Cool tones, Warm tones Neutral tones

[Ian Grant]

Ian Grant submitted a new resource:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) - Cool tones, Warm tones Neutral tones

Alternatives to Ilford Cooltone, Warmtone etc

Ilford have published many formulae for film and paper development over the years. Here are some suggestions for processing Ilford papers to obtain a variety of tones. I have also included a soft working developer and a contrast developer to give a full range of option.

Higher quality image

ID-62 PQ...

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Thanks for posting these Iford formulas, IAN!

I am a happy ID-78 and Ilford PQ user

 

[Rob Archer]

Thanks - I've been looking for this info for a while.

Onw question - what temperature do you mix them at. I usually 40degC for pre-packaged devs.

Rob

 

[Ian Grant]

40-50ºC should be fine

Ian

 

[john_s]

Shouldn't ID-14 have some hydroquinone in it?

 

[Ian Grant]

Quite right John, slipped up there it's corrected now.

 

[Ian Grant]

The Benzotriazole free formula is identical to Forte FD-203 which is the recommended developer for Forte's Polygrade papers including Poly-warm tone.

 

[Ian Grant]

The Bromide added should be a 10% KBr solution not 1%

Ian

 

[delphine]

Do you know what was in the Ilford cooltone developer which is now discontinued?

Thanks

Dee

 

[Ian Grant]

Cool tone developer used a proprietary anti-fogging agent which Ilford don't want to divulge, this is probably why they won't publish the formula now it's discontinued.

Ilford's current commercial print developers may well substitute Potassium Carbonate and Sodium or Potassium Hydroxide for the Sodium Carbonate, this allows greater solubility and concentration and reduces costs slightly. (Ilford Patents indicate this).

Ian

 

[Adrian Twiss]

The concentrated PQ developer you mention when diluted 1+4 acts like the old Ilford IFF high contrast developer. Thanks for posting this. I like cool tone developers.

 

[pavelt2tk0]

Concentrated Stock Solution.

Ilford PQ Developer (Conc) - Cool Tones

Phenidone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25 g
Sodium Sulphite (anh) . . . . . . . . .125 g
Hydroquinone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 g
Sodium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . .150 g
Potassium Bromide . . . . . . . . . . . 5 g
Water to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 litre

Use 1 + 9
Add additional Bromide or Benzotriazole to alter the tones to the working solution - as above.

Hi all, Just tried to mix this concetrated solution, but fell in trouble - first batch had crystals of Hydroquinone after 1 week of storage, then Idecided to make another batch with ethyleneglycol added to prevent hydroquinone crystallization, this batch gave worse result - everything crystallized in one large ice-like piece.....

Does anybody know how to prevent crystallization? Or maybe there is some mistake in the formula?

 

[Ian Grant]

I've been making up concentrated ID-78 for over 20 years now and never had a problem. You can replace the Sodium Carbonate with Potassium Carbonate & Potassium or Sodium Hydroxide which allows far greater solubility. Assume Potassium Carbonate (anhyd) 12 g + Potassium Hydroxide 4 g is approx equivalent to 60-62 gms Sodium Carbonate (Anhyd).

The alternative is make a weaker concentrate. My darkroom never falls below about 12-14°C so crystallisation of any developer is rare anyway.

Ian

 

[pavelt2tk0]

Thank you. Will try to substitute sodium carbonate.
Regarding temp - I stored the first batch under room temp, about 25C, the second went out of the room where the temp is about +2..+4C.

But they crystallized both, just differently.

 

[Shadowtracker]

I wonder if order-of-mixing has anything to do with the crystal formation?

 

[Ian Grant]

I wonder if order-of-mixing has anything to do with the crystal formation?

No it makes no difference.

I now make up my concentrated developers using Potassium Carbonate and Sodium Hydroxide instead of Sodium Carbonate and this works well. This is in fact how commercial liquid concentrates are prepared and my stock lasts well over 6 months in a half full bottle with no crystallisation even in the winter in an unheated darkroom.

Ian

 

[Des]

Ian.
I have been looking for information such as this for ages.

Thanks

Des

 

[Ian Grant]

It's a close enough substitution. So works OK.

Ian

 

[yeknom02]

Ian, I am wondering about the Benzotriazole solution (1%) in the PQ Developer - is this a 1% solution in water, or a type of alcohol? I have heard that BZT is difficult to dissolve in water. Also, is it added at the time of working dilution, or during the initial mix? And is it needed at all to produce cool tones? Finally, what are the shelf lives of the two dilutions of PQ that you have listed?

Sorry for so many questions at once.

 

[Max_N]

Ian, in this formula

Concentrated Stock Solution.

Ilford PQ Developer (Conc) - Cool Tones

Phenidone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25 g
Sodium Sulphite (anh) . . . . . . . . .125 g
Hydroquinone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 g
Sodium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . . . .150 g
Potassium Bromide . . . . . . . . . . . 5 g
Water to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 litre

Sodium Carbonate mono or anhd?

Thanks

 

[Ian Grant]

Sodium Carbonate mono or anhd?

Thanks

Since I wrote this article I've found it's better to substitute Potassium Carbonate (anhyd) with a small amount of Sodium Hydroxide in place of the Sodium Carbonate (anhyd) because of solubility issues with storage.

So something like 100g Postassium Carbonate (anhyd) + 5g Sodium Hydroxide works well in place of the 150g Sodium Carbonate.

Ian

 

[Max_N]

Thanks!

In some sites I seen this formula with 150 g Potassium Carbonate only, and if you are interested, I know some similar developer:

Riap PB-1k (russian)

Sodium Sulphite (anh) . . . . . . . . .150 g
Hydroquinone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 g
Potassium Carbonate . . . . . . . . . .150 g
Phenidone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0,8 g
Potassium Bromide . . . . . . . . . . . 6 g
Water to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 litre

1+9

 

[bernard_L]

Ian, thank you for making available this and other valuable information.

I am a bit puzzled by the sentence below. I was under the impression that as restrainers go, Bromide-->warm, Benzotriazole-->cold. But then you appear to state that removing the BTAZ will change to cool tone.

A formula similar to ID-62 has been published without the Benzotriazole. If this is made up it can be used as a Cool tone type of developer

Also puzzled by:

or by adding Benzotriazole solution like ID-62 more neutral (blue tones)

In my understanding the sequence os enlarging paper tones
{brown, sepia, and similar} <--> {warm} <--> {neutral} <--> {cold= cool} <--> {blue}
(and of course in reality it's not 1-dimensional, e.g.the eggplant color of Se toning...)
Anyway, to me "blue tones" is not "more neutral".

Long-time user of Dektol/D-72, about to try ID-62 in the hope of having more truly neutral tones. Also keep in mind your suggestion to add the restrainer at the last moment to preserve flexibility.