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Hot take: Water rinse instead of stop bath fixed my streaky film

Everyone acts like stop bath is a must to stop development fast. I followed that rule for a long time but my negatives always had lines. So I switched to a quick water rinse and let it sit. Now my rolls develop with no marks at all. Why do we keep pushing a chemical that might not be needed?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_robinson1mo agoMost Upvoted

Ever run into that same problem with stop bath eating into your highlights? I had a batch of Tri-X come out with weird, harsh lines in the gray areas, like little scars. Switched to a solid minute under the tap, then straight into fixer, and it just stopped happening. Sometimes the old rules are just habits.

tara_rodriguez1mo ago

Old rules are just habits" is the realest darkroom truth. Sometimes I think people treat their stop bath routine like it's holy scripture instead of, you know, a jar of sour water. Your fixer-only rebellion is probably saving you cash on weird chemical bandaids too.

the_thea1mo ago

Those harsh lines are a classic stop bath issue. @tara_rodriguez is onto something with ditching it for a water rinse.