Anyone experienced with this two bath developer?

Horatio · Sep 9, 2021

I happened upon this video about Barry Thornton’s two bath formula yesterday. It sounds ideal, but also too good to be true. Anyone tried it? If so, how many rolls of 135 or 120 is a liter of each solution good for?

juan · Sep 9, 2021

A lot of people like two bath developers. Try it.

pentaxuser · Sep 9, 2021

Your video was made by John Finch. He has a site called Pictorial Planet. Of all the presenters I have seen on YouTube, he stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of making his presentations easy to follow.

For anyone else interested in darkroom work, his videos are all worth looking at in my opinion

pentaxuser

Horatio · Sep 9, 2021

juan said:
A lot of people like two bath developers. Try it.

I will. The ingredients are affordable, though metol is pricey.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Sep 9, 2021

@David Allen has posted several useful posts on Thornton's two bath developer. It's his primary film developer. You might want to check his posts and work.

If you can't get Metaborate easily, there's a simple method to synthesise it. @Nikola Dulgiarov posted on it recently which you can check.

Horatio · Sep 9, 2021

Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
@David Allen has posted several useful posts on Thornton's two bath developer. It's his primary film developer. You might want to check his posts and work.

If you can't get Metaborate easily, there's a simple method to synthesise it. @Nikola Dulgiarov posted on it recently which you can check.

I will definitely check those posts. Thanks.

grahamp · Sep 9, 2021

Thornton(1) estimated 10-15 135/120 rolls, though like most reused and un-replenished developers the carry over loss from the first bath will probably reduce the initial volume too much before the maximum is reached. Using a Lift-equipped Jobo, I usually start over when I am down to 600ml or so of the A bath, which is about 10 rolls equivalent or less. The metaborate bath gets re-done at the same time. A Jobo does not get the same level of compensation from Bath B due to continuous agitation.

There are several threads on two bath developers of various types here. Well worth a read.

My personal experience is that it needs a little longer in Bath A for faster films. I use Delta 100, Delta 400, HP5 and Panchro 400. Bergger's Panchro 400 wants a lot more Bath A time (15-17 minutes.

(1) 'Elements' and 'Edge of Darkness' - out of print

juan · Sep 9, 2021

If you can’t get metaborate, you could use borax. It’s not quite has high in ph, so develope a bit longer.

john_s · Sep 9, 2021

juan said:
If you can’t get metaborate, you could use borax. It’s not quite has high in ph, so develope a bit longer.

and you could add a small amount of sodium hydroxide to lift the pH. Great accuracy isn't necessary but you'd want to be consistent.

Horatio · Sep 9, 2021

Thanks for all the pointers. All the chemicals are available from B&H. In searching threads today, I found one where the OP processed negatives in bath A and bath B separately. The negative developed in metaborate only (bath B) actually looked pretty good.

Renato Tonelli · Sep 9, 2021

pentaxuser said:
Your video was made by John Finch. He has a site called Pictorial Planet. Of all the presenters I have seen on YouTube, he stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of making his presentations easy to follow.

For anyone else interested in darkroom work, his videos are all worth looking at in my opinion

pentaxuser

Absolutely agree with your statement.
His book “The Art of Black and White Film Developing” is very good also.

Anyone experienced with this two bath developer?

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