed as you think. If they are night shots, you will probably want them to look like they were taken at night.

A common mistake is to use a meter reading as is, but this will try to make a night time shot look like a normal, average daylight shot. The trick is to under expose a stop or two from what the meter says.

Also, I have been very surprised in the past at how much detail I have been able to put onto a print from a negative which is not very dense at all.


Steve.
Click to expand...

They turned out ok in the end; they were fully fixed like nothing even went wrong :lol: :) Printed one of the re-fixed ones last night and I'm pretty happy how it came out (for a printing newbie I mean!)

 
Kevin Allan said:
I have refixed a film by loading the pieces onto a reel - you just need to be careful to push each segment as far as you can onto the reel without overlapping them.
Click to expand...

I had a weak batch of fixer on one roll many moons ago; this is exactly what I did, and it came out absolutely fine. Also makes inversions and washing easy.
 
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