I just started looking for something like a wine cooler that I can store all my mixed chemicals in that will keep them at a constant 68 degrees but am striking out. How do you folks store your chemicals so they're ready to go when you need them?
I just started looking for something like a wine cooler that I can store all my mixed chemicals in that will keep them at a constant 68 degrees but am striking out. How do you folks store your chemicals so they're ready to go when you need them?
I put 'em under my sink. Kodak et al chose 68 degrees because that's room temperature. If my room temp is significantly different I modify my processing accordingly.
As Bob notes below - only developer temp is critical. And sometimes it's not even all that critical. If you're doing standard development, not trying fancy pull processing, you probably won't see much difference resultant from a few degrees either way (but don't try 60 degrees or below - it'll take you all night to develop at that temp.) Follow that chart theBDT links to and you'll be fine.
Last edited by Robert Hughes; 2-Mar-2010 at 16:02.
Set your house thermostat at 68 deg.
If chemicals are a touch warm a few ice cubes in a zip lock put into developer briefly will adjust. Note, only the developer temp is critical. As long as the other chemicals and wash water are close (+/_ 3-4 degrees) you're good to go. Honestly I've processed further out than this without issue. Do try to avoid large temp differentials especially with the wash water.
bob
You can also look up one of the many time-temperature conversion charts online (like this one) and then just process your film at whatever temperature it is...
An hour or more before tray processing, I'll put my 32 oz. chemical containers in separate 8x10 trays w/ water of my desired temperature, laying them down. Occasionally, I'll check the temperature and adjust if necessary. As Bob suggests, the developer is the one that wins my most careful vigilance. If you're tray processing w/ hands, remember your fingers will raise the temperature of the solution. I'll usually dip mine in cool water between film-stack cycles...
A tempering box is a good investment. For even more critical work I use a thermoregulator, which is capable of keeping solutions within a tenth of a degree.
That was the approach I learned in school 30+ years ago. But I find the charts less precise and best nail the development when I settled on a finite temp to process everything.Originally Posted by theBDT
Honestly a bit of a challenge in summer in Texas. I move my standards to 75 deg in summer.
bob
You will probably not want to keep a tempering box on all the time.
Some suggestions for 'instant' processing:
1) Do your process with everything at room temp. (use time/temp conversion table)
2) Use a setup where you dilute chemicals just before use (one shot). So use appropriate temp tap water for mixing.
I develop B&W in my Jobo at 75F as that seems to be the water temperature here in Ohio in the summer. So washing is just using the cold tap water. In winter, I start the Jobo warming up an hour or so before I want to process and adjust the hot/cold mix for washing. I mix developer with distilled water and warm it up in the Jobo.
After a Photo-Flo rinse, I get nice clean negatives ready to print.
The chemicals reside in the basement darkroom which ranges from 62 to 75.
I store my Jobo dry. When I'm ready to process, I fill it with appropriate tempered water and mix the one-shot chemicals with appropriate tempered water. This way it is ready to use very quickly.
I live in the same part of the country as Paul and have just installed a thermometer in my cold water supply for the Jobo. In the winter (like now) I get 11 deg. C tap water. With that I can easily process film in HC110 and Rodinal at 18 to 20 degrees C whenever I want. However, in the summer, the cold water supply is too hot for those processes. The thermometer lets me know not to set the Jobo lower than the tap water.
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