2-bath D76 ... or other 2-bath ... your experience?

Diafine does recommend a pre soak, theory is bath is absorbed by the emulsion so if the emulsion is already soaked with water less bath A will be absorbed. I don't recall the instructions for Betty Thornton's 2 bath.

Freestyle shows Tetenol Emofin as low stock, but available. I would order it (and a couple of extra boxes) and use what you are comfortable with, unless you just want to experiment to experiment.

fwir, Metol does not dissolve well in pure water and SOP is to dissolve a pinch of sodium sulphite first.

If the Metol doesn't fully dissolve without that first pinch of sodium sulphite, how come it doesn't fully dissolve when the full amount is added? I know that chemicals have to added in the correct order but I'm curious as to why.

Also, if the pre-soak is to do with film perforations, does that mean that a pre-soak isn't needed for 120?

John51 said:

fwir, Metol does not dissolve well in pure water and SOP is to dissolve a pinch of sodium sulphite first.

If the Metol doesn't fully dissolve without that first pinch of sodium sulphite, how come it doesn't fully dissolve when the full amount is added? I know that chemicals have to added in the correct order but I'm curious as to why.

Also, if the pre-soak is to do with film perforations, does that mean that a pre-soak isn't needed for 120?

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Photographers always disagree about a pre-soak.

I have always done this with all formats.

When using two-bath developers (which you reuse) or developers that you replenish there is a key advantage to pre-soaking as it removes the anti-halation dye so that the developer doesn't take on a horrible colour.

So, to answer you question, although I was first introduced to a pre-soak to cure a specific 35mm problem I use it for 120 as well.

Bests,

John51 said:

fwir, Metol does not dissolve well in pure water and SOP is to dissolve a pinch of sodium sulphite first.

If the Metol doesn't fully dissolve without that first pinch of sodium sulphite, how come it doesn't fully dissolve when the full amount is added? I know that chemicals have to added in the correct order but I'm curious as to why.

Click to expand...

My understanding is that in formulas, sulfite is added after metol because the metol won't dissolve if the full quantity of sulfite is added first, due to the alkaline environment. This is generally not the case with other developing agents. I believe the pinch of sulfite is added before the metol to protect the metol from oxidation during stirring.

John51 said:

Neither of you say that two-bath developers give poor results. If using a two-bath developer gives me results as good as a skilled and careful person can get with one shot developers, then why not?

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whatever works for you but, a one-shot developer is less work to get to the same result.

jtk said:

Thank you! Beautiful work http://www.dsallen.de/publication.php Wish I could see more in somewhat greater size/detail. My primary experience with German photography has been that of Bernd and Hilla Becher...mostly very low contrast situations...don't know how they developed their 8X10 film...

https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/bernd-and-hilla-becher

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Thank you for your kind comments. The Becher's conceptual approach was to always photograph on overcast days and only early in the morning during the seasons of spring and autumn. Their aim was to excluded any details that would detract from the central theme and instead set up comparisons of viewpoint and lighting through which the eye is led to the basic structural pattern of the images being compared. They referred to their work as sets or typologies and grouped several photographs of the same type of structure. The are well known for presenting their images in grid formations and received the 1990 award from the Venice biennale for not photography but rather as sculpture. They successfully promoted the concepts of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) which is something that is diametrically opposed to what I want to achieve in photography.

My inspiration is to combine the West Coast 1920-40 technical aesthetic of Edward and Brett Weston, Ansel Adams, Minor White, Wynn Bullock, etc. with the visual language of Alexander Rodchenko (and his Constructivist and Productivist colleagues) and people such as Lee Friedlander and Henry Wessel Jr.

Bests,

David.
www.dsallen.de

John51 said:

fwir, Metol does not dissolve well in pure water and SOP is to dissolve a pinch of sodium sulphite first.

If the Metol doesn't fully dissolve without that first pinch of sodium sulphite, how come it doesn't fully dissolve when the full amount is added? I know that chemicals have to added in the correct order but I'm curious as to why.

Also, if the pre-soak is to do with film perforations, does that mean that a pre-soak isn't needed for 120?

Click to expand...

I can't explain the chemistry to you as I have no idea.

However, I can explain to you what works 100% of the time for me and my students.

The formula for Barry Thornton’s Two-Bath developer is:

Bath A
750ml Distilled water
add 80 g Sodium Sulfite
add 6.5 g Metol
Make up to 1 L with Distilled water

Bath B
750ml Distilled water
add 12 g Sodium Metaborate (Kodak defined ‘Kodalk’ as Sodium Metaborate Tetrahydrate )
Make up to 1 L with Distilled water.

What I do is put 1L of distilled water into a kettle (only used for photographic purposes).

I add 500mL of the boiled distilled water to two jugs.

I then add 250mL of cold distilled water to each of two jugs.

Then I add (for Part A) one heaped tablespoon of Sodium Sulfite into the water and then add the Metol, then I add the rest of the Sodium Sulfite.

For Part B, the temperature doesn't really matter but I still use the 500mL of boiled distilled water to which I have added 250mL of cold distilled water and then mix in 12g of Sodium Metaborate (Kodak defined ‘Kodalk’ as Sodium Metaborate Tetrahydrate).

Hope this helps,

David.
www.dsallen.de