New poll -- presoaking

[xkaes]

I'm just curious. How many of us pre-soak our film -- of whatever format -- before processing it (whatever that means)?

I don't see a way to set up a poll on this forum, and perhaps there is a way, but for now:

Do you pre-soak your film? Always/Sometimes/Never

In what? Distilled water/Filtered water/Tap water/Other(specify)

At what temp? Tap temp/Specific temp

How long? Minutes

Comments:

[Oren Grad]

There is a "post a poll" option in the "post new thread" setup screen - scroll down toward the bottom. If you'd like to do that we can merge the threads.

PS: I don't ever presoak.

[Jim Jones]

Always, tap water at room temperature (same as developer). A presoak for film is necessary for some developers such as Solarol and negatives developed in fast-working paper developer.

[xkaes]

Do you pre-soak your film? Always/Sometimes/Never

In what? Distilled water/Filtered water/Tap water/Other(specify)

At what temp? Tap temp/Specific temp

How long? Minutes

Comments:

[xkaes]

I set up a poll in DARKROOM, but it appears to only allow for one question. Is there a way to ask multiple questions?

[Daniel Stone]

BW- 70F - 2x1min successive baths. Tap water
C41 - 100F - same time regimen as above, Tap water
E6 I send to a lab now.

If I had extra high mineral content in my municipal water supply, I would use distilled water for all BW process steps except pre-soak, hypo clear and photo flo/final rinse steps.
Since color chemicals are more sensitive to "added ingredients" found in many municipalities water systems, I use distilled water for mixing all C41 chemicals except pre-soak, fixer and wash water.

-Dan

[jnantz]

yes, always
sometimes even paper negatives
just tap water nothing fancy
2 mins give or take a minute

** added later

the only time i haven't pre-soaked was when i was using xtol
because kodak said not to pre-soak other than that consistantly for as
long as i have been processing film ...
also, its kind of fun to pour the AH dye into developer and see
it magically disappear ..

[Randy]

Same as jnanian, doesn't matter what film - about 2 minutes in tap water at the same temp as the developer. If someone can convince me that it is unnecessary and/or detrimental to my images, I'll stop.

[djhopscotch]

Yes always, tap water at dev temp 2 minutes or so, as long as it takes for me to get the rest of the chemicals mixed and measured.

Had issues with uneven development in areas of continuous tone, presoaking made it go away. I use Jobo tanks on a unicolor motor base.

[Jeff Morfit]

I also presoak my 4x5 film for 2 minutes per Ansel Adams recommendations in his book "The Negative" at the same temp as the developer. Then, add 30 seconds to the development time as he also recommended.