Agfa 120 Brown Print Developer; which developing time to follow?

[Shakti V.]

Here is the formula I used:

STOCK SOLUTION

Water (125°F/52°C) 750 ml
Sodium sulfite 60 g
Hydroquinone 24 g
Potassium carbonate 80 g
Water to make 1000 ml

Here is the exposure and dilution details


TONE DESIRED: Warm-black;
EXPOSURE TIME: Normal;
DILUTION: 1:5
DEVELOPING TIME AT 68F/20C: 4-5 minutes

TONE DESIRED: Brown-black
EXPOSURE TIME: 1½ x normal
DILUTION: 1:4
DEVELOPING TIME AT 68F/20C: 3 minutes
~

If I use this developer, I wouldn't know the 'normal' exposure, as of course,
I would base the exposure on the developer in use at hand, which is Agfa 120
developer.

My problem is the development time. My darkroom, though airconditioned,
can't keep the developer at 20 deg C. It always rises to 25 deg C. Have you
used Agfa 120 developer at 25 deg C, or above 25 deg C? What is your
developing time?

What puzzles me is whether I should follow the developing time indicated by
the developer, or the developing time indicated by the paper. I use Forte FB,
and it is resistant to fogging. In fact, I can develop it in 30 degC.
without any problems. Here is the Forte recommended time:

20 deg C 90-120 seconds
25 deg C 60-90 seconds
30 deg C 45-60 seconds

So, which developing time should I follow?

I will experiment, but I hope to hear suggestions here also.

 

[ZorkiKat]

If I use this developer, I wouldn't know the 'normal' exposure, as of course,
I would base the exposure on the developer in use at hand, which is Agfa 120
developer.

My problem is the development time. My darkroom, though airconditioned,
can't keep the developer at 20 deg C. It always rises to 25 deg C. Have you
used Agfa 120 developer at 25 deg C, or above 25 deg C? What is your
developing time?

What puzzles me is whether I should follow the developing time indicated by
the developer, or the developing time indicated by the paper. I use Forte FB,
and it is resistant to fogging. In fact, I can develop it in 30 degC.
without any problems. Here is the Forte recommended time:

20 deg C 90-120 seconds
25 deg C 60-90 seconds
30 deg C 45-60 seconds

So, which developing time should I follow?

I will experiment, but I hope to hear suggestions here also.

Shakti,

You in the Philippines too?

I used a version of this developer in the past. It did not produce the 'brown' sort of tones I expected, but it did develop. Must have been due to the papers (mostly Era Bromide from China; Chinese Xiamen papers did better). I used the ORWO 120 -it's the same as Agfa 120 but the former had 2 gr Potassium Bromide in it. Bromide is supposed to warm tones even more.

As far as I remember, the dilutions for this developer varied, and developing times can be quite long. ORWO 120, according to instructions, can be diluted up to 1+5.

Higher temps made shorter dev times. No need to worry about your developer getting to 25 C; here in the tropics, I never had problems developing any paper at temps as high as 30 C. 28C was probably the average temp my developer trays had. No heat-induced fogging was encountered at all. In ORWO 120, my developing time was around 5 minutes - those Chinese FB papers developed for longer times, even with conventional paper developers.

Exposures need to be a bit longer. ORWO instructed that exposures have to be increased. Test strips will determine this. At high dilutions, developing times were at around 8 minutes at 20C.

 

[Shakti V.]

How long does it take before this developer gets exhausted? Does it also get as easily exhausted as Dektol?

 

[ZorkiKat]

I haven't had the chance to find out. I was "turned off" by the long developing times that I never really used it a lot. I dumped the developer after each session, and in each, only a few sheets were developed.

For warm tones, I shifted to using ORWO-135 or Kodak D52 instead. These developed faster, just like regular D72/Dektol. The tones which I got from these developers were not too different from what ORWO-120.

Jay

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Agfa 123 is similar to Agfa 120 - it is the same recipe as you posted for Agfa 120 - plus 25 grams of Potassium Bromide.

Agfa defines NORMAL EXPOSURE as the exposure required to produce the best possible print when developed in Agfa 100. Agfa 100 is very similar to Kodak D-72 (Dektol).

4-5 Minutes at 20 deg C is equivalent to 2-3 minutes at 25 deg C.

Reference: Photo Lab Index, Morgan & Morgan, 1977

 

[Gerald Koch]

The instructions that I have for this developer is that for FS develop for 1 to 1.5 minutes @ 20C for a brown black tone. For warmer tones increase development time up to 8 minutes and use dilutions up to 1+5.

Agfa 120 requires a 50% increase in exposure time compared to Agfa 100.

 

[Gerald Koch]

I was "turned off" by the long developing times that I never really used it a lot.

Warm tone developers based on hydroquinone alone without any other developing agent require long development times. This is because hydroquinone has a long induction period before an image begins to appear.

Another reason for the long developing times is that these developers usually contain a large amount of bromide which further suppresses development but creates a warm image tone.

If long development times are a problem then one of the warm tone developers that contain a very small amount of Metol will be faster. The amount of Metol must be kept to a low level since this developing agent produces a cold black image.

 

[Shakti V.]

Just as an update on my chemical mixing project:

I dilute this solution, Agfa 120, at 1:3 as a working solution. I like the tones, sort of warmer than 1:5, and with good patience working with split filters, I get delicious highlights, midtones, and shadows; yes, 'delicious'. I dilute at 1:3 for the warmth and shorter developing time. At 25degC, 120secs./2minutes; then I decrease by 5 seconds for every degree higher(example, at 27 degC, 110secs.)

The working solution stays in the tray between 12-15 hours. I prefer looong printing sessions than short ones. I suppose you can still push it for 18 hours, with some allowance for a bit of weakening. Before it gets brown black exhausted, I used it, and it gave me a CONTRASTY , very very contrasty print, which should not have been the result. Then an hour after that, it went brown black- -exhausted.