Developer - Revisited

[Ed Sukach]

"Of all the discoveries I have made, NONE were the result of rational thought."
- Albert Einstein

In "wringing out" Arista Premium 400 I noticed a bottle of developer I had used, opened in the year 2001; Alta's Zonal Pro Gamma Plus. On a sheer whim... I had trouble in opening the bottle ... I mixed it 1:20 and developed the Tri -- oops ... Arista for 13 minutes @ 20 C in the JOBO.

The results were fabulous! Beautiful tonal scale, contrast.... an aesthetically pleasing (to me) grain structure - all from what might have been oxidized developer (note: Eight (8) years!). Does this stuff improve over time, like wine?!?
... And the film was exposed a box speed - ISO 400.

In any event, Gamma Plus will see much more use.

Anyone else have experience/ knowledge of what "type" of developer - anything else about Gamma+ ?

 

[gainer]

Maybe it IS oxidized. The name "Gamma Plus" might mean that if it had not mellowed over the years, you would have gotten chalk and charcoal.

 

[mwdake]

I have tried Gamma Plus.
A while back I was out of developer so I stopped at a local camera store/lab on the way home. That is all they stocked and the owner of the store swears by it and told me to try it as he was sure I would like it.

I was really impressed by the tonal range and apparent sharpness. I used for Arista Edu Ultra and Fuji Acros and the results were superb.

I think it is classified as an accutance developer

 

[BetterSense]

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