T-max100,pinkish cast, fix for 24 minutes too long?

[Gene McCluney]

I think I read somewhere, possibly on this forum or APUG that you can just put dry sleeved T-max negatives on your light table with the light on for a while and the light will actually clear the residiual dye....I hope I am not hallucinating.

[Ken Lee]

Sandy King gave me this tip, and it works nicely:

After a normal fix, and a brief water rinse, soak the negatives in a 10% solution of Sodium Sulfite for ten minutes. In my experience, this removes almost all the magenta cast, and the rest goes out with normal washing.

It just so happens that the active ingredient in typical formulas for "washing aids", is Sodium Sulfite. It is often combined with Sodium Metabisulfite, which acts as a preservative - but if you mix it yourself and toss it, there is no need for any preservative.

Around 1 teaspoon per liter of water, makes the right concentration. Sodium Sulfite is very affordable - especially when used in tiny amounts such as this - Much more affordable than commercial preparations.

[Ed Richards]

I presoak for about a minute, but I use a jobo expert drum on a roller base, so it really gets agitated front and back. You might use 5 minutes if it is just sitting in a tank. I also belong to the do not worry too much about getting the last of the magenta out school.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Hi all,

the fastest way I have found is to fix TMX in TF-4 fixer for 5 min. and a normal wash cycle will remove all the magenta stain. Use fresh TF-4, and TMX does beat it up fairly quickly, much faster than other films. Less wet time and fewer chems.

Works well every time, has for years.

[Jim Noel]

When using films with difficult to remove anti-halation I use a pre-soak of 1 TBS sodium sulfite per liter of water. I use this same formula for my hypo eliminator.

Rarely do I have any residual color.

[Ed K.]

Hi -

I find that a 3 minute prewash in the Jobo, BEFORE doing development, does wonders. Most of the dye comes out right then and there. Next, some kinds of developers remove more of the dye than others. Ilford DDX kills most dye on contact, but again, a prewash does the trick most of the time.

I use a very small quantity of Permawash at the end of processing, about 1/8th of the recommended amount, then wash normally. That's enough to help washing, and at least the slime of the Permawash comes off in the wash too.

With presoak, I never get dye by the end of the process.

Without a presoak before development, you can also try letting your neg sit in standing distilled water for a bit. You'd be surprised how much dye will go away if just allowed to diffuse into water.