Stop bath with TF-5 fixer

[Mark Sampson]

I've just finished building a new darkroom and am about to begin printing my large backlog of negatives.
When I last was printing, two years ago, I was using TF-5 fixer with a plain water stop bath, and had good results on the fiber-base papers I prefer.
I wonder if there's a better way- is there a stop bath compatible with TF-5? I'd rather not use the old standby acetic acid, and I'd like to preserve the fixer, as well as have development stop quickly.

[Richard Wasserman]

I’ve not used TF-5, but for years I used citric acid stop for prints, about 1 tablespoon per liter of water. No smell or fumes like acetic acid.

[Drew Wiley]

Just call Formulary for advice. I happen to use TF4 in combination with weak acetic acid stop bath. No problem. There's enough alkaline reserve to handle a bit of acid carryover. But it's mixed per session, and never re-used another day, if prints are involved, or used one-shot for a set quantity of tray negatives.

[Drew Wiley]

Cold mounting is now routine for color prints on smooth substrates like aluminum. As I already noted on an ancient post somewhere back on this thread, I did used to make custom laminates of aluminum and 2-ply museum board, for sake of ordinary drymounting having a more classic look.

[jp]

I move the print through two baths of water for the stop.. If you have the space, it's a pretty quick way to get the developer off.

I test the fixer with a scrap of film once in a while to make sure it's still doing it's job.

[Michael R]

Mark, yes you can use a regular acid stop with TF-5. It is buffered for that. Rowland Mowrey (aka Photo Engineer on APUG), who worked on the formula, stated this. Even TF-4, which is alkaline, works fine with an acid stop.


I've just finished building a new darkroom and am about to begin printing my large backlog of negatives.
When I last was printing, two years ago, I was using TF-5 fixer with a plain water stop bath, and had good results on the fiber-base papers I prefer.
I wonder if there's a better way- is there a stop bath compatible with TF-5? I'd rather not use the old standby acetic acid, and I'd like to preserve the fixer, as well as have development stop quickly.

[John Layton]

You could always use two stop baths...the first being a more diluted acetic-based solution, followed by plain water prior to fixing. Sprint stop bath is buffered so you might go this route...

I dealt with this issue back when I started using PMK pyro, and eventually Pyrocat, for negative processing...starting first with a single, much diluted acetic based...later adding a second, plain water bath. Later replaced the first bath with the (buffered) Sprint formula...diluted 1/24 (vs recommended 1/9) - and then (as now) going to just plain water, but in three baths...prior to fix (I use TF-4). Took me awhile to trust plain water I guess! Works for me with negatives...but would take a bit of space assuming you're doing larger than 8x10 prints.

Then again...you are not trying to protect negative stain, just the fix - so you might do well to try going to the Sprint formula and dilute this to 1/24 or thereabouts, either by itself or followed by a single water bath if you have the space for this.

[Mark Sampson]

Thanks everyone! Some good advice here.

[Doremus Scudder]

Mark, yes you can use a regular acid stop with TF-5. It is buffered for that. Rowland Mowrey (aka Photo Engineer on APUG), who worked on the formula, stated this. Even TF-4, which is alkaline, works fine with an acid stop.

This is the definitive answer. I remember reading Ron Mowrey's (the developer of the formula) posts on this subject as well. He always used an acetic-acid stop bath when he processed. There should be no issues with TF-5 and any normal-strength acid stop.

Doremus