DIXactol Ultra Question

[Born2Late]

I got a DIXactol Ultra developer kit from Photographer's Formulary a month or two ago and I'm ready to give it a test run. The situation that I am in now is that it is turning cold and since my darkroom is in the basement, it is cooling down. The developer directions really don't give any information for adjusting the development time for temperature for either the single bath or 2 bath method. I could heat the darkroom and wash water but would rather adjust the developing time as it is much simpler if possible.

Can anyone provide assistance?

Thanks

 

[Rudeofus]

There is this time/temp chart on digitaltruth.com which shows you how to adjust time for different temperatures. Or you could simply mix your dev in warm water (let's say 26°C) and let it cool during development. Unless you live in an igloo the temperature after development should still be above 22°C.

 

[pdeeh]

I find the Ilford one easier to read http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/download.asp?n=430 but of course chacun à son goût

 

[pentaxuser]

Isn't the key here to try out the chosen developer temperature with water using the correct time for that temperature and see what changes there are over the time. Unless your room temp is very low and the times over 10 mins then the temp drop should be small.

It might even be worthwhile to use a higher temp so shortening the dev time to less than 10 mins and then see what the temp loss is over that shorter time.

Finally you could use a higher temp water bath or even correct temp into which you place the tank between inversions.

pentaxuser

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Barry Thorton always recommended 24C for this developer and that's all I've ever used for it myself. I do not remember in any of his writings discussing why but could be he felt it did not act the same as other developers in using the generic temp/time change chart. Warm the water if needed and perhaps keep the canisters in a warm bath during development to slow the cooling down some.

 

[Born2Late]

Thanks. This is precisely why I asked this question.

Barry Thorton always recommended 24C for this developer and that's all I've ever used for it myself. I do not remember in any of his writings discussing why but could be he felt it did not act the same as other developers in using the generic temp/time change chart. Warm the water if needed and perhaps keep the canisters in a warm bath during development to slow the cooling down some.

 

[Regular Rod]

I got a DIXactol Ultra developer kit from Photographer's Formulary a month or two ago and I'm ready to give it a test run. The situation that I am in now is that it is turning cold and since my darkroom is in the basement, it is cooling down. The developer directions really don't give any information for adjusting the development time for temperature for either the single bath or 2 bath method. I could heat the darkroom and wash water but would rather adjust the developing time as it is much simpler if possible.

Can anyone provide assistance?

Thanks

It works so very well at its standard temperature of 24 deg. C that you really ought to warm it...

RR