How to get 68deg from your faucet?

[ezwriter]

In my apt the water feels cool (using bathtub as darkroom) but was surprised that its 85deg F. My developer D76 calls for 68 deg. I can get the the chems to 68 in a tub of water/ice cubes but
how do i wash at this temp? Even worse, when i turn the water down the temp goes to 100deg! Full blast it goes down to 85.
Thats the slowest/worst part of developing so far- getting the chem bathtub down to 68.

2-My RZ67 can take 10 exp on 120 film or 20 on 220. Found that 10 exp goes by really quick! Why would anyone NOT use 220 film? i have that film back too but haven't bought any yet.
Thanks!

still looking for 23 DGA beseler head manual if anyone has one. Sent check to Craigcamera but i guess they're outta biz...

[vyshemirsky]

1) The only temperature critical stage of developing film is the developer. You can cool down your tank and a bottle of your developer using ice cubes in a water bath. It is not important to maintain low temperature through stop bath and fixer. It is even less important to maintain low temperature through wash. As soon as your temperature is below something like 140ºF you will be fine.

2) 220 film is more rare, and is only useful in situations when you are machine gun shooting, like in a wedding. Why not change the roll of film? It is not much likely that you would miss a great picture while changing a roll in most circumstances.

[Tom Kershaw]

I use an Intellifaucet which seem rather popular here on APUG. However there are also more mechanical mixing boards for water.

See: http://www.hassmfg.com/search.pl/131...&submit=Search for the basic model, which is the one I use as well.

Tom

[Jeff Kubach]

Where I live the water temp. seems to be ok. Maybe your water heater is not doing so good. I like 120 better than 220. I don't like long rolls. Besides 220 is not available as much, I don't think you can find 220 in B&W anymore.

Jeff

[Rick A]

My suggestion is to temper a couple of gallons of water. Keep two or more one gallon jugs of tap water in the fridge, and then bring it up to temp as needed. It is easy to mix some warmer water to obtain temp needed. Some folks think that only developer temp is critical, that's true to a point, but keeping all chems at or near(+-1 deg)is important to avoid reticulation of the emulsion. Some films are more sensitive to temp changes than others, so I err on the safe side and temper all my liquids the same.

[winger]

Some folks think that only developer temp is critical, that's true to a point, but keeping all chems at or near(+-1 deg)is important to avoid reticulation of the emulsion. Some films are more sensitive to temp changes than others, so I err on the safe side and temper all my liquids the same.

+1 I've seen enough posts on here asking about weird sgiggles that get ID'd as reticulation.

[Michael R 1974]

If you are using modern, hardened, quality films from Kodak, Ilford or Fuji, you will absolutely not get reticulation, or other ill effects from temp swings of +/- a couple of degrees throughout the process. However the post above suggesting you can have any temperature after development, and that 140F is an acceptable temperature, is very wrong. That is an enormous swing from any temperature normally used in film processing. Furthermore at such a high temperature the wet emulsion would be extremely fragile at best, making defects essentially inevitable.

Best practice is to keep the entire process including the wash as consistent in temperature as possible. This need not be 68F. It can be anywhere in the 70s as long as you adjust your times accordingly (and avoid development times shorter than say 5 minutes).

For higher temperature conditions (example - tropical areas) there are special procedures, additives, and chemicals that can be used but I'm not familiar enough with any of them to make any recommendations.

[vpwphoto]

I think the OP's original post has been "missed". I think he is saying that living in an apartment the ambiant cold temp of his water is 85 deg F.

I suggest to him what I do, although I do not have the same situation. Get a 2 1/2 or 5 gal bucket. And temper a large quanity of water to say 72 degrees unless you keep your appartment at 68 which I doubt. Take the water for your developer and stop bath mix from this tempered water and have your fixer as close to this temp also. You can gradually introduce your film to the 85 degree wash.

I know 68 is a B+W magic number but 72 works fine too... 75 might be too warm for a lot of developers and "uniformity".

I vacationed in Aruba and noticed that no matter how long you ran the water it was warm.. the water mains were not buried on the island, black pipe in the equatorial sun gets hot, and I assume the "cold" lines in the apartment don't offer the opportunity for the water to get much below the OP"s posted temp.

[Michael R 1974]

75 should not be a problem with standard materials unless it results in development times which are shorter than say 5 minutes. In fact 75 was (or still is) Kodak's recommended temp for TMax/Tmax RS.

[ChristopherCoy]

I must be the rebel, or terribly ignorant - I don't pay close attention to temperature. I develop in D76, which I keep in a black container, in a dark closet. It stays around 75 in my house, and I figure if the solution is room temp, its close enough. Thus far, I haven't had any problems. But then again, I'm not doing any serious work yet either.