• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

D-23 two bath

It delivers great results whether used to compensate (compress) an extended brightness range or just normal/low contrast scenes.

For a decade or more I have used Thornton’s 2-bath exclusively, with FP4+, HP5+ and Double-X. This developer gives me full box speed for the Ilford films

I'm sold ! Just developed some Tri-X @ 200, Tri-X @ 400 and HP5+ @ 400 in TTB, all 120 format, 4:30 in each baths. Best negatives so far are the Ilford HP5+. The Tri-X also looks very good, but I should probably either rate it at 250 or 320, or lower my time to 4:00 if rated at 200.
 
I have found that - in general - I get better negatives if I give film 1/2 to 1 stop more exposure when using the Thornton 2-Bath process. Glad you like what you see!
 
I have found that - in general - I get better negatives if I give film 1/2 to 1 stop more exposure when using the Thornton 2-Bath process. Glad you like what you see!

Tried another Tri-X @ 400 but added 30 seconds in each baths, from 4:30 to 5:00. Came out great.

T-Max 400 has a lot of pop in this soup.
 
Tried another Tri-X @ 400 but added 30 seconds in each baths, from 4:30 to 5:00. Came out great.

T-Max 400 has a lot of pop in this soup.

I've found that some films benefit from an extra 30 to 90 seconds in each bath. You really do have to test each film and adjust times to suit your own tastes and needs.
A warning: if you ever develop Bergger Pancro 400 in Thornton, you're going to have to extend the time in Bath A significantly! I suggest starting with 12-15 minutes in Bath A and 5 to 7 minutes in B.