Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Huh??? This is a phenomenon that I'm sure science would like explained. I've used deionized, distilled, and every other type of water in my 53 years of darkroom work. And I can assure you that distilled, deionized, or any other kind of "normal" water, (except "hot" water,) will "not" soften or swell film emulsion. For E3, E4, and E6, I "always" mixed my chemicals with distilled water and used a final rinse of distilled water. Likewise with B&W. The only real water problem, is that some tap water contains chloramines, mineral compounds, and other molecular chemistry that can effect the pH of your developer. By using distilled water, or even deionized water, your chemistry will perform closer to normal. Distilled water is just water without the mineral compounds and pollutant junk in it. It's clean water. Use it. Jim At 11:34 AM 2/18/99 -0500, Ken wrote: > >Be careful with distilled water for the final rinse. It will cause the >emulsion to swell and become VERY soft! > >Ken Wilcox