Fundamentals of Film Imaging and Processing

In order to exercise the greatest control in film production, you need to understand the
different processes involved. In this section, we examine the role of the imagesetter,
the processor, and the film itself in pre-press operations. We begin with a brief
overview, and a discussion of lithography.

Role of Imagesetter
The role of the imagesetter is to record an image on film. A beam of laser light is used
to record the image on the film’s light-sensitive coating. Exposing this coating, or
emulsion, to laser light does not yield a visible image. Instead, a latent image is formed.
Those areas of the emulsion that are struck by the laser beam are sensitized so they will
react to a chemical bath.

Role of Processor
The role of the processor is to make the latent image visible. It contains the chemical
bath that transforms the latent image into a visible one. The bath has two main
components: the developer and the fixer. The developer causes the emulsion to harden
and turn black where it was sensitized; the fixer is used to clear areas that were not
sensitized. After processing, the film is solid black where it was struck with the laser
beam, and clear where it was not struck.

Role of Film
The film acts as an image carrier. After the film has been imaged and processed, it may
be subject to a variety of other processes. But, ultimately, it will be used to produce the
actual printing plates. These printing plates are mounted on a press and are used to
impress the image on paper. Most often, the printing is done by lithography.

Lithography
Prior to the discovery of lithography, printing was done using either a relief process,
such as letterpress, or an intaglio process, such as engraving. Figure 38 illustrates the
difference between these two.

FIGURE 38: Relief vs: Intaglio

CCS Operating Guide page 1

In letterpress, the raised image area is coated with ink. When the image is brought into
contact with paper, the ink is transferred to the paper. This is the process used by the
famed Johann Gutenberg who is widely credited with the invention of movable type;
i.e., individual characters, cast in metal, that can be arranged into words.
(In fact, movable type was invented almost 3,000 years before Gutenberg, and was
used in Korea, China, and Japan hundreds of years before Gutenberg. The oldest
known book printed with movable type is not the Mazarin Bible which was issued in
1456, but a Korean text printed in 1397.)
Gravure is an example of an intaglio process. In gravure, the image area is not raised.
Rather, it is engraved. The engraving is inked. The surface is wiped clean, leaving ink
only in the engraved areas. A platen or roller presses the paper against the engraving
and the ink is transferred to the paper.
Unlike these relief processes, lithography is a planographic process. The image and
non-image areas are in the same plane. The two areas are photochemically treated so
that the image area retains ink while the non-image area repels ink. A thin coating of
ink is applied to the entire surface and quickly conforms to the image. The paper is
pressed against the surface and the ink transfers to the paper.
Lithography was discovered in 1798 by one Alois Senefelder. Senefelder was an actor
and a playwright. He could not afford to have his plays printed. In the hope of being
able to have his works printed, he apprenticed with a printer.
At the time, copper engravings were in common use. To prepare an engraving by hand,
you have to write in reverse; that is, you have to write a mirror image of the one you
want. If you hold a letter up to the light, and read it through the back, then that is the
image you would have to engrave to print the letter.
Rather than ruin good copper plates, an apprentice would be expected to practice
reverse-writing on a piece of cheap limestone. Apparently, this is what Senefelder was
doing when he hit upon a significant discovery. He had just polished a stone and was
going to practice reverse-writing on it with an ink consisting of wax, soap, and
lampblack. His mother interrupted him and asked if he would write her shopping list.
Senefelder wrote the list on the stone.
Some time later, he returned to the stone. By now, the ink had dried. Out of curiousity,
Senefelder treated the surface of the stone with nitric acid. What he found was that the
shopping list was, “the thickness of a playing card in relief.” The etched stone could be
re-inked and used to make an impression. At this point, Senefelder had discovered
shallow-relief printing.
It turned out that you could get an excellent print from an etched stone. But there was
still the problem of reverse-writing. Senefelder had simply written the shopping list in
the usual fashion. When a print was taken of the stone, everything was backwards.
Senfelder hit upon another idea: why not write in the usual fashion on paper, and then
transfer this image to the stone. That would eliminate the need for reverse-writing. He
found that he could set the image on the stone in this fashion, but he still had to ink
the stone before he could print with it. The image that had been transferred from the
paper to the stone had to be traced over with fresh ink.
Suppose there was some way to treat the paper so that when it was pressed against the
stone, all the ink transferred from the paper to the stone. Then it would not be
necessary to re-ink the stone. Preparing the stone would be simple and quick, rather

