Ed Lowe on Edwal 12, etc.

[Lachlan Young]

Dr. Lowe indicates 3 different ways to use Edwal 12 developer, and what may be expected in each case. Let me refer you back to him. Primary sources are more reliable than batting back and forth. Especially when the source is expert, and at least one of the batters, me, is not expert at all.

If you are interested, you might find a copy of his book: he has several pages of photomicrographs which illustrate his comparisons.

You might make up a batch of Ed 12 and see what it does.

The most interesting results I have found using the developer, which of course may be of no interest to anybody BUT myself, have been to use seasoned Edwal 12 (with reduced glycin) as a semi-standing developer. Troop quotes Crawley in The Film Developing Cookbook ( Chapter 7, Super-Fine Grain Developers: 'Modern PPD developers' ); I was intrigued by Crawley's insights, and pleased by the results.

Photochemistry, especially at the low level where I try to practise it, defies a priori thinking. Especially in the case of PPD/Glycin developers, trying to predict "what will happen" is generally futile. Thankfully, empirical knowledge is easy to attain, and infinitely more reliable than any attempt at prognostication.

If you investigate this, I would be pleased if you shared your results.


.

How much Glycin are you using - 3g? I guess the reduction in Glycin removes the risk of dichroic fog with modern films - is this correct?

The glycin arrived today and 60g has already been laid aside for various formulae etc leaving 40g to play with!

Thanks,

Lachlan

 

[df cardwell]

Lachlan

3 grams of glycin is a good place to begin.

I'd suggest FX2 as a better place to begin with glycin developers: Edwal 12 ( and all the PPD / Glycin formulae ) tend to make a curve with our materials that exaggerates the brightness of the highlights . E12 is more of a niche developer, FX-2 is meat-and-potatoes.

What is the issue of dichro fog from glycin ???

Adding thiocyanate will cause fogging, and always has, if too much was added. But there isn't a problem with glycin.

IS THERE ??

d

 

[Lachlan Young]

Lachlan

3 grams of glycin is a good place to begin.

I'd suggest FX2 as a better place to begin with glycin developers: Edwal 12 ( and all the PPD / Glycin formulae ) tend to make a curve with our materials that exaggerates the brightness of the highlights . E12 is more of a niche developer, FX-2 is meat-and-potatoes.

What is the issue of dichro fog from glycin ???

Adding thiocyanate will cause fogging, and always has, if too much was added. But there isn't a problem with glycin.

IS THERE ??

d

I have earmarked enough glycin for 2 litres of FX-2 stock solution as per the Film Cookbook as well as some to try Edwal 10 & 12 - oh and 12/15 paper dev looks fun as does Edwal 102 & 111(modified version as suggested in the chem recipes section) - I think I will be busy for some time!

The dichro issue is because Troop & Anchell mention that Edwal 12 can cause dichro fog - Glycin probably isn't the culprit.

For a 400 speed film I guess 40 mins in FX-2 standard dilution with 15s agitation every 5m is about right - would a similar film in Edwal 12 need about 30m with the same agitation?

Thanks for the advice,

Lachlan

 

[df cardwell]

Old stick in the mud conservative me,
work with the FX2 and 130 for a while.
Really.

The other two paper developers are really great, for specific cases,
but require a mastery ( as in considerable skill and judgement )
to display their subtle qualities to advantage.

d

 

[Lachlan Young]

Old stick in the mud conservative me,
work with the FX2 and 130 for a while.
Really.

The other two paper developers are really great, for specific cases,
but require a mastery ( as in considerable skill and judgement )
to display their subtle qualities to advantage.

d

I was planning to use 12/15 as my main paper developer - it is essentially a hybrid between Adams' 130 and Ansco 120 which seems to give a very nice image tone - the Edwal developers are just for experiments. The reason why I am wanting to change developer is simply that I find myself using low paper grades in the 1-2 range for a long gentle tonal range with Eukobrom or Dektol - fine with VC but not so good with graded paper!

Hope this helps,

Lachlan