KRST as Fixer? Yeah...Why Not?

[John Layton]

Doh! (multiple head slaps)...So - two bottles with caps each marked "PF" (pyro fixer)...but only one of them is right - which did I use? Yep...the other bottle - which is (was, thank you very much!) KRST! OOF!

Thing is...KRST smells very much like TF-4 fixer - so I assumed all was well until the lights came on and things looked...well - different (weird color/contrast/a bit of extra base-fog).

So...I looked at the label on the FRONT of the bottle...and - DOH! many many head slaps!

Then...negatives go into actual fixer - the base fog clears...and I would say all is well except for a bit of extra contrast. But all in all, not too bad - I think I might pull a print or two from these...maybe just green channel only, but hey, whatever it takes...right?

and I had to chuckle when I signed in just now...that other post from an "amateur perspective," thinking before this that after over half century of doing this I could claim anything but - but at this point I'm starting to wonder!

[koraks]

"They say" selenium toning removes the pyro stain. I'm very skeptical - did you notice anything like it?

[Doremus Scudder]

You likely just selenium intensified your negative, increasing contrast about Zone's worth or a bit less.

I'm the one that has had strong selenium toner (mixed 1+2 for negative intensification) remove pyro (PMK) stain. I don't know if the effect is so pronounced with weaker solutions. What's the verdict, John?

Best,

Doremus

[John Layton]

Although I label my TF-4 "Pyro-Fixer," my developer was Pyrocat-HD. Interesting...if anything, I think I'm seeing just a bit more brown (Pyrocat) stain, deposited proportionally to density. Highlight separation (snow on fallen trees, overcast) still looks good, and overall maybe just shy of a grade more contrast than I would have expected were the process carried out "normally."

Another thing...this batch of (1:19) KRST is very old - although I did add just a bit of fresh concentrate prior to toning a print just last week - so its active, but not aggressively so. Certainly not what I'd use for typical negative intensification, and perhaps that I'm seeing any change at all is due to the fact that these negatives were not even fixed before being dunked in the toning bath. Make sense?

I'll probably try pulling a print or two over the next week or so...and will chime in again with results.

[Doremus Scudder]

Looking forward to hearing your results, John. TIA

[Michael R]

Also, KRST contains some rapid fixer (ammonium thiosulfate).

[Vaughn]

Selenium toner as a pre-fix is an interesting chemical mix-up in film processing! Proves that when you get enough of us monkeys in a room, something weird and interesting will eventually happen...

After the developer, the selenium will still have the same silver on the film it usually would have to react with, but with the addition of the unexposed and the undeveloped silver that is usually already gone, but is now in the process of leaving when the selenium is around. Perhaps there is more available silver (and/or easy-to-get-to silver) for the selenium to react with and more selenium is being deposited on the neg. Just a thought on how lower concentration of toner may give a grade increase in contrast. Fun!

But perhaps, thanks to John, the future forums will not only have the evergreen arguments about need of pre-washes, acid stop baths, and hypo clearing baths, but now possibly Pre-fix baths 'discussions'!!

[Mark Sampson]

No doubt that this 'mistake' will give you prints of indescribable beauty and tonalities that you could never even have dreamed of... a look that would make you famous and rich... except that you'll never be able to do it again!
But then, you can publish in the "Journal of Irreproducible Results" alongside the cold-fusion and perpetual-motion people..

[esearing]

Label makers now come with chemical resistant ink. You can type whole sentences and know for sure what is in the bottle. even dilution info and dates. I even number the lids so they go back on right bottle, especially for Pyro A & B.

Unless you just like the element of surprise with random chemistry.

[esearing]

No doubt that this 'mistake' will give you prints of indescribable beauty and tonalities that you could never even have dreamed of... a look that would make you famous and rich... except that you'll never be able to do it again!
But then, you can publish in the "Journal of Irreproducible Results" alongside the cold-fusion and perpetual-motion people..

Mark, I use ColdFusion everyday. CFML is an incredible scripting/tag based language makes beautifully coded web applications with minimal effort. And we refer to our development cycle as "perpetual motion and catastrophe " since we have US and Offshore development teams that both fix and break code 24 hours a day. We also are expected to do Psychic reporting but are not always up for that challenge. But I digress....