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Dektol mix

jaimeb82

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I was using Dektol last night for first time and mixed 1 liter of Dektol with two liters of water (the package says 1 to 2, is that right?). That was a lot of developer for 8x10 paper, what's the usual mix combination to develop 8x10 sheets? and how many sheets of paper can I do until the developer stops working. The Darkroom cookbook says 10-15 sheets is kind of the maximum until developer stops working, but I don't know for what quantities that is.

Just starting to print and love it so far, my only other problem is ventilation, well no ventilation at all, I am wearing a mask, am I in danger?

Thanks in advance,

Jaime.
 
According to Kodak, Dektol stock solution has a shelf life of 6 months in a full bottle, 2 months for half full, and one working day in an open tray for working solution. The useful capacity is 120-8x10 prints per gallon at 1+2 dilution. If you keep the mixed working solution in full, tightly stoppered bottles, it will last quite a bit longer, depending on how often you use it, and how much used at a time.
 
What Kodak means is that if you have a one liter package, you'll first disolve the package into 800ml of water. Then add enough water to make it 1000ml. (1 liter) That is a STOCK solution. You'll keep this in tightly capped bottle for up to 6 months.

When you need to use it, take 200ml of this stock solution and add 400ml of water to make WORKING solution. You'll use this and discard it when done. With 1 liter of WORKING solution, you can process up to 32 8x10 papers. That means with 600ml, you can do up to 19 sheets.

I don't have ventilation in my darkroom either. But, I am in and out of the room often to wash the prints. It is my understanding that basic chemistry to develop and fix aren't harmful. Toning may be different - in fact, ventilation is necessary for most toning.
 

Oh boy let's see what I did, I bought the gallon package, I mixed 3 liters of water with the powder until it was well mixed and then added 800ml more to make one gallon (following the instructions). Ok cool, I mixed the right way my problem was that I used to much working solution after wards. I will try with 600ml and a smaller tray. I just wasted 1000ml to make 6 prints.

Thanks!
 
Mixing too much working strength solution is a problem most of us have made at one time.

Mike
 
Jaimie,

I'm assuming you are using 8x10 paper and suitably sized tray. 600ml (total) is enough for this but if you are printing larger.... then you'll need more. It's not really big deal though as Dektol is pretty inexpensive. If you keep your WORKING solution in FULL and tightly capped bottle, it will last for a while. I kept it like this for up to two weeks and it worked (to my eyes) as good as fresh. It will probably last longer, but I didn't try it myself.

Have fun. I know I am....
 
I save an reuse my working solution. Just pour it into a #1 plastic soda bottle. Squeeze the bottle until all the air is out and cap it. With Dektol it is easy to see if it is still good. As long as it has not turned dark it works fine. That said I usually only save it until my next printing session (a few days at most) and then toss it even if I have not used it for many prints. Just make sure you put the bottle out of reach if there are kids about. Old Dektol can look a lot like coke.
 
Old print developer can have a long life. I keep it in a gallon jar labeled "Old Brown". Oddly, it won't die on me and won't turn brown, just a strong yellow. It is a mix of various developers from various sessions. When I do mix new working strength, the remains after a session are dumped into the "Old Brown" jar. Any excess old developer beyond a gallon is discarded. Sort of a replenishment system.
 
OK Guys, so let's say somebody not so bright (me) had been mixing Dektol 1+1 instead of 1+2...what impact would this have on my prints (more or less contrast, etc)?
No idea how I managed to muck this one up - maybe I had D-76 on my mind...
Glad I read this post, never would have noticed left to my own devices.
 
zesbaugh said:
OK Guys, so let's say somebody not so bright (me) had been mixing Dektol 1+1 instead of 1+2...what impact would this have on my prints (more or less contrast, etc)? ...
Click to expand...
Not a tremendous difference. Faster development. I don't see a great contrast difference but there is a little. But you will see a difference if you compare it with deeply diluted developers - more like 1 to 4 or more.
 
I usually mix 300 ml. of Dektol stock solution with 600 ml. of water in a small tray.
That's a pretty conservative amount but, if I'm only going to print a few 8x10 photos in an evening it's enough. If I notice prints taking longer than 60-90 seconds to develop I can toss it out and start fresh. But, for the amount of prints I usually make, this is good economy.

If I was going to make more prints or if I was going to make larger prints I'd mix a double batch. But, most of the time, I'm making 5x8 or 1x10 prints.

I can keep developer out in a tray overnight and it will still be good the next day but it won't last much longer than that. If I don't plan to be printing the next day I'll dump it all and clean up.
 
Would a working strength of 1:3 also work for Dektol?

I was reading The Print (Ansel Adams) and to my surprise he talks about Dektol, mixing either 1:2 or 1:3. Then he gives an example and uses the 1:3 working strength. "Thus one quart of stock mixed with three quarts water to make a gallon of 1:3 working solution can be expected to develop about sixty-four 8x10 prints, or in metric units one liter of stock, three liters of water to make four liters of working solution"
 
zesbaugh said:
OK Guys, so let's say somebody not so bright (me) had been mixing Dektol 1+1 instead of 1+2...what impact would this have on my prints (more or less contrast, etc)?
Click to expand...

I've done this by mistake once. I noticed the image appeared little faster than usual but not by much. The prints themselves didn't look any different from 1:2 dilution. Of course, I wasn't doing scientific research/comparison and weren't the same negative.

I would *guess*, having more active ingredients in the solution mean faster processing and more capacity... but that's only my guess.
 
jaimeb82 said:
Would a working strength of 1:3 also work for Dektol?
Click to expand...

Any time you do anything outside of Kodak's recommendation, you are doing experiment. I have heard of people diluting Dektol to 1:5 even.... I would *guess* reaction will be slower since you have less active ingredients. Capacity would be less, too.

I would also guess, the end result won't be all that much different.

I typically follow what the manufacturer says unless I have some specific reasons to change them.
 
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