"G.T." wrote in message
...
snip
So in this workflow it would be develop, stop, fix, hypo, wash, and
wetting agent? In class we washed prints in hypo but not film.

Just for the record. "fixer" and "hypo" are basically the same thing. I
realize that when you say "hypo", you mean "hypo clearing agent"(sometimes
called "HCA"). The purpose of the hypo clearing agent is to remove the hypo
or fixer from the film or print.

Back in the 'good old days' when prints were actually paper and not
resin-coated plastic stuff, the paper print would soak up a lot of
chemicals. You needed to wash a print for perhaps an hour or so to remove
all the fixer from the porous paper. (Ricard K., please feel free to jump in
and correct me or elaborate-- I'm certain you are far more knowledgeable on
this!). A hypo clearing agent would neutralize the hypo (or fixer), so that
a shorter wash time (perhaps 30 minutes?) would suffice.

Film, being a non-porous material (or certainly less porous than fiber-based
prints) doesn't soak up as much chemistry, so a hypo clearing agent is not
as important. If it's critical to you that your negatives last to the next
millenia, than you may want to use it anyway...!

As for not being able to print at home, there are many people who make do
with printing in a bathroom. Some use a cart (Rubbermaid? Check office
supply or food service supply companies.) to hold their enlarger and store
their chems, trays, and stuff so they can wheel everything into the bathroom
for a session, then wheel it all into a closet for storage. You can put
velcro around the window frame and stick a piece of faric or cardboard over
the window. There is also a gentleman who espouses 'one-tray' processing.
I've never tried it myself, but perhaps for the temporary darkroom, it may
be the answer. Maybe someone here can supply the link to his website, or to
websites for temporary darkrooms. Using the kitchen is also a possibility,
but some people don't like that idea because of the possibility of food
being contaminated-- but for darkroom work, cleanliness is important, so
wipe up those chem spills!
For me, you can take away my permanent darkrooms when you can pry the
staticmaster brush from my cold, dead fingers!