Lifespan of a sealed bottle of fixer?

s162216

s162216

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Samuel
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Hi,

The other day I developed a film (FP4+) and after letting it dry, I went to scan a few. The first thing I noticed was that the clear areas looked more 'milky' than clear which made me think of a problem with me fixing the negs, and sure enough when I did a couple of trial scans the results were the same as when I last underfixed a film.

I decided to do a clip test of the fixer (I had made it to the correct dilution as I was very careful) by making up another 300ml batch (I use it one shot and squeeze the air out of the stock bottle as I don't really shoot enough to justify making a hugh great container of diluted fixer) and sure enough the film leader did not go clear after at least 10 minutes (well a bit but it went more pink than clear). Evidently my fixer was dead (hey it lasted nearly 3 years though!)

My dad then happened to mention that he had an unopened bottle of fixer in the garage. Taking a look at it, its a sealed bottle of 'Jessops Econofix 2', probably about 20 years old as my dad has not done his own developing since at least then.

Does anyone think it'll still be o.k after all that time as its still completely sealed? Theres no mention of an expiary date etc on it, but Ilford say 2 years for their rapid fixer. At the minute I don't quite have any money spare for another new bottle of fixer so does anyone think its worth trying?
 
I've got part of the leader of the last film, I am going to do a clip test but just wanted to see the general opinion on here before I started messing around with it when it could just be a huge waste of time.
 
Unused fixer in a sealed bottle should not go off.
 
Well I've clip tested it on a piece of the previous films undeveloped leader, and to be honest I am not too sure whether the fixer is any good or not. The film cleared in about 3 - 4 minutes, but it was more of a clear tinted purple colour than clear clear (if that makes sense?) and I left it in for about 30 minutes checking every so often and there didn't seem to be a change?

I am of course assuming that it is supposed to clear without any colour cast?
 
Not necessarily... The base might have a tint. I've seen films come out pink, purple, blue and a few other colours. If it's a very strong tint then something might be wrong, but if it's only very slight, it's fine.
 
Well I tried it with the last films negatives and its immeasurably improved them when I've scanned them. At least I now know that it works fine (plus saving me £6.99...)
 
s162216 said:
Well I've clip tested it on a piece of the previous films undeveloped leader, and to be honest I am not too sure whether the fixer is any good or not. The film cleared in about 3 - 4 minutes, but it was more of a clear tinted purple colour than clear clear (if that makes sense?) and I left it in for about 30 minutes checking every so often and there didn't seem to be a change?

I am of course assuming that it is supposed to clear without any colour cast?
Click to expand...

Until developed film has an anti-halation dye layer that clears in an alkali developer but not easily in an acid fixer.
This is probably the colour you are seeing.

It is also worth noting that undeveloped film takes far longer to clear.
 
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