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colpepper

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I'm mixing up the first home batch of stock fix for a while and Ilford's instructions aren't clear, to me at least.
Fix is mixed 1:4 for film, what I can't recall is how many 35mm films I can expect to fix out of a single 300ml solution? It's small tank, not deep so replenishment is tricky. What advice chaps?
 
I tend to mix up a litre at a time of the fix, which covers the 600ml for 2x35mm in my Patterson tank, or for processing 120 (500ml) and when finished pour back into the bottle. I think that ilford state: “In general, fix film for twice the time it takes for the emulsion to clear. If working with used fixer, discard if films do not clear within half the recommended fixing time.” They also state that there's no issue with over-fixing with the non-hardening fix's. So... if the film's not cleared after 5 minutes in the fix, I'll give it another 5 minutes and after use, throw the mix away and make another up. Wouldn't want to put a figure on how many films it actually does, but it's definitely enough to loose count!
 
Cheers TBY. I made the mistake of diluting it 1:9 but left it in the fix for 30mins when I realised my error and threw the fix away afterwards.
The film has cleared - as far as Neopan ever clears, it's a bit bluish - but I'll keep my eye on it and re-fix if it shows signs of clouding.
 
Yeah - forgot to put that - I make fix up at 1+4, 200ml fix, 800ml water :shrug:
 
I think you should be able to get in the region of 10-15 rolls out of one batch of mixed fix if stored in an air tight concertina bottle but as TBY says, do the leader test each time before you process and you'll never go wrong.
 
What is this leader test of which you speak? And how does one perform it? Do you mean take a piece of exposed film and put it in fix? Surely if the image hasn't cleared the neg will fog in light?

You'll have to make allowances, this stuff used to be second nature but I've had people to do these things for me and my brain has downloaded the info over time.
 
Before loading the film onto a real cut off the leader and leave outside the tank. When the film is loaded into the tank take the leader out of the changing bag/darkroom into the daylight and drop it into the fix. Time how long it takes to clear and your min fix time is double this length. If it takes over 2.5 mins to clear, dump the fix and mix fresh.
 
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