Two Minute Water Bath before Developer, Good Idea, Waste of Time, or Bad Idea

[Richie]

I learned so much from the thirty replies to my last question on the possible effects of "leaving negatives in the stop bath for 7 minutes". I can't resist asking another question that I have been thinking about. I was taught to soak and agitate my negatives for 2 minutes in water before adding them to developer. I think the rationale was that the developer would start working more quickly and that during the first minute in developer it might act more evenly. That makes some sense from an armchair point of view. I have never experimented. I guess one worrying thought I have is that more soaking would swell the emulsion and perhaps make it more vulnerable to harm like scratches. What do people think about this? Do you pre-soak your negatives before developing? Has anyone seen any data on the issue?

[Taija71A]

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...archid=6270462

[Alan9940]

Some do pre-soak while others don't, some manufacturers recommend a pre-soak while others don't recommend it, ying-yang, yadda...yadda. Get the idea? I'm old and crotchety and been pre-soaking my B&W film for 50 years. Don't see any reason not to keep doing it.

[Leigh]

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...archid=6270462

That link fails

- Leigh

[angusparker]

Seems to be recommended especially for staining developers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Leigh]

That depends on the developer being used.

For example, Diafine works by being absorbed into the dry emulsion.
A pre-soak will defeat that absorption, resulting in improper development.

Follow the instructions for the developer.

- Leigh

[LabRat]

A good idea if the film is exposed to extremes of temp/humidity/dryness etc...

Let's say you were flying back from hot, humid, SE Asia with a roll of film in your camera... The film would be slightly thicker on portions of the roll due to what part would be unwound inside the camera from the humidity there, then parts would dry out during the long flight home thinning those areas, so come the time to process it, that strip would absorb the first dev unevenly due to the uneven thickness of the emulsion (if extreme) causing uneven base density... But a water bath would "fluff" out the thickness evenly before it hits the dev so it could penetrate evenly...

Always a good thing, but if you fly, it's good to go for the max time (like 5 mins), but good to do for all B/W films, esp old films...

Steve K

[Steve Sherman]

I learned so much from the thirty replies to my last question on the possible effects of "leaving negatives in the stop bath for 7 minutes". I can't resist asking another question that I have been thinking about. I was taught to soak and agitate my negatives for 2 minutes in water before adding them to developer. I think the rationale was that the developer would start working more quickly and that during the first minute in developer it might act more evenly. That makes some sense from an armchair point of view. I have never experimented. I guess one worrying thought I have is that more soaking would swell the emulsion and perhaps make it more vulnerable to harm like scratches. What do people think about this? Do you pre-soak your negatives before developing? Has anyone seen any data on the issue?

This has always been pretty easy for me, no matter who said otherwise. Pick up a Wet spill with a "dry sponge" or a "moist sponge" which one reacts more uniformly. 2-3 minutes is a pretty easy tradeoff !

[Jim Jones]

With very short developing times as when using Solarol to solarize Tech Pan, a pre-wash is absolutely essential. In most instances it seems to make little difference.

[Taija71A]

That link fails - Leigh

No problem.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...archid=6270931 (*Or an 'Advanced' Forum Search for "Pre-Soak").