Sodium Sulfite Solution questions (for Polaroid 55)

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Stephan Goldstein - 19 Mar 2006 02:11 GMT

I'd like to start playing around with Type 55 P/N film. From reading I know
the negatives should be cleared (per Polaroid) in an 18% solution of Sodium
Sulfite. What I don't know is the storage life of said solution, or how to tell
when it's dead. Or is it immortal?

Thanks all!

Steve

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Richard Knoppow - 19 Mar 2006 02:32 GMT

> I'd like to start playing around with Type 55 P/N film.
> From reading I know
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Steve

Its tough to answer this because the life of the solution
depends on the concentration of the solution and how much
air its exposed to. 18% is a fairly strong solution, about
what is found in stock Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent. Sodium
sulfite will slowly change to Sodium sulfate by absorption
of Oxygen from the air. In a closed container it will last
for a couple of months, maybe longer. In a tray for several
hours.
Sodium sulfate will do no harm but I don't know if it
functions as a clearing agent for Polaroid.

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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com

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Jean-David Beyer - 19 Mar 2006 14:06 GMT

>> I'd like to start playing around with Type 55 P/N film.
>> From reading I know
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> Sodium sulfate will do no harm but I don't know if it
> functions as a clearing agent for Polaroid.

Note that different emulsions of Polaroid call for different compositions of
that clearing bath. You might look in Ansel Adams' book, "Polaroid Land
Photography", Appendix C, for different formulae for different types.

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Frank Earl - 24 Mar 2006 02:10 GMT

> I'd like to start playing around with Type 55 P/N film. From reading I know
> the negatives should be cleared (per Polaroid) in an 18% solution of Sodium
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Steve

You may want to try plain tap water. It has worked for me just fine on
type 665 pos-neg film. Tap water here is about pH 8.5. The reason I
went with plain tap water is that I had a hard time getting 180 grams of
sodium sulfite to dissolve in a liter of water.

I put the neg in a tray and ran water over it until all the gunk
dissolved away. Then soaked the negative in regular clearing solution.
Then Photo-flo and dry.

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Jean-David Beyer - 24 Mar 2006 02:39 GMT

>> I'd like to start playing around with Type 55 P/N film. From reading
>> I know
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> went with plain tap water is that I had a hard time getting 180 grams of
> sodium sulfite to dissolve in a liter of water.

Wow! I wonder what is in your water. Sodium Sulfite is very soluble in water
if it is not too cold. If it is at freezing point (but not frozen) you
should be able to dissolve about 125.4 grams per litre. If it is 80 C, you
should be able to dissolve 283 grams per litre.

> I put the neg in a tray and ran water over it until all the gunk
> dissolved away. Then soaked the negative in regular clearing solution.
> Then Photo-flo and dry.

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Frank Earl - 31 Mar 2006 03:04 GMT

>>>I'd like to start playing around with Type 55 P/N film. From reading
>>>I know
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> should be able to dissolve about 125.4 grams per litre. If it is 80 C, you
> should be able to dissolve 283 grams per litre.

Calcium carbonate and a lot of stuff I really don't want to know about :>).

>>I put the neg in a tray and ran water over it until all the gunk
>>dissolved away. Then soaked the negative in regular clearing solution.
>>Then Photo-flo and dry.

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Mike King - 31 Mar 2006 07:01 GMT

http://www.polaroid.com/service/filmdatasheets/4_5/55fds.pdf#search='sodium%20su
lfite%20clearing%20solution%20type%2055'

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darkroommike

> >
> >>>I'd like to start playing around with Type 55 P/N film. From reading
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> >>dissolved away. Then soaked the negative in regular clearing solution.
> >>Then Photo-flo and dry.

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Thor Lancelot Simon - 24 Mar 2006 15:44 GMT

>You may want to try plain tap water. It has worked for me just fine on
> type 665 pos-neg film. Tap water here is about pH 8.5. The reason I
>went with plain tap water is that I had a hard time getting 180 grams of
> sodium sulfite to dissolve in a liter of water.

You can just use Hypo Clearing Agent, or Perma-Wash -- they're sodium
(or ammonium) sulfite. I can't remember the dilution for clearing
Polaroid film, off the top of my head; I know I have it written down
somewhere in an old darkroom notebook, but I also know that someone
else here should be able to supply it a lot faster than I could find
the book and look it up. :-)

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Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com

"We cannot usually in social life pursue a single value or a single moral
aim, untroubled by the need to compromise with others." - H.L.A. Hart

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