CCS Operating Guide page 2

than cumbersome and time-consuming. But how do you get all the ink to transfer
from paper to stone?
In his search for an answer, Senefelder hit upon his most significant discovery. He
found that if he took a piece of paper that had already been inked and coated it with
an oil/water mixture, the oil tended to adhere to only the inked areas. If the paper were
first treated with a gum solution, the ink not only attracted the oil, but the paper also
repelled oil. He found that he could take a page from a book, apply a thin gum solution
to it, then treat it with the oil/water mixture and make a very good impression of the
page onto another. Of course, the image would wind up in reverse. But Senefelder
found that he could apply the same treatment once more and obtain right-reading
copies.
This was a completely new approach to printing. In his Manual of Lithography, Sene-
felder noted that, “this process is fundamentally different from all other processes of
printing.” Today, almost half of all printing is done using lithography. While the
equipment and techniques are far removed from those of 200 years ago, the process
remains the same.
But what a quirk of history. School children learn the name: Johann Gutenberg. They
are left believing that this man invented printing, and that he altered the course of
civilization. In fact, Gutenberg invented nothing, so far as we now know. He certainly
did not invent printing. (How could he? The oldest printed book, the Diamond Sutra,
was printed in the year 868, almost 600 years before Gutenberg’s time.)
But who has ever heard of Alois Senefelder? How do you pronounce his name? Here is
a person who made an extremely useful discovery. While lithography may not have
changed the course of civilization, it has had its impact. Almost two hundred years
after Senefelder’s discovery, thousands of tons of paper are printed by lithography on
any given day.

The Imagesetter
Phototypesetters, electro-mechanical devices which were introduced in the 1950s,
used the light from an ordinary tungsten lamp to expose film. Figure 29 illustrates the
basic imaging unit of a phototypesetter.
All the characters of a font were punched in a disk. The disk could be rotated so that
any character of the font could placed between the light and a photographic film. The
light striking the film formed a latent image of the character on the film. The unit was
advanced, the disk was rotated, and the lamp flashed to form the next character, and
so on. But there were two problems. One, the mechanical nature of the unit imposed
speed limits. And two, the unit did not lend itself to graphics. It was designed for
producing type only.
These two problems were solved with the laser imagesetter, which is an electronic,
rather than an electro-mechanical, device. A laser imagesetter operates very much like
a computer monitor or a television set. (An imagesetter and a television set are both
referred to as raster-scan devices.) In a television, an electron beam sweeps back and
forth very quickly. It traces one horizontal line. Then it moves down and traces the
next line, and so on. It traces the entire screen 60 times a second. As the beam moves
back and forth, it is turned on and off according to some electronic encoding of the
image. The image is traced, electrons illuminate a screen, and voila!

CCS Operating Guide page 3

 xenon
lamp

font disk

font-scaling lens

directional prism

FIGURE 39: Phototypesetter Imaging Unit

The same thing goes on in a laser imagesetter. Instead of an electron beam, a laser
beam is utilitzed. Instead of a phosphorescent screen, the beam is directed onto a
special laser-sensitive film. As the beam sweeps back and forth across the film, it is
turned on and off according to a bit-map, or raster, of the image.

CCS Operating Guide page 4

It’s no secret that imagesetters use laser light, but why? What is so special about this
type of light? Laser light has two special properties: 1) it is monochromatic, and 2) it
is coherent.
Most light sources are panchromatic; that is, they emit light of all different colors. The
overall color of the light depends on the mixture of colors, and if all colors are present
in equal proportions we have a white light. Also, light sources generally produce light
which is incoherent, even if it is made of light of only one color. (Coherent light
contains light waves that are all in phase with one another; incoherent light contains
light waves that are out of phase.)
Laser light, however, is monochromatic; that is, all the light is the same exact color.
Laser light might be anywhere from ultraviolet to infrared, but it is always monochro-
matic. And laser light is coherent. All the light waves are in phase. This makes it
possible to amplify the light (LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimu-
lated Emission of Radiation,the basic principles of which were first enunciated by one
Albert Einstein), and to focus it into a very fine, straight beam.
Figure 40 illustrates the basic imaging unit of a laser imagesetter.

