Miscellaneous Photographic Formulas and Information
Page 2

Continued from Page 1

- Page 1 -
• Artique's Process
• About the Baume' Scale
• Black Lines on White Ground Blueprint
• Carbon Process
• Chromium Intensifier
• Color Temperature
• Conversions of Units, and Chemical Weight/Volume Ratios
• Farmers Reducer

  - Page 2 -

• Fixation Test
• Fixer Test
• Hypo Clear
• Make Your Own Shroud of Turin
• Proportional Reducer
• Recovering Silver from Fixer
• Sepia Toner
• Standard Printing Paper Sizes
• Tray Cleaner
• Wash Test
• References

Fixation Test

Stock solution:
Mix 2 grams sodium sulfite with
100 cc water

Mix 1 part stock solution with 9 parts water, use immediately.
Drop on margin of print.
Let stand 2 or 3 minutes.
Blot with clean blotting paper.
A light cream spot is ok, but a dark spot indicates print was not fixed or washed enough.

Selenium toner may be used to test fixation.
Use 1 part selenium toner to 5 to 10 parts water, drop on print as above.

This test may not work on baryta coated papers.

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Fixer Test

Mix together:

5 drops of a 20% solution of potassium iodide
5 drops of your fixing bath
15 drops water

A yellowish white precipitate (not slight milkiness) indicates fix is exhausted.

A quick fix test: drop fix on a piece of filter paper.
black on the edges of the spot
indicate fixer is exhausted; saturated with silver.

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Hypo Clear

500 cc water
125 cc hydrogen peroxide 3% solution
100 cc ammonia 3% solution
water to make 1 liter

wash prints 30 minutes
put prints in hypo clear with agitation for 6 minutes
then wash prints for 10 minutes

32 oz of hypo clear for 50 8"x10" prints

mix only what will be used that day;
** this mixture could explode if stored in closed container**

§   §   §  

(I've heard that sea water will work as a hypo clear but haven't tried it.)

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Make Your Own Shroud of Turin

Wet a piece of cloth (perhaps thin and shroudlike) and
mold it to the contours of 3-dimensional object (statue, body, what-have-you) and
allow it to dry.
Make a half-and-half mixture of powdered myrrh and aloes (ancient burial spices; which can be obtained nowadays at stores that sell herbs or alternative medicines).
Wrap the mixture in a piece of soft cotton and then daub and rub onto cloth wrapped object until image shows up.
This results in a sepia tone negative image of the object similar to that on the Shroud of Turin.

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Proportional Reducer

0.1 gram Potassium Permanganate
1.0 ml concentrated sulfuric acid
water to make 500 ml

Solution B

12.2 grams ammonium sulficyanide
water to make 500 ml

to use, mix equal parts of Solutions A and B
soak negative in solution for 1 - 3 minutes
then rinse negative in 1% solution of potassium metabisulfate
wash several minutes and dry

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Recovering Silver from Fixer

Zinc mixed into old fixer replaces the silver, which settles to the bottom of the container.

Materials:

plastic pail
plastic measuring spoon
large plastic mixing spoon
3 feet of plastic hose
copper wire
powdered or granulated zinc
small container, such as a film can.

See links on Oatmeal Box Camera main page for sources for chemicals.

Procedure:

• This takes several days, at least.
• Pour exhausted fix into pail.
• Take about a 1 inch piece of copper wire and scrape off any insulation or sand off corrosion. Dip the copper wire halfway into the fixer. Remove after about 5 seconds. If the fixer has silver in it, it will have plated onto the wire.
• Add a small amount of zinc, about 1/8 teaspoon per gallon, and mix well.
• Mix several more times during the day.
• The next day, when any solid material has settled in the pail, test the fixer again, with a new piece of copper wire. If the wire does not look silver plated, all the available silver has been replaced by zinc and will settle on the bottom. If the wire has silver on it, there is still silver in solution. Repeat the process of adding zinc, mixing, settling and testing, until the test copper wire does not have silver on it. (don't add too much zinc because it will contaminate the silver.)
• Let the sludge settle completely on the bottom of the pail and carefully siphon off as much of the waste fixer as you can without disturbing the sludge.
• Throw away fixer.
• Wash the remaining fixer out by filling the pail with water. Let the sludge settle and, the next day, carefully siphon off as much of the water as possible.
• Let the remaining sludge dry, then scrape it out of the pail and store in the film can. Although you may not ever save up enough to refine and sell, you might save up enough to cast a piece of jewelry. At least you are not dumping silver down the drain.

