Cool tones, Warm tones Neutral tones

Ian Grant · Oct 10, 2007

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 · Oct 11, 2007

Thanks for posting these Iford formulas, IAN!

I am a happy ID-78 and Ilford PQ user

Rob Archer · Oct 17, 2007

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 · Oct 17, 2007

40-50ºC should be fine

Ian

john_s · Oct 22, 2007

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

Ian Grant · Oct 25, 2007

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

Ian Grant · Nov 4, 2007

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 · Oct 21, 2008

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

Ian

delphine · Oct 21, 2008

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

Thanks

Dee

Ian Grant · Oct 21, 2008

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 · Oct 21, 2008

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 · Jan 20, 2009

Ian Grant said:
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 · Jan 20, 2009

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 · Jan 20, 2009

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 · Apr 15, 2010

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

Ian Grant · Apr 15, 2010

Shadowtracker said:
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 · Jul 14, 2010

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

Thanks

Des

Ian Grant · Jul 14, 2010

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

Ian

yeknom02 · Feb 3, 2011

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 · Mar 7, 2012

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 · Mar 7, 2012

Max_N said:
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 · Mar 7, 2012

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 · Nov 25, 2022

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.

Cool tones, Warm tones Neutral tones

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