laser

lenses

polygon
mirror

FIGURE 40: Imagesetter Imaging Unit

A page description, including type, line and reflective art, scanned images, color details
– in short, a complete description of a page – is prepared at a host computer and then
sent to a raster image processor, or RIP. Through a process known as scan-conversion,
the RIP rasterizes the page description; that is, it generates a bit-map, or raster, of the
page. The raster is stored in a frame buffer and is divided into individual scan lines. Each
scan line is represented as a series of 1s and 0s that correspond to adjacent spots. A
spinning mirror is used to trace the individual scan lines across the film and the laser
beam, directed at the mirror, is turned on and off according to the raster.
Typically, the laser beam in an imagesetter is from 10 µm to 30 µm in diameter. (1
micron, 1 µm, is one one-millionth of a meter, of which there are 25,400 to the inch.)
At this diameter, the imagesetter has a maximum resolution of from 2,540 dpi to 846
dpi if there is no overlap between adjacent dots.

CCS Operating Guide page 5

The addressability, the number of different spots at which the laser beam may either be
on or off, usually exceeds resolution. If the beam is on for two spots with adjacent
addresses, then the corresponding dots on the film will overlap. By overlapping the
dots, the imagesetter can achieve a higher effective resolution. This results in much
greater detail, as illustrated below.

FIGURE 41: addressability vs: resolution

The Film
Film for a laser imagesetter is a photographic film. It consists, usually, of a polyester
base and a laser-sensitive emulsion as shown in the Figure 42.

FIGURE 42: cross section of film

The emulsion consists of a gelatin, which is made from horse hooves and such.
Suspended in the gelatin are fine silver halide particles, such as silver bromide, along
with certain additives. When a particle of silver halide in the presence of organic
material is exposed to light, it becomes sensitized. A latent image is formed. And when
the exposed silver halide is treated with a suitable reagent, or developer, it is converted
into metallic silver. The latent image is made visible. This process, first discovered by
one Johann Heinrich Schulze in the year 1727, is used in all photographic films.

CCS Operating Guide page 6

Let’s examine several properties of film. First, there is the spectral sensitivity of film. It
turns out that silver halide is not sensitive to all light; it is sensitive only to blue, violet,
and ultraviolet light. So exposing silver halide to an infrared light, typical of a laser
beam, has no affect. In order to make a film sensitive to infrared light, it must first be
dye-sensitized. In this process, color-sensitive dyes are added to the emulsion and
absorbed by the silver halide.
Different dyes may be used to make the silver halide sensitive to different parts of the
spectrum. When no dyes are present, the film is sensitive only to light near the
ultraviolet end of the spectrum and is the film is termed color-blind. In orthochromatic
film, the dyes make the film sensitive to green and yellow light, but not to red light.
In panchromatic film, the dyes make the film sensitive to all parts of the spectrum. And
in infrared film, the dyes make the film sensitive to the infrared portion of the
spectrum, and insensitive to green light. It is because of this dye-sensitizing that
orthochromatic films can be handled without damage under a red safelight, panchro-
matic films must be handled in a darkroom, and infrared films can be handled under
a green safelight.
Another important property of film is contrast. Suppose we are viewing a black and
white reflection print. We measure the lightest portion of the print and find it has a
density of 0.06. The darkest portion has a density of 1.8. Then the darkest portion is
30 times darker than the lightest portion. Now, suppose we measure another print and
find that the density range is from 0.04 to 2.0. The darkest portion is 50 times darker
than the lightest portion. We say that the second print offers greater overall contrast
than the first.
Yet, that is only part of the story. Suppose both prints are of the same subject. And
suppose we examine the same area of each print where there is a sharp transition from
dark to light. On the first print, we find that the density range in this area is from 0.12
to 1.24, a difference of 1.12. In the second print, the range is from 0.14 to 1.18, a
difference of 1.04. Then we say that the first print has greater detail contrast in this area.
Detail contrast is independent of overall contrast, and it may be that the print with the
greater overall contrast offers less detail contrast.
Now suppose we reproduce one of the prints. If the reproduction were perfect, we
would find that the density of an area in the reproduction equaled the density of the
same area in the original. If we were to plot the density of the original against the
density of the reproduction, we would have a line with a slope, or gamma, of 1 as
shown in Figure 43. If the gamma is greater than one, than the reproduction has a
greater contrast than the original. If the gamma is less than one, than the reproduction
has a lower contrast than the original.
In actual practice, what we usually get is a curve like the one shown in Figure 44. In
this curve, we find that the point-gamma, the slope at a point along the curve, is lower
through the shadows and the highlights than through the midtones. So, changes in
the shadows and highlights are more gradual, or softer, than changes through the
midtones.
For the most part, contrast is a function of the development of exposed film. Gener-
ally, the longer the development time the greater the contrast and vice versa. But each
film emulsion has a limit, known as gamma infinity, to the contrast that can be
obtained with it.

