Developer and Fixer Volumes

Hi All,

I've been reintroduced to B&W film photography after a long 6 year hiatus (damn digital bug hit me) and I likely will have novice questions for a while.

For developing 8"x10" photographs I've been using 1 litre of Ilford Multigrade Developer at 1+9 dilution for my prints. It's my understanding the developer is usually good for about 80 standard 8"x10" prints. However, I want to develop 11"x14" photographs so do I...

A) Halve the number of 11"x14 prints before I replace the developer
B) Use 2 litres instead of 1 litre in the development tray
C) Use some better idea (please elaborate if possible)
D) Get lost! (as newbies are not wanted)

In addition, can anyone share their experience with using llford Multigrade Developer? I want to know how I should extend the development time as I use more of the developer for prints.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

8x10 equals 80 square inches
11x14 equals 156 square inches.

So about twice.

Good Morning, Snapshot,

Ordinarily, going to the larger trays needed for larger prints requires more solution, so that's probably where you'll end up anyway. If you want to get by with minimal solution amounts, drum or tube development is an option, but that approach is not particularly satisfactory for prints up to around 16 x 20. Beyond that size, the tray size mandates a lot of space and very large solution amounts. Developer capacity is directly related to square inches processed, regardless of the specific size(s) of individual prints.

Konical

I think B) is your best answer. You could reduce the capacity by half as in suggestion A), but you might have a problem of not having enough solution to immerse the prints properly. Most assuredly, option D) is not an option
You might want to try a factoral development time for your prints. When you use fresh developer, make a note of the time it takes for the image to start appearing, say perhaps 30 seconds. If your total development time is 2 minutes (120 secs) then it has a factor of X4 (4x30secs). As your developer ripens/ages/exhausts, you'll notice it takes longer for the image to appear, say 40 seconds. Just multiply this by 4 and and you'll get your 'new' dev. time of 160 seconds.

2 litres.

Anything less in my 12x16 trays wouldn't give enough depth of developer, so it's 2 litres from that point of view alone.

As to the capacity, I've never reached it. You'd have to be going some to get through 80 sheets in one printing session (the Ilford fact sheet says 50FB or 100RC 8x10 per litre), and you should (or I always do, I've always been told to) discard the developer at the end of a session.

I only use, and have only ever used, Ilford Multigrade (and have no complaints) but only ever use it at 1+9 for 2 minutes, so I can't help with the second part of your question but the fact sheet (get it from the Ilford website) gives options for 1+14 with extended developing times but reduced capacity.

Welcome back to the darkroom,

Hywel

18 Jan 2007

Snapshot:

Welcome back to the dark, it's more fun than computing.

I will echo that your best solution is to use 11x14 trays with 2 leters of chemistry. This is what I have done for many years with great success. Since you are now processing prints that are twice as big as 8x10 the developer capacity will be 1/2 of wht it would be for 8x10 per liter.

My experience with Ilford's Multigrade developer has been mixed. I use mainly Multigrade IV in RC and FB and have had mixed results with this developer. With RC paper I find a green tint to the devloped emulsion which can be elimiated with selenium toning. With FB this developer sometimes does not give as dense a black as I might like. (This will change with different makes of paper.) With this said, I do like it as a general print developer because of its convienience.

Regards,
Darwin

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'll definately use 2 litres for paper development. Now, if only I can get the whites nice and bright on the prints I've been developing.