Developing B&W paper in film chemicals?

[Llamarama]

Hello everyone, I was thinking about using some Ilford/Kentmere black and white paper to play around with next week and keep me out of trouble. I also have a fair ammount of Microphen stock solution and a nearly full bottle of Rapid Fixer, will I be able to use these for the paper? I don't really want to spend extra money on special developers and fixers.

Thanks for any help, Mike

 

[David Lyga]

First, let's face it: Is D-76 really all that different from Dektol? Not really.

You might try this: Recognizing that standard MQ developers have both metol and hydroquinone, you are halfway there. Film developers have (usually) very little accelerator compared with print developers. You could actually 'convert' a D-76 type into paper developer by adding some sodium carbonate.

I am not quite sure if Microphen is an MQ developer but I'll bet that if you added some carbonate you would achieve what you seek. If you do not have any carbonate you can make some by heating a little baking soda in a pan. Be careful, as it will get HOT, much hotter than boiling water. With stirring for a few minutes at high heat, it will emit little jets of steam. After no more jets, (again, with frequent stirring) let it cool. THAT is sodium carbonate, anhydrous. Washing soda is sodium carbonate, monohydrate.

Start by adding maybe about 5ml (measured by volume) per quart of the film developer. You might discover a bonus by being able to even dilute your developer 1 + 1. Experiment.

Some might say that the proportion of the metol and HQ are not as great as with paper developers. I say, it probably will not be noticed. There is ENOUGH HQ in D-76 to provide rich blacks. And some paper develpers actually have about the proportions that D-76 has. D-76's ratio is 2 vs 5 whereas D-72's (like Dektol) ratio is 3 vs 12, but when properly diluted (ie, 3x), only 1 vs 4. - David Lyga

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Film developer is less active than paper developer and will not produce satisfactory blacks. Your prints will look gray and muddy. In addition the balance between the developing agents will also contribute to less contrast.

 

[Llamarama]

Thanks for the quick responses, I'll try and obtain some real paper developer seeing as this looks like a no-go if I want to get good prints.

I might try some D-76 and carbonate as an experiment later, but I guess i'll get some proper stuff to start off with so I won't mentally write off the process.

Either way thanks for the prompt replies, Mike

 

[removed account4]

hi mike

i use ansco 130 as my print developer,
and it doubles as a print developer !

it is wonderful to only need to have 1 developer
well, ummm 2 if you count caffneol, and it processes film and prints too

get yourself a universal doubleagent

good luck !
john

 

[Xmas]

Microphen does have potassium bromide an anti fog agent. But adding carbonate won't do too much the boric acid borax buffer will try to keep the pH constant.

I've used Rodinal for print development.

The Russians say if you don't have a screw driver a hammer will do.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Films can be developed in print developers if they are suitably diluted. For example you can use D-72 1+5, 1+7. and 1+9. But you cannot go the other way and get good prints except for HC-110 and Rodinal. Some print developers are termed "universal" developers since they can be used for films and print. Ansco 130 is one of there and so is Dektol.

 

[Too Many Cameras]

Our photo lab recently had this issue. One of the profs accidentally mixed D-76 instead of Dektol. The developing time was 5-7 minutes and the contrast was significantly reduced, as has been noted in the thread. In short, avoid using film developers.

 

[Llamarama]

I've heard that you can use Rodinal and one of my friends swears by it. It's cheap enough and apparently lasts virtually forever. I might give that a go. I might have got slightly side-tracked with this though, I got a bulk loader second hand today and it has 100ft of slide film in it! Not sure what kind, but I'm just using up a test roll.