What is in "odorless" stop/fix?

[Darin Boville]

O.K., I'm about to order chemicals for my newest foray into 4x5...and I see there are a lot of "odorless" types. I don't remember those from a few years back, though I see them mentioned here and there in the forum. Did a search here and didn't see an answer to my most basic question...

What exactly (chemical-wise) am I buying if I buy odorless? Anything questionable? Are all the brands of odorless basically the same stuff?

I'll only be doing 4x5 B&W negs at the moment.

Thanks!

--Darin

[Gem Singer]

Odorless stop and fix usually have citric, boric, etc. acid substituted for acetic acid.

Odorless chemicals have been around for years. Most photogs are now using plain water as a stop bath along with an alkaline fixer. Fix has slight odor of ammonia, but not as strong as the smell of acetic acid.

[jp]

As far as stop bath goes, it's probably another weak acid instead of acetic acid.

Acetic acid stopbath was basically a white vinegar with the ph indicator color added, hence the odor. I didn't mind the vinegar odor, it was like chomping salt&vinegar chips in the darkroom. I got odorless ilford based on citric acid because shipping regulations prevented B&H from sending me the usual Kodak stuff.

[Brian Ellis]

Odorless stop and fix usually have citric, boric, etc. acid substituted for acetic acid.

Odorless chemicals have been around for years. Most photogs are now using plain water as a stop bath along with an alkaline fixer. Fix has slight odor of ammonia, but not as strong as the smell of acetic acid.

Just curious - what makes you think "most photogs" are now using plain water as a stop bath?

[Gem Singer]

Brian,

I noticed my broad generality statement after I clicked the submit button. I meant to say many photogs are using plain water for a stop bath (at least for film processing).

Thanks for keeping me honest. How are you enjoying Bend? Big change from Florida, isn't it?

After retiring from the practice of dentistry in 1980, I moved to Bend and lived there until 1984. Arrived a few months after Mt.St. Helens erupted.

Did the catalogue photos and product descriptions for Marus Dental International, photos for a few Sun River sales brochures, and some nature photos for the High Desert Museum.

Fished the Deschutes, nordic skied in the Mt. Bachelor area. Climbed a few Cascade mountains. Drove over the Santiam Pass and then on to the Oregon coast many times.

Wish i could do it again. I miss Oregon.

[jnantz]

sprint speed fixer is pretty much odorless
and their stop bath is scented vanilla ...
if you use their whole 'system" ( dev-stop-fix )
the stop will indicate when the fixer and developer are spent ...
it is all liquid and easy to mix ( 1:9 or 2:8 )

if you can stand the vanilla scent making you starved the whole time
you use the chemistry, you can order it all from the http://sprintsystems.com/ website.

i use their film developer sometimes, and have been using their fixer since the 80s.

[Darin Boville]

Thanks, everyone. I'll order my stuff today...

--Darin

[Ole Tjugen]

Acidic fixers tend to smell of sulfur, and alkaline rapid fixers tend to smell of ammonia. Most odourless fixers are more or less neutral.

[vinny]

if you can stand the vanilla scent making you starved the whole time
you use the chemistry, you can order it all from the http://sprintsystems.com/ website.

I associate vanilla with exotic dancers, at least that's the first thing that comes to mind.

I've used freestlyle's oderless fixer for several years, cheap and pretty much odorless.

[Tom Monego]

The hard vanilla smell comes more when you are mixing than when the stop is in the tray. Paul Krot who invented the Sprint chemistry felt you could only mask the stop bath, you had to lower the pH too much to kill the smell.

Tom

[cyrus]

Save some money -- use plain white vinegar mixed with water as stop. That's all you need, nuthin' to it.

[D. Bryant]

Save some money -- use plain white vinegar mixed with water as stop. That's all you need, nuthin' to it.
Plain white vinegar is more expensive than indicator stop bath. Purchase a gallon of concentrated indicator stop bath and it will last for a long time.

Don Bryant

[Gem Singer]

Wasn't the original question about "odorless" stop baths?

A stop bath that contains acetic acid is not odorless.