There are many opinions out there among fellow photographers and darkroom printers on which commercially available fixer is the best. The only best fixer is the one that works best for you and your process.
Today, I will share with you my recipe for “Leo’s Easy Fixer for B&W films and papers” that works for me.
- Boil 1 liter of water, let it cool down to about 60 – 70 degrees celsius.
- Add 4 – 6 tablespoons of sodium thiosulfate and mix until it dissolves in the water
- Let it cool down to 20 degrees celsius before using
This recipe is good as a “one-shot” fixer. Typically, I would use this formula for one time processing of up to 10 negatives (135/120/5×4 formats), then discard.
If you need to keep using your fixer for prolonged period of time (days, weeks), then you can use the modified recipe as follows:
- Boil 1 liter of water, let it cool down to about 60 – 70 degrees celsius.
- Add 4 – 6 tablespoons of sodium thiosulfate and mix until it dissolves in the water
- Add 1 – 2 teaspoons of sodium sulfite and mix until it completely dissolves in the solution
- Let it cool down to 20 degrees celsius before using
For fixing prints, typically I use this fixer in Nova Darkroom 4x slots in a 2-step fixing process – three minutes in the first fixer, four minutes in the second fixer to achieve proper fixing and archival quality.
Happy fixing!
under Cookbook tagged darkroom, recipes