Camera Talk

Hi all -

Another year ticked off the list. 52 today. Decided to do something nice to celebrate - got up early, had an espresso, and dragged the 4x5 to a local creek. 30 degrees, but felt damn good. Shot six sheets. Was feeling great when I left. Got home, developed the film, but my fixer turned out to be WAY bad. Precipitated sulfur. I ended up washing for close to two hours all told in my rotary tank. Still had a layer of scum on the film, but no apparent damage to the emulsion. Only way to remedy the situation was to wipe (twice) with a wet microfiber cloth. Made it presentable. Of the four sheets I developed today (one tankful), two were repeats (thought I'd pulled the holder on one so I reshot it), and one felt lacking. The best of the bunch is below. I have new fixer on the way; I'll develop the last two sheets when it gets here. I'll revisit today's chaff later.

Hay Creek by Scott, on Flickr

Hay Creek in Birdsboro, PA. Have been there millions of times, but never this stretch of it. Shot with a Fujinon-W 125/5.6 on FP4+.

Thanks for looking.
Scott

Beautiful!

Happy belated birthday, Scott! And that turned out very nicely for all the tribulations...

Robert

HAPPY BDay!!!
I use one shot fixer now, but not so long ago I used to keep coffee paper filters for this; filter the fixer through 2 layers of paper filter when you see sulfur. The colloidal sulfur is hard to get rid of, but most of the largest partciles were trapped.
Its not perfect but most of the scum goes away.

alexvaras wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 10, 2020 4:44 am

Beautiful!

Thanks Alex!

Brazile wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:24 am

Happy belated birthday, Scott! And that turned out very nicely for all the tribulations...

Thanks Robert - I'm happy with it too. And with everyone in the house otherwise occupied or out, it kept me entertained all afternoon.

titrisol wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 10, 2020 8:49 am

HAPPY BDay!!!
I use one shot fixer now, but not so long ago I used to keep coffee paper filters for this; filter the fixer through 2 layers of paper filter when you see sulfur. The colloidal sulfur is hard to get rid of, but most of the largest partciles were trapped.
Its not perfect but most of the scum goes away.

Thank you Pablo. You'll have to explain one-shot fixer to me. I've been using Kodafix since I started developing film. The last bottle of concentrate that I pulled from yesterday was dated 2012, so I guess it was time. And I overuse my fixer horribly. I need to keep track of how many rolls/sheets I put through it. I generally don't mix new until I see a change in the fixing action. I used to throw a copper penny into the mixer and if it plated silver I'd dump it.

Since my consumption of film and fixer has diminished tremendously (from 20 to 1-2 rolls a month) I don't reuse fixer anymore
I use ilford fixer at 1+4 and dump it after a developing session
That way the silver level is minimal as well

I missed that part!!!
Happy BDay, Scott!!

Happy Birthday, Scott! Doesn't look like your age has diminished your photography skills.

PF

titrisol wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 10, 2020 12:57 pm

That way the silver level is minimal as well

You know, having worked at a wastewater treatment plant, I wonder what the local, small municipal WWTP sees in their testing when I dump old, heavy silver fixer down the drain...

alexvaras wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 10, 2020 2:06 pm

I missed that part!!!
Happy BDay, Scott!!

PFMcFarland wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 10, 2020 10:01 pm

Happy Birthday, Scott! Doesn't look like your age has diminished your photography skills.

PF

Thanks Alex and PF!

Dilution is the solution !!!
LOL

Fixer can get to 12-15g/L and most municipal plant cringe at more than 5g/L; so depending on how much you dump (1gal ~60g) you may want to dilute it 1:5 or 1:10 with water which compared to how much comes out of your neighborhood or town they may see a tiny spike or they may see nothing

scott wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 11, 2020 12:45 am

You know, having worked at a wastewater treatment plant, I wonder what the local, small municipal WWTP sees in their testing when I dump old, heavy silver fixer down the drain...