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Dektol for film?

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ChristopherCoy

ChristopherCoy

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I'm assume the answer is no, but I wanted to check.

I picked up two rolls of Ilford film today, along with a canister, reels, photo flo, fixer, and developer. Except the developer is Dektol and not D76.

Can Dektol be used with film, or do I need to go back to the camera store?

This roll is totally a test roll to check the light seals on my FM body, and I took 36 frames of my dogs... I'm not concerned with grain or anything else, I just want to develop the roll.
 
Yes. Dektol has been used for years with film. You get rather coarse grain and slightly higher contrast but here is what used to be used with it: 1:3 3 mins. 1:7 7 mins. Easy to remember and it works for most films.

PE
 
yeap works fine in a pinch. old browned dektol works even better!
 
I was just at a friend's house and saw a print from a negative developed in dektol. It indeed had coarser grain and higher contrast, but it had a nice look and feel to it.
 
SahWEET! Thanks y'all!
 
ansco/agfa 125 is almost the same as dektol
they would describe the negatives as "crisp"

have fun!
john
 
If I mix the dektol at 1:7, would I mix the fixer the same way?

I promise I'll start researching more in depth after this roll, I'm just so excited I'm about to bust! I can't wait patiently enough for it to get dark outside so I can find the darkest room in the house, seal it off, and get started!
 
Mix the Dektol to stock dilution! then dilute to desired level! I am assuming you have the powder kodak fixer, then mix it according to the package directions of 3L of water, and then top off til 3.8L/1 gallon. check your temps before mixing!

If using dilute dektol toss after development, use fixer full strength, do not discard, it can be reused again until exhaustion (hypo check).
 
dectol and film

There was a paper published in the Journal of Biological Photography some 20-odd years ago where the author made some film/developer comparisons.

Dektol at about 1:29 for around 20 minutes @20° C gave surprisingly good results with regards to tonal range and fine grain..... even when compared to a couple of 'standard' film developers.

Ken
 
Yes, D-72 (Dektol) was once said to be a universal developer for films and papers. For large format it was typically diluted up to 1+7 and for papers 1+2. As I stated in another thread on Ilford Universal PQ these developers become acutance developers at higher dilutions 1+19 or 1+29. There is some grain but it is tight.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

lots of us still use paper developers for film ...
i've been using ansco 130 ( very similar to gaf universal )
for a long time ... i now dilute with caffenol c instead of water and get great results too

have fun !
john
 
Ok well... I got it done. But I jacked up the ratios some kind of stupid. Please make sure you are not drinking any liquids, because I am not responsible for any shorted out keyboards after you read the following.

Earlier in this thread I read Dektol 1:7 for 7 minutes. So thats what I did. I put one cup of dektol powder in a jug, and mixed it with 7 cups of water. I should have known something was wrong when there were still tiny floating pieces of undissolved powder.

And then this morning I started looking at the dried negatives thinking they were awfully black. And then it hit me. I needed to dissolve the powder in a gallon of water, and then mix a cup of THAT with 7 cups of water.

Oh well! I didn't loose anything, but I sure as hell enjoyed the smell of the fixer last night. Brought back so many memories from high school, I nearly got teary eyed.

I stopped at the camera store this morning and bought some D-76, and some more Kodak Rapid Fixer. I'll pay more attention tonight and mix them properly.

For now I'm going to go start reading up on the chemistry part.
 
I use Dektol (1 part dektol, 3 parts water) for film and it works fine for when I am going for that old heavy film grain type look. I believe you can find this on the "massive development chart" along with times for some films.
 
Ironically D72 started life as a film developer, it was designed as a High contrast developer for rapid dish processing of Press, Commercial and Industrial plates and films. Only later was it sold as a Universal paper developer.

Ian
 
ChristopherCoy said:
Earlier in this thread I read Dektol 1:7 for 7 minutes. So thats what I did. I put one cup of dektol powder in a jug, and mixed it with 7 cups of water.
Click to expand...
Um, yeah, that won't work, your almost right, the whole bag goes into 3 quarts of water, then dissolve, then top off to one gallon. I always end up with a few "floaties" in my Dsektol that refuse to dissolve.
 
bblhed said:
Um, yeah, that won't work, your almost right, the whole bag goes into 3 quarts of water, then dissolve, then top off to one gallon. I always end up with a few "floaties" in my Dsektol that refuse to dissolve.
Click to expand...



Yeah. I just flat wasn't paying attention last night. It took all I had to compose myself long enough to sit on the dark bathroom floor to load the film onto the reel. I truly cannot express how excited I was to be doing it.

Second roll tomorrow morning will be better.
 
Just remember, 3 quarts water, dissolve powder, top off to one gallon. Works for D-76, Fix, and whatever else you use like Stop Bath. Please also get some PhotoFlo and some sleep.
 
bblhed said:
Just remember, 3 quarts water, dissolve powder, top off to one gallon. Works for D-76, Fix, and whatever else you use like Stop Bath. Please also get some PhotoFlo and some sleep.
Click to expand...


Thanks! LOL I got PhotoFlo yesterday as well.
 
jnanian said:
hi ian

i didn't know there was a difference between them
the only one i have ever seen / read about ( never used ) was agfa/ansco/gaf 125
http://simmonsphotos.com/Formulas/Paper/Agfa125.html

thnx again !
john
Click to expand...


Unfortunately the Agfa Ansco (GAF) developer nomenclature isn't the same as the main Agfa - Germany (and later Orwo) one I think only one (possibly two) dev is the same number for number. Other formulae are vere similar except the Anhydrous/monohydrate conversions's been done incorrectly for the Sulphite:D

So when the site you link to says Agfa/Ansco that seems to indicate Agfa and Ansco as seperate companies. Antony and Scoville (Ansco) did become Agfa Ansco whioch is when the formulae were published.

Unfortunately Agfa Ansco call the formula Agfa 125 and it's a very different developer to Agfa (Germany) 125 :D

Can be confusing as we don't know whatpeople are referring to at times :smile:

Ian
 
Back in my newspaper days I was working in the darkroom of a little valley paper and a call came on the scanner of some local deputies who were chasing a man who had a gun. It was hot, wicked hot, the kind of hot that makes people do crazy stuff. He raised his gun. The deputies fired. I raced out with my cameras. Soon as I left, the drunk society editor went into the darkroom. I shot some powerful stuff. I went back to the darkroom on deadline and poured D76 in the tank and developed my film. It came out like cr@p. It wasn't long until I found out who had been in the lab. I hauled him into the lab and asked him what he did. Yup, he poured used Dektol in a jug labeled D76.
 
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