Re: filmscanners: Home C-41 processing

[Arthur Entlich <artistic@ampsc.com>]

I suspect (although don't know) that the film works a bit like a sponge, 
in that it becomes laden with water, and a lot of that water gets 
"stuck" in the gelatin layer, even with agitation.  This is why 
neutralizing stop bath is preferred to straight water bath to stop 
development, as the developer stuck in the gelatin layer continues to 
work on the silver salts.  Same goes for the "hypo" which tales a lot of 
water to migrate out of the film emulsion without a clearing agent.

Art

Colin Maddock wrote:

> It was written:
> 
>> because the film swells with water and the developer then 
>> doesn't fully migrate into the emulsion, especially at the rate the 
>> manufacturers pre-test the development times for.
> 
> 
> My gut feeling is that because the film is already wet, the developer would 
>migrate into the emulsion faster? Presume there is continuous agitation from 
>go to whoa.
> 
> Colin Maddock