CCS Operating Guide page 7

TITLE: Fig. 31: Contrast

CREATOR: Technical Publishing Services

CR DATE: 29 Apr 91

Figure 43: Reproduction Contrast

TITLE: Repro density

CREATOR: Technical Publishing Services

CR DATE: 29 Apr 91

Figure 44: Reproduction Curve

With a high-contrast emulsion, one in which small changes in exposure result in large
changes in density, the film might have a density range of 30 to 1. That is, the darkest
part of the film might be 30 times darker the the lightest part. With a low-contrast
emulsion, one in which small changes in exposure result in small changes in density,
the density range might exceed 100 to 1.

CCS Operating Guide page 8

This leads us to consider the exposure latitude of film. Suppose we have a subject with
a density range of 30 to 1. If we are to achieve an exact reproduction, the reproduction
must exhibit this same density range. Now, suppose we are using a high-contrast film
which has a density range of 30 to 1. Then the exposure of the film must be exact. If
we either under expose or over expose, we are going to lose detail. We have no latitude
in exposure. But suppose we have a low-contrast film with a density range of 100 to 1.
Then we have latitude in exposure. We have a range of exposures we can use to obtain
correct results. For instance, at low exposure just sufficient to pick up the highlights,
the shadows will fall about one-third up the film’s density range. At higher exposures,
our shadows move closer to the upper limit of the film’s density range and the entire
negative becomes darker. But the two negatives, the one imaged at low-exposure and
the one imaged at high exposure, can both yield an exact reproduction. The exposure
latitude is over three times greater with the low-contrast film than with the high-
contrast film.
The preceding discussion shows the difficulty that film manufacturers face. On the one
hand, they want to offer a high-contrast film. But high-contrast restricts your exposure
latitude and the film’s density range. If you don’t expose the film within very narrow
limits, it will not capture the image accurately. On the other had, they want to offer a
film with a large exposure latitude. But that restricts the amount of contrast. So there
are trade-offs. As we shall see in the next few paragraphs, there are other trade-offs to
be considered as well.
Another important quality of film is its speed. Certain films can be exposed more
quickly than others. But with any film, it takes some time for the silver halide to
become fully sensitized to the incident light. The faster it becomes sensitized, the
shorter the exposure required. As we want to be able to expose the film as quickly as
possible, we want the film to be quite fast. (For a laser imagesetter, exposure time is on
the order of 10–6 seconds. That is how long the laser beam must strike the emulsion for
it to be fully exposed.)
The larger the silver halide particles are, the faster the film becomes. So we want a film
with giant chunks of silver halide in the emulsion, right? Wrong. Because the larger
the silver halide particles become, the lower the film’s resolving power becomes. A film’s
resolving power, or resolution, is a measure of how fine a line can be imaged on the
film. And the resolving power is a function of the size of the silver halide particles; the
smaller the particles, the higher the film’s resolution becomes. (Do not confuse film
resolution with imagesetter resolution. The silver halide particles in a helium-neon,
HeNe, film might be 0.5 to 2.0 mm (microns) in diameter. Hence, the film resolution
is roughly equal to 20,000 dpi.) But the slower the film becomes. So, we have another
trade-off. (Fortunately, this can be offset to some extent by the use of additives that
increase the speed of silver halide particles.)

