Arista powdered Lith developer

thebanana · May 28, 2009

Has anyone has any experience using this developer for prints? I'll be mixing some up today. There is a Part A and Part B to make 1 gal. each, but since it seems intended as a film developer, there are no further instructions on how to dilute/blend it for printing. Advice much appreciated!

Andrew Moxom · May 28, 2009

I've not tried the powdered version, but I do understand it needs to be used more concentrated than the liquid version. For the standard liquid version, I use 50ml of part A with 650ml of water, and 50ml of B with 650ml of water.

Once you have mixed up your A and B gallon stock mix, start with those dilutions and then increase the developer concentration by 25ml per A or B for the same volume of water if dev times are too long.

As a reference, with Arista-lith liquid at the dilution I stated, I get approximately 8 minute dev times on FOMA paper.

YMMV

Andy

Thomas Bertilsson · May 28, 2009

I used this for a little bit, and the dilution I used was as follows:

200ml A + 1300ml water
200ml B + 1300ml water
Old brown to one gallon in 12x16 trays.

Warm to 75*F this is good for about 20 8x10 prints with the last ten being really nice.

That is double the dilution, roughly, that Andy uses with the liquid version. Freestyle says they are the same, but they really are not.

My development times were similar to Andy's, but I know I use more exposure than he does. I've been in the realm of about 1 minute at f/5.6 or so, with a 150W bulb and a condenser enlarger and Foma paper.

Good luck,

- Thomas

thebanana · May 28, 2009

Thanks Andrew. I'll give it a go!

Dan Williams · May 28, 2009

I am on my first batch of the powder version and have been using it
1+1+1*+13. the 1* is old brown that I saved from previous sessions with this developer. This requires some longish development times. The print below on Fomabrom N111 was around 20 minutes. This is a 6x9 negative from a Holga 120WPC pinhole camera

Dan

thebanana · May 28, 2009

This raises another question for me. I have some old brown from previous sessions using Rollei Lith developer. Would there be any harm in using it with the Arista mix?

Andrew Moxom · May 28, 2009

Not sure about that. Probalby wouldn't hurt, but any prints would likely be different once that Rollei based old brown is used up and you create your new batch of old brown using Arista

Thomas Bertilsson · May 28, 2009

Do this instead: After you mix up your first batch of chemistry, allow a couple of sheets of paper with the room light on to develop to completely black. This will sufficiently season your chemistry so that you won't miss the old brown too much.
Then just collect the old brown once you're done with your first printing session. No matter what you do, the very first printing session with new chemistry is always going to be different from subsequent ones. But by seasoning as above, you minimize that.

- Thomas

Dan Williams · May 28, 2009

thebanana said:
This raises another question for me. I have some old brown from previous sessions using Rollei Lith developer. Would there be any harm in using it with the Arista mix?

Tim Rudman recommends not doing that. The chemistry of each brand of developer is different and mixing Old Brown from one brand with fresh developer from another produces, at best, unpredictable results in a process that already has a load of variables.

Dan

thebanana · May 28, 2009

Thanks for all the replies. My darkroom session went reasonably well. I got 2 good prints out of about 6 attempts. I like this developer, and since shipping liquids these days internationally is such a pain in the ass, that's probably a good thing

Thomas Bertilsson · May 29, 2009

I'm very happy to hear that! The developer works fine, and I believe it's a matter of getting used to one kind and continue to explore it to see if its full potential can be exhibited.
Post a print in the gallery if you can. It would be a lot of fun to see them!

Lowell Huff · May 29, 2009

People.... shipping chemistry internationally IS NOT A P.I.A. It is easy to do, even haz mats, if you follow the rules. We do it almost every day.

Arista powdered Lith developer

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