RA-4 BLIX — bleach-fix

Description

One bath instead of two: BLIX bleaches and fixes at once, cutting RA-4 to three steps. The second and final chemical stage of colour printing.

Why they were combined

Colour paper holds far less silver than film, little enough to dissolve in one short operation. That allowed bleaching and fixing to be merged — which is where RA-4’s speed over the older processes comes from.

The sign it is spent

Prints keep a grey or greenish veil and the white borders never go fully white. The BLIX is no longer finishing within its time and needs replacing.

Questions and answers

Can an ordinary fixer finish the print?

No. Without bleaching, the silver stays in the paper and the print comes out dark and dirty.