Ferrania Orto in D76 1:1 - Recommendations and Question Regarding Consequences

dkirby · Jul 3, 2025

Hi All,

I have a few rolls of Ferrania Orto in need of developing. I've developed it in the past using D76 stock as Ferrania recommends, and have been pretty happy with the results, but I'm thinking of trying this batch in D76 1:1. My understanding is that this will make the film slightly sharper at the expense of a little grain, and will also give me a bit less contrast compared to development in stock. Theoretically I'd like those results even better, if my understanding is correct.

Problem is that I can't find any development times for it diluted. I was wondering if anyone had development times for 1:1, or if anyone knew enough to extrapolate them from the stock times. Orto in D76 stock is recommended for 8 minutes at 20C/68F

Thanks in advance
D

retina_restoration · Jul 3, 2025

dkirby said:
Hi All,

I have a few rolls of Ferrania Orto in need of developing. I've developed it in the past using D76 stock as Ferrania recommends, and have been pretty happy with the results, but I'm thinking of trying this batch in D76 1:1. My understanding is that this will make the film slightly sharper at the expense of a little grain, and will also give me a bit less contrast compared to development in stock. Theoretically I'd like those results even better, if my understanding is correct.

Problem is that I can't find any development times for it diluted. I was wondering if anyone had development times for 1:1, or if anyone knew enough to extrapolate them from the stock times. Orto in D76 stock is recommended for 8 minutes at 20C/68F

Thanks in advance
D

Here's my thinking: The times listed for Ferrania P30 in D-76 are:

D-76 stock: 8 minutes
D-76 1:1 dilution: 13 minutes.

So if it were me, I would do something similar with the Orto version: 11.5 to 13 minutes at 1:1 dilution (leaning towards 12 minutes, to avoid possible overdevelopment)

That said, I got excellent results using Thornton 2-Bath processing. It tends to tame the hard contrast of the Ferrania Orto.

dkirby · Jul 5, 2025

Thanks for the advice!

So, I shot a test roll here yesterday and developed it in 1:1 for 12 minutes. Most of the results were totally unusable - the highlights are totally blown. To me, it seems to be overdeveloped, but I don't know as much about developing as others on here I'm sure. Here's the best shot from this roll:

If anyone has thoughts or suggestions please let me know. Otherwise I might try a roll for 11 minutes. (I didn't adjust curves, exposure, or contrast at all from the scan)

Thanks

Ferrania Orto in D76 1:1 - Recommendations and Question Regarding Consequences

dkirby

retina_restoration

dkirby

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