The Care and Handling of Film

To insure consistent results, it is important that the film be given special care in storage
and handling. If the film is not stored and handled properly, it may not yield
satisfactory results. For example, separations may fail to register properly if the film is
subjected to fluctuations in ambient temperature and humidity.

CCS Operating Guide page 9

Most all films for use with laser imagesetters employ a polyester base. This material is
very stable. It is quite strong, has high resistance to tension (stretching), and changes
little with age. However, it does respond to changes in temperature and humidity, and
its dimensional stability may be affected by environmental factors as well as processing
conditions.
Like most materials, film expands when it is heated and contracts when cooled. If film
is heated or cooled unevenly, it may deform. Also, the activity of film increases with
increasing temperature. Most films expand as relative humidity increases and contract
when humidity decreases. It may take several days for a roll of film to reach equilib-
rium when exposed to changes in relative humitidy. Again, if the film’s exposure to
moisture is uneven, it may deform.
For these reasons, the following precautions should be observed:
1. If possible, maintain constant temperature and humidity in the film storage,
imaging, processing, and assembly areas.
2. If it is not possible to maintain constant temperature and humidity, allow the film
time to reach equilibrium when it is moved from one location to another.
3. Break the seal on a new roll of film at least 24 hours before use in order to allow the
film to reach equilibrium. Each roll of film is (or should be) hermetically sealed and
may experience a substantial difference in relative humidity when the seal is
broken.
4. Store film in an area where the temperature remains fairly constant. As a general rule
of thumb, the cooler the storage area, the better. Refrigerated storage, while not
essential, insures that the activity of the stored film is kept to an absolute minimum.
5. Store film in an area free from any chemical fumes (i.e., do not store film in the
processing area) and from radiation (i.e., do not store film near an electric motor or
a television set).
6. Use film from a single lot or batch for a single job. Both the emulsion and the base
of the film may vary from lot to lot, but should be quite constant from a single lot.
Most film manufacturers stamp the lot or batch number on the film packaging.
When you order film, request that it all be from a single lot or batch.
7. Handle and process a set of separations together so they are exposed to the same
temperature, humidity, and processing conditions.
8. Use a professional-quality light table for inspecting, stripping, registering, etc. Small,
portable light tables usually throw off too much heat. This can affect the film’s
dimensional stability (may cause the film to curl, for example) and can cause errors
in register.
There are other precautions in the care and handling of film that you should observe.
We will discuss these in the next section.

The Processor
When the film is exposed in an imagesetter, a latent image is formed. The role of the
processor is to transform this latent image into a visible image. There are two essential
steps in the processing of film: developing the image and then fixing it.
During development, the film is immersed in a chemical bath known as developer. The
role of the developer is to reduce the sensitized silver halide particles to metallic silver.

CCS Operating Guide page 10

On a processed negative, the black areas consist of a thin coating of fine grains of silver.
After development, the film is immersed in a chemical bath known as fixer. The role
of the fixer is to remove the emulsion in the unexposed areas. This leaves the film clear
in the unexposed areas.
Let’s take a closer look at the the developer and fixer. The table below shows the main
components of commonly used developers and fixers.

