Another important feature of the stop bath is that it helps buffer contaminents moving from the developer to the fix. Without this step, the fix will become exhausted much quicker.
Cheers- george --- Gordon Holtslander <hol...@duke.usask.ca> wrote: > Develpoers depend on an alkaline environment. When the film developer > combination is placed in an acidic environment development slows > down or ceases completely. > > Stop bath is a mild acid, it lowers the pH of the environment to the extent > that the developer can no longer function and thus stops > development. Water can also be used to lower the pH, but it does not lower > the pH to the same extent as an acid. Water usually has a > neutral pH of 7- though the pH of water varies considerably from location to > location. > > Water can usually be used to stop development. The caveats are if you have > very alkaline water, or use a developer that works with a > neutral pH (I don't know of a developer that works at a neutral pH) it may > not work > > Because water is not as acidic as stop bath it will not neutralize the > dveloper as quickly as stop bath. Leaving it in the tray longer > will account for this. > > Stop bath may be necessary when the development process needs to be hatlted > immediately. > > Gord ===== Handmade Photographic Images http://members.home.net/hmpi/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com
