Not since the 1950's and even then only with carbonate containing developers. Modern hardening techniques prevent this. This has been well discussed on Photrio - Ron Mowrey explained the mechanisms of how it happened & how it was cured.Originally Posted by Duolab123
You really don't understand the why's or how's of E-6...
I'd suggest taking time to thoroughly read and understand Fuji TB E6 E15 and Kodak Z-119, paying attention to the pH of each step and where carryover is needed or isn't allowed and then carefully read what is being said by Ron Mowrey here before going any further.
Again, most of this is at best irrelevant, at worst outright wrong. No, you won't damage current film with an acid stop and an alkaline fix. You can damage Foma films with C-41 fixer, but that's blistering caused by the KSCN on less well hardened emulsion. On other films it is arguably the best fixer on the market, it gets the residual dyes out very well.
Finally, most fixes sold today are either near neutral (C-41/ E-6) or slightly acid rapid fixes. A true alkaline fix can be pretty smelly.
If your fixer is so poorly buffered that it can't handle a very low degree of carryover, then get one of the many fixers that can! If you need consistency without worrying about it, use the stopbath. You'll probably get away without it with low activity developers, but why take pointless risks? Take risks with your art, not with parts of your process that should be invisible.
Popular TF-4 has alkaline 8.5 pH, ilford Rapid Fixer has 5.5 pH acidic.
Anyway you don't carry developer to fixer if using stop water bath, because you dump the water bath so you have no developer accumulation. You only carry developer if using no bath in the middle.
C-41 and E-6 I remember do not use acid stop bath after BW developer, some have a plain water rinse
Color Paper RA-4 (Fuji Hunt) uses acetic acid stop bath.
I've always used stop bath with RA-4 it helps prevent staining. The minilabs don't they go straight from developer into the Blix.
Modern film and RC paper has such thin and prehardened emulsions it's hard to believe stop bath would be needed vs. a good water rinse. Fiber base paper is a different story.
RA-4 paper develops to completion in about 45 seconds at 100F, I've intentionally over developed color negative paper, no discernable difference between 90 seconds and 2 and a half minutes.
I like 1.5% citric acid solution. Odorless, and food suppliers on the internet sell it cheap. I never had a problem using
acid fixer with Kodak film and I've been doing this a long time.
I use an alkaline (TF3) fixer for prints, but since I do two-bath fixing, the first (used) fixer takes the beating from the
stop, inasmuch as that is an issue. The used bath always gets dumped at the end of the session no matter how few prints I make.
I can't recommend trying to use water as a stop when printing on fiber paper, if you're using an alkaline fixer. Unless you're willing
to rinse it in running water for a minute and a half you're going to get hydroquinone stains sooner or later. Using citric acid solved
that problem for good.
I use water and branded.
I use Kodak Indicator Stop Bath for film and prints.
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