TMY2, TF4 and Stand Washing

[waynecrider]

The anti-halation layer in TMY2 seems to bleed out for a long time for me. I've had a roll in a multiple changed stand wash this morning for like 3 hours and still got pink water. My TF4 is fine, just having been re-invigorated with a 25% change and I fix for 4 minutes with 30 sec constant agitation every minute. I don't run alot of rolls, so I'm just wondering when do you really stop? At what point does any residual stain become meaningless?

[polyglot]

4 minutes is not enough fixing time for TMY2 in rapid fixer (ammonium thiosulphate at about 15%, i.e. the usual 1+4 dilution of rapid fixer concentrate), though it's plenty for any non-TMAX film. Fix for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes fix, I find the pink is gone with about 10 minutes of soaking including about 5 water changes. And make sure both your fix and your wash water are at least 20C; if it's cold then the diffusion rate is really slowed.

edit: and I agitate 20s per minute during the wash (and constantly for the first two water changes), so diffusion actually has a chance to work. It's not just sitting there for 10 minutes in still water, surrounded by a dense halo of fixer and dye that soaked out in the first 30s.

I don't know why TMAX films are much slower to fix, they just are. And they kill your fixer twice as fast.

[Photo Engineer]

This also may be one of those cases that Mason warns against in his book and which show that stand washing can be unacceptable. You may have just too little agitation or water changes. Although Greg Davis' test of the Ilford method of washing has shown me that it can be effective, I can see merit to what Mason and Haist say about "stand" washing.

PE

[Greg Davis]

A Hypo Clearing Agent will eliminate most, if not all, of the stain after fixing with much less washing.

[BetterSense]

I 2-bath fix my TMY generously, giving at least 4 minutes in fresh fixer after the film is cleared in the first bath. When I fix using this method, the pink is totally gone and I get clear negatives within about 10 minutes of barely running water wash. Even if some pink remains, though, I don't consider it necessarily underfixed, because I think it's just dye rather than residual silver.

[MaximusM3]

I fix for 8 min, followed by a 30 sec water rinse, 1 min hypo clear and Ilford method of washing (I do include a 3 min stand). Never an issue.

[Tim Gray]

Just to pile on, I fix for 6 minutes (way more than twice the clearing time) in Ilford Rapid Fix and do the Ilford wash method with 5 mins of stand between each step. Never had an issue with pink or other colored negatives with TMY or TMZ.

[jp498]

I fix for 12 minutes in kodak rapid fixer (a few extra minutes just to be sure), and rinse it a few times over a couple minutes and let it stand in a tank of water for 20 minutes. Sitting 15 minutes or so in still water will bring some pink to the water at this stage. I figure if it's in the water, it's not in the film. A few more rinses over a couple minutes and I consider it good. Negatives are nice and clear with no pink/magenta at all.

[Thomas Bertilsson]

There are many ways to skin a cat. TMY is for all practical purposes by far the film I shoot the most.

I use Ilford Hypam at 1+4, and fix it for a total of six to eight minutes. I then wash it for 30 minutes in a roll film washer. Afterward, if I let the reels sit in clear water for five minutes, I can detect no pink in the water.

Apply wetting agent and hang to dry.

[waynecrider]

Well I guess I'll double the fix time, refresh the fixer more often and maybe get some Hypo. We are just now coming out of the worst drought we've had in a long time and I prefer to save water. Thanks