I used to think pre-washing film was a waste of time, then I saw the difference on a roll of old Tri-X

For years I just loaded my HP5 straight into the tank and hoped for the best. Then last month I tried a 5 minute pre-soak at 68 degrees on a roll that had been sitting in my closet since 2019. The negatives came out so much cleaner with way less base fog, it was honestly night and day. Has anyone else had that kind of result or was it just a fluke with that particular batch?

2 comments

2 Comments

wyatt_ross271mo ago

Wait, did you do anything different with the water chemistry or temperature? I've been pre-soaking my Tri-X for like 2 years now but I just use tap water at room temp and I've never seen that big a drop in base fog. Maybe it's just me but I kinda feel like the real trick is making sure the pre-soak water is exactly the same temp as your developer, otherwise you get weird uneven development. I had a roll come out all wonky once when I used colder water.

thomas_young1mo ago

Hold up, I think people OVERthink pre-soaking way too much. I've used tap water straight from the faucet at whatever temp it comes out and I've never seen base fog drop like that either. It's a 2 minute soak, not a science experiment. Honestly I bet most people couldn't even tell the difference in a blind test between pre-soaked and not.