pentaxuser
Member
I was leafing through the "Darkroom Handbook" published in 1981 the other day and came across the very comprehensive list of developers there. Each was listed under Manufacturer, Qualities, Speed Rating, Suitable Film, Powder or Liquid and Remarks.
Some I knew of and some I didn't. When I came to Acufine which I hadn't heard of, I had to re-read it as it seemed to be the holy grail of developers, offering fine grain, 100 to 400% extra under speed rating with good keeping qualities, very high resolution and controllable contrast.
None of the others listed could come anywhere near this list of pluses. Microphen for instance was about 60% extra in speed and some others were 100% but were coarse grained as I would have expected.
I gave it no more thought until tonight when I googled it expecting it to have maybe disappeared. Not so.Still made by Acufine which is in Illinois? It was listed under several reputable dealers such as B&H and the same claims as in the book were being made for it.
So, is this the something (fine grain, great speed, high resolution, controllable contrast but not a push developer) for nothing developer?
Does it come anywhere near matching these qualities? Commonsense says No and several contributors have already said that we need to be suspicious about something for nothing developers and yes, it begs the question, if it's that good why hasn't it blown all the others away with the possible exception of maybe staining developers and those listed as ultra fine like Perceptol.
I don't think I have seen it talked about here on APUG but I'd be interested in anyone experiences of it?
Thanks
pentaxuser
Some I knew of and some I didn't. When I came to Acufine which I hadn't heard of, I had to re-read it as it seemed to be the holy grail of developers, offering fine grain, 100 to 400% extra under speed rating with good keeping qualities, very high resolution and controllable contrast.
None of the others listed could come anywhere near this list of pluses. Microphen for instance was about 60% extra in speed and some others were 100% but were coarse grained as I would have expected.
I gave it no more thought until tonight when I googled it expecting it to have maybe disappeared. Not so.Still made by Acufine which is in Illinois? It was listed under several reputable dealers such as B&H and the same claims as in the book were being made for it.
So, is this the something (fine grain, great speed, high resolution, controllable contrast but not a push developer) for nothing developer?
Does it come anywhere near matching these qualities? Commonsense says No and several contributors have already said that we need to be suspicious about something for nothing developers and yes, it begs the question, if it's that good why hasn't it blown all the others away with the possible exception of maybe staining developers and those listed as ultra fine like Perceptol.
I don't think I have seen it talked about here on APUG but I'd be interested in anyone experiences of it?
Thanks
pentaxuser