Lemon juice stop bath?

[JBAphoto]

Does anyone know if lemon juice will work as a stop bath and the proportion, that is without the expense of a pH meter?

Our citrus trees grow down a slope from the septic tank leech drain, so we have oranges and lemons in profusion

John
Quinninup

[Daniel Stone]

Hey John,

I've heard about people trying this(with lemons or other citrus), but vinegar will be more consistent IMO. Mix from 1+4 to 1+10. Probably some talk already over on APUG about this.

-Dan

[Light Guru]

Real stop bath chemistry is fairly cheep. If if your not going to use proper stop bath then just use water.

[Mark Stahlke]

I would be concerned about the oils in lemon juice clinging to the film and causing problems with the fixer.

[ki6mf]

Ditto on all the comments and the answer is yes. Stop Bath uses a weak chemical process that is acid based to stop development. Lemon juice would stop the process with the caveat that you are introducing other pollutants into the process

[Wade Guisbert]

Distilled white vinegar is 5% acetic acid, mix 400ml vinegar and 600ml water, and you have 1 litre of stop bath.

The stuff is very inexpensive!

[Brian Ellis]

Stop bath performs functions other than just stopping development. It's cheap, lasts a long time, and should always be used instead of water or anything else IMHO if you value the life and effectiveness of your fixer and therefore your photographs.

[rdenney]

Stop bath performs functions other than just stopping development. It's cheap, lasts a long time, and should always be used instead of water or anything else IMHO if you value the life and effectiveness of your fixer and therefore your photographs.

For prints, absolutely. For film, not so much. I'd rather replace fixer more frequently than risk grain reticulation.

Rick "who uses water for film development" Denney

[Ari]

Stop bath performs functions other than just stopping development. It's cheap, lasts a long time, and should always be used instead of water or anything else IMHO if you value the life and effectiveness of your fixer and therefore your photographs.

I have a differing opinion on that, but only if we're talking about film.
I always use water as a stop for film, but I use regular stop bath for prints.
I was told a long time ago that acetic acid is too harsh on a soft film emulsion, and water is just as effective in stopping development and removing developer.

[Wade Guisbert]

Ari,
Somewhere I read use a 1% or 2% acetic acid stop bath. If some guys are using just plain water for film, maybe I go to 0.5% acteic acid. Somehow, it seems better to have SOME chemicals in there!