B/W diapositives processing?

Hello friends,

I decided to recall my past and to reversal-process some of B&W film. Well, since I did it the last time (in late 80s), the film was not the same as today, that's for sure I got a PDF from Ilford, recommending Bromophen+hypo as a first developer, and PQ universal as a second developer. As far as I know, ID-62 is essentially the same thing as Bromophen, so I can my homebrew version with ease. But why they don't recommend the same developer without silver solvent as a second developer? I need your opinion about it - can I use the same ID-62 1+3, say, to make a second development? It should definitely work, but maybe someone can give me a hint? Also I don't see much sense in permanganate bleach... ewwww, it would be a nightmare to remove all those manganese dioxide brown stains from everywhere! They don't use bichromate bleach for its serious toxicity? But the permanganate is not better by all means, really.

Regards from Moscow,
Zhenya

Zhenya,

"But why they don't recommend the same developer without silver solvent as a second developer? I need your opinion about it - can I use the same ID-62 1+3, say, to make a second development?"

You can use whatever you like - any dev you have at hands, it won´t have much influence on the tone etc. Timing isn´t critical, either, there is no way you could "overdevelop" (low base fog) since your aim is to reduce all the leftover silver halides.

"ewwww, it would be a nightmare to remove all those manganese dioxide brown stains from everywhere!"

No, not that much.

Mix the bleach with Aqua demin, let it settle for 30min, then filter it through a paper filter. A lot of manganese dioxide will settle there instead of spoiling your emulsion.

" They don't use bichromate bleach for its serious toxicity?"

Yes. It´s pretty much non-available to private customers without professional background in Western Europe.

"But the permanganate is not better by all means, really. "

But available, cheap, easy to dose and working, too.

Last year a friend and I adressed bw reversal using the Foma slide kit in a small article published at http://www.sw-magazin.de/swmag_leser_09.htm (In german, but I know YOU can read it. ;-)

"Regards from Moscow,
Zhenya"

Good to read you here, again,
Roman

I forgot to add - that´s the way Foma implemented it. They formulated a dedicated developer to be used as first and second developer - Fomadon LQR.

I've used a modification of the Ilford method -- it works well. There was a long and bitter debate here several months ago on the relative merits of dichromate vs. permanganate bleaches. Suffice it to say that chromium(VI) is a known carcinogen while manganese(VII) is not. To get rid of the film-stain of brown MnO2 (and bleach residue on your equipment), rinse with dilute sodium metabisulfite (a 3% solution does the trick). For my first developer, I used Kodak HC-110 dilution B to which I added sodium thiosulfate (as a silver solvent) and sodium carbonate (to increase its activity). The re-developer should be something relatively strong -- ID-11 1+3 may be a bit too weak, but stock ID-11 or a paper developer would do the job.