Affect of different developers on Illford Multigrade IV

[drazak]

Hey everyone,

How much do different developers affect the results from MGIV? I'm talking about the RC version, specifically. WIll a warmtone developer really give me warmer tones, or is it just doing to the same thing as my other developer?

Ben

 

[jgjbowen]

Ben,

You should check out Bruce Barlow's "Great Paper/Developer Shootout" articles. They are posted on Bruce's www.circleofthesunproductions.com site. While you are there, check out Bruce's "Finely Focused" book on CD. The book and related tools are the best $25 buy in photography.

While you can read about this stuff, nothing substitutes for trying different developers for yourself. I use Azo, and have a kept a notebook of Azo with different developers. It will prove very helpful if an image presents itself that I would like a slightly different print color than what I get with amodol.

Best,

 

[bdial]

John gives good advice.
These nuances of warm or cold are very subjective, there is no substitute to doing your own evaluation. You can do it methodically like Bruce did. Or just do several prints and develop in a few different developers and see what you like.

MGIV will be a little warmer in a warm tone developer. But in any developer the tone will vary depending on the freshness of the developer and how long you develop.

Barry

 

[ann]

we do a class that compares about 15 developers/ratios with various papers. I always recommend at least 6 different paper types.

the same image is used for each combinations.
Some show a great difference, some very little. It really comes down to personal taste.

the most interesting find was Ilford's cool tone paper. developed in Super Platinum developer at 1:15, was very warm. Looked like it had been lightly toned in brown toner