Developer Fixer

sodium sulfite 100 grams sodium thiosulfite 240 grams

hydorquinine 5 grams sodium sulfite 15 grams

metol 3 grams potassium alum 15 grams

borax 2 grams boric acid 8 grams

acetic acid 50 cc

Two developing agents are widely used. The first, monomethyl paraminophenol, is
commonly referred to as metol. It produces an image rapidly, but takes a considerable
time to achieve high density. Films developed with metol alone tend to produce soft
negatives that have great detail but little contrast. The second agent, paradihydroxyben-
zene, is commonly referred to as hydroquinone. This agent takes longer to produce a
visible image, but achieves high density much more quickly than metol. In combina-
tion, the two agents develop film much more quickly than either agent alone and
eliminate the shortcomings of each other.
Neither agent can function as a developer unless an accelerator (alkalai) is also present.
For this reason, carbonates or hydroxides of sodium or potassium are employed. The
strength (pH) of the alkalai determines the activity of the developer. An accelerator
with a high pH (such as sodium carbonate) encourages fast development; one with a
lower pH (such as borax) encourages slow development.
Because the developing agents tend to oxidize quite rapidly in the presence of alkalai,
a preservative, typically sodium sulfite, is employed. The preservative combines with
oxidized developer to prevent the increased oxidation that would occur if oxidized
developer were left in contact with unoxidized developer.
Finally, in order to minimize the fogging action of the developing agents in the
presence of the alkalai, a restrainer or antifoggant such as potassium bromide is em-
ployed. A restrainer reduces the tendency of unexposed silver halide particles to react
to the developer.
Other additives may also be employed for different purposes. For example, a wetting
agent might be used to assist the developer in penetrating the emulsion; other agents
might be used to reduce the affect of impurities in the water used to dilute the
developer. A buffer might also be employed in order to maintain a constant pH while
the developer is being exhausted.
The active ingredient in the fixer is usually sodium thiosulfite, more commonly
referred to as hypo. Hypo acts by dissolving the remaining, unexposed silver halide
particles. It also dissolves any undeveloped particles, and neutralizes any alkalai re-
maining on the film, thereby halting all development activity.

CCS Operating Guide page 11

Since the alkalai used in the developer has a tendency to soften the emulsion, a
hardener such as potassium aluminum sulfite is employed. This hardens the emulsion
so it will not scratch easily during further processing and handling of the film.
However, the hardener cannot simply be added to the fixing solution since it tends to
precipitate in the presence of hypo and form a gel. To prevent this, acetic acid is added
to the solution. But the acid tends to react with the hypo to produce sulfur. So sodium
sulfite must be added to prevent this reaction.
While developing and fixing the film are the two basic steps in film processing, several
other steps are usually employed. Let’s take a look at these.
The figure below illustrates the components of a high-quality film processor.

Figure 45: film processor

CCS Operating Guide page 12

Note the use of a stop-bath between the developer and the fixer. As the film emerges
from the developer bath, it carries a thin coating of developer. If the film were to go
directly into the fixer bath next, the alkalai in the developer would react with the acid
in the fixer by neutralizing the acid. This reduces the life of the fixer. So, an acid stop-
bath is employed to isolate the developer from the fixer, and to insure that develop-
ment is halted before fixing. With most systems, the stop-bath is not essential.
Note also the use of a rinse after the fixer. The rinse is used to remove all hypo and
other chemicals. This step is essential. If the film is not thoroughly rinsed right after
fixing, the emulsion may continue to react to the chemistry on the surface of the film.
Most rinses contain only water; some also employ a wetting agent to eliminate water
stains on the film.
After the rinse comes the dryer. Most processors employ a dryer that blows heated air
across the surface of the film to dry the rinse water. This prevents water stains from
forming on the film. It also allows the film to be handled as soon as it comes out of the
processor. If a dryer is not used, or does not thoroughly dry the film, then the film
might remain tacky. As the tacky film folds up in the basket at the end of the processor,
the emulsion on one part of the film might stick to the emulsion on another part of
the film. When the film is removed from the basket, the emulsion might tear, perhaps
destroying the image.

Processor Care and Maintainence

The chemical reactions that occur during film processing reduce the activity of the
chemicals and generate undesirable by-products. Because of this, we need to replenish
the chemistry so that its activity level remains constant, and we need to remove the by-
products so they won’t interfere with subsequent processing.
With a high-quality film processor, replenishment is provided by a dedicated replen-
ishment system. The system adds new chemistry to the processor, and removes spent
chemistry, at a controlled rate whenever the processor is operating. With the smaller,
table-top processors, replenishment must be done manually. This is usually done at the
start of the day, and fresh developer and fixer are added to the baths in the processor.
In either case, we have to determine how much chemistry to add. We can use a simple
formula to determine this. The formula is
x = kA/t
where x is the amount of chemistry to add, k is a constant, A is the area of film that has
been processed, and t is time.
As we have already noted, developer reacts with the portion of the film that has been
exposed. Fixer reacts with the portion of the film that has not been exposed. We can
expect that if we are processing negatives which contain much exposed area, we will
be using proportionately more developer than fixer. On the other hand, if we are
processing positives that contain little exposed area, we will be using more fixer and
less developer.
If we are processing only negatives, then the replenishment rate will be higher for the
developer and lower for the fixer. If we are processing only positives, the replenish-
ment rate will be higher for the fixer and lower for the developer. If we are processing
just as many positives as negatives, the replenishment rate may be the same for both
developer and fixer.