Tips: To get the highest silver content, and maximum fixer life

• use fresh stop bath
• drain prints well before putting them in the fixer
• use the two bath fix method
• fix all scraps of film and paper before throwing them out.

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Sepia Toner

Solution A
24 oz (~750 ml) water at 125 degrees F
1.5 oz (~42.5 gr) potassium ferricyanide
0.25 oz (~7 gr) potassium bromide
0.5 oz (~14 gr) sodium carbonate monohydrated
mix and add
cold water to make 32 oz (~1 liter)

Solution B
1.5 oz (~42.5 gr) sodium sulfide dessicated
water to make 16 oz (~500 ml)

Bleach print in Solution A
Wash in running water 10 minutes
Develop in Solution B
Wash 30 minutes

Handle wet prints carefully; it's easy to make fingerprints

ps. Sepia toner can be used like an intensifier. When printed, the reddish color of a toned negative makes the negative print as if it was more dense.

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Standard Printing Paper Sizes

     

ANSI Sizes
Media Size	Inches	Millimeters
A	8.5 x 11	216 x 279
B	11 x 17	279 x 432
C	17 x 22	432 x 559
D	22 x 34	559 x 864
E	34 x 44	864 x 1118
Architectural Sizes
Media Size	Inches	Millimeters
ARCH 1	9 x 12	229 x 305
ARCH 2	12 x 18	305 x 457
ARCH 3	18 x 24	457 x 610
ARCH 4	24 x 36	510 x 914
ARCH 5	30 x 42	762 x 1067
ARCH 6	34 x 44	914 x 1219
ISO Sizes
Media Size	Inches	Millimeters
A0	33.11 x 46.81	841 x 1189
A1	23.35 x 33.11	594 x 841
A2	16.54 x 23.35	420 x 594
A3	11.69 x 16.54	297 x 420
A4	8.27 x 11.69	210 x 297
B0	39.37 x 55.67	1000 x 1414
B1	27.83 x 39.37	707 x 1000
B2	19.69 x 27.83	500 x 707
B3	13.9 x 19.69	353 x 500
B4	9.84 x 13.9	250 x 353
B5	6.93 x 9.84	176 x 250
B6	4.92 x 6.93	125 x 176
RA0	33.86 x 48.03	860 x 1220
RA1	24.02 x 33.86	610 x 860
RA2	16.93 x 24.02	430 x 610
SRA0	35.43 x 50.39	900 x 1280
SRA1	25.2 x 35.43	640 x 900
SRA2	17.72 x 25.2	450 x 640

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Tray Cleaner

32 oz water
3 oz potassium bichromate
3 oz sulfuric acid

do not use on chromium or stainless steel

§  §   §

Farmers Reducer may also be used as a tray cleaner.

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Wash Test

Stock solution:

1 gram silver nitrate
15 cc acetic acid 28% solution
water to make 125 cc (about 90 cc water)

Drop on print margin, let stand 2 or 3 minutes.
A slight discoloration is ok, but a dark stain indicates the presence of hypo.

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References

John Carroll, E. J. Wall, Franklin Jordan, Photographic Facts and Formulas,
Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1975

L. P. Clerc, Photography Theory and Practice,
Pitman Publishing Co., NY, 1954

C. B. Neblette, Photography-Its Materials and Processes,
D. Van Nostrand Co. Inc, Princeton, NJ, 1964

Links to alternative photo sites and sources for chemicals on Oatmeal Box Camera main page.

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