CCS Operating Guide page 13

For example, suppose we are processing only negatives and we can estimate that 80%
of the area is being exposed. Then we would use the following replenishment rates:
x = (0.8)kA/t x = (0.2)kA/t
developer fixer

But, if we are processing only positives and only 20% of the area is exposed, we would
use the following rates instead:
x = (0.2)kA/t x = (0.8)kA/t
developer fixer

Suppose that 90% of our processing involves negatives, and only 10% involves posi-
tives. In that case, we estimate the amount of exposed area as follows:
((0.9)(0.8) + (0.1)(0.2))A = ((0.72) + (0.02))A = (0.74)A

It turns out that 74% of the area is being exposed, overall. So we can use the following
to determine the replenishment rates:
x = (0.74)kA/t x = (0.26)kA/t
developer fixer

Great! But what’s the value of k? Well, the answer depends upon a number of factors.
Different brands of chemistry may exhibit greater or lesser amounts of activity; a single
mix of chemistry may be exhausted faster with one emulsion than with another. So
there’s no simple answer.
But here’s some advice on the matter. For one, you should contact the manufacturer
of the film and chemistry you are using and ask for spec sheets. These provide the
manufacturer’s recommendations for replenishment. Study the specs carefully, as
some manufacturer’s base their rates on 100% exposure; others base theirs on 50%
exposure. Second, have a technical representative from the manufacturer visit your
facility. An experienced tech rep should be able to determine the replenishment rates
for you.
If you are using an automated replenishment system, the flowmeters should be
calibrated and then set to the desired rate. If you are not using an automated system,
then you should replenish the system manually on a daily basis.
The rate at which a processor requires a completely fresh mixture of chemistry depends
upon many factors. One factor is the temperature at which the chemistry is operating.
Generally, the higher the temperature, the more active the chemistry becomes and the
faster it will be exhausted. Another factor is the size of the processor’s baths. A small
processor with one-gallon baths might require new chemistry once a week during
heavy usage. A larger processor, with five-gallon baths might require new chemistry
once a month during heavy usage.
A good way to determine when fresh chemistry is required is to process control strips
on a regular basis. If you process a control strip each morning, you will probably find
that the results stay the same day after day until the chemistry reaches a certain point.
Then, the density of the control strip might begin to fall off rapidly, indicating that the
chemistry is exhausted and in need of replacement.

CCS Operating Guide page 14

During processing, a variety of salts may be produced. These may crystallize, and will
then function as abrasives. It is imperative that they be removed. With an automated
replenishment system, filters are used to trap these crystallized salts. The filters should
be cleaned regularly and replaced when necessary. On some processors, crystals may
form on the rollers in the processor overnight. In this case, the rollers should be
cleaned at the beginning of each day.
These salts may tend to build up in certain regions within the processor. Because of
this, the processor should be given a deep-clean on a regular basis, perhaps every 90
days. In a deep-clean, all the chemistry is dumped from the processor. The processor
is then flushed with a special solution that dissolves the salts. Then, rubberized rollers
are removed from the processor and soaked in a solution that dissolves any crystals
that may be embedded in the rubber coating. While the rollers are soaking, the entire
processor is cleaned with solvent to remove the last traces of salts.
In some regions, the water used for the rinse may be hard; i.e., it may contain a high
concentration of mineral impurities. In this case, it may be necessary to add a softener
to the rinse. Once again, a good film tech should be able to advise you whether this is
necessary.
Lastly, we should emphasize once more the importance of having an experienced
technician assist you in setting up and maintaining the film processor. Film processing
is as much an art as it is a science. You can save yourself a great deal of effort by
consulting with someone who has experience in this area.

CCS Operating Guide page 15