finally, but a question

Hi everybody,

I just got my first darkroom up and running today after building it for 3 months.

I had been using the Kodak developers D-76 and Dektol, but ran out.

I wanted to head out to get some more, but with a foot of snow expected, I stayed home.

A couple of months ago I purchased Ilford Ilfosol S.
and some Ilford PQ Universal Developer.

I made up a gallon of the Ilfosol today. Being a beginner, I wondered if I accomplished it correctly.

1 gallon = 4000 ml
So I mixed 400 ml to about 3500-3600 ml of water.

So that would be a 1+9 mix ?

Anyway, I used it to develop some Kodak 400 TMY-2 and after I pulled it out of the canister the wet negative appeared maroon (purple) in color.

I used 7:30 seconds..as a time..

The negatives looked a little overdeveloped but I will take a closer look tomorrow after they are dry.

Is that normal for this film/developer with the color of the negative.

When mixed and poured the Ilfosol almost had the color of the Stop bath..

Am I doing this correctly ?

Greg

08 Dec 2008

Greg:

I have no experience with Ilforsol S, but if it calls for 1+9 to mix a "working solution" you did that correctly. The purple color you see is what remains of the anti-halation layer on the film. It usually comes off in the fix. The good news is that if it is not too dense it does not effect print contrast. (There are a lot of threads here in APUG on this effect.) If it is dark purple you might try re-fixing the film in fresh fix for a short time, or do a good soak/agitation in PermaWash.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Darwin

Ilfosol S is a one shot developer and had a reasonable shelf life as a concentrate, but had a reputation for collapsing if kept too long once opened and becoming useless, it was discontinued some time ago, (around 2005). This year it was replaced by Ilfosol 3. However it sounds like your Ilfosol S is still OK.

First it should only be diluted just before use, and you only make up the quantity you need for each film in the dev tank. I'm puzzled at your dilution "ILFOSOL S is available in North America in 500ml bottles" so your 1+9 dilution should be 50ml + 450mm to make 500ml, thta's a typical volume for a 120 film, or 30mm +270ml to make 300ml the typical volume for a 35mm film.

So it sounds like you've added 500ml to 3.785 litre = 1 US gallon. Either way that solution now has a very short lifespan "WORKING SOLUTION LIF . . . . and ILFOSOL S working strength solutions should not be kept for more than 24 hours. Make up fresh developer each time it is needed and discard it after the processing session."

We all had these problems when we statrted, you have to learn by mistakes

You should go and look at the Ilford website they have an excellent section on Dead Link Removed

Ian

I use Ilfosol S because I can just mix what I need at the time. The stock solution in the bottle seems to keep a long time - like Rodinal. In fact, it seems to aquire the yellow-brown color with age like Rodinal, and that doesn't seem to affect it's preformance.
1:9 means one part developer to nine parts water. Decide what your tank needs, divide by 10, which gives you the amount of developer, and the rest is water.
AS Ian says, the Ilford website has a lot of good information on B&W processing.

I posted this same kind of question on another, or even this site, I was worried as my ilford negs came out purple, and was told it was normal and to do with erm ah something about the anti halation layer or such, I forget now ( memory is not that good). i also used ilfosol s and the time stated on the film for that dev. Glad to see i am not the only one it caught out so too speak.

thanks for the info..
I guess I should have read the spec sheet. I read the directions on the bottle...stupid me.
I have always used Kodak powders, and the ones I used are all mix and store and use.
Live and learn. Can't learn anything if I don't look like and idiot and raise my hand.
Reading here would have helped but I had limited time. Develop film or wait 3 days
while the 4 year old screamed. I really just wanted to do some film.
Thanks for your time and your help.

Greg

As an FYI we made and shipped ILFOSOL S right up to the time in 2008 that we replaced it with ILFOSOL 3

Regards

Simon ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Greg Heath said:

Anyway, I used it to develop some Kodak 400 TMY-2 and after I pulled it out of the canister the wet negative appeared maroon (purple) in color.

Click to expand...

See the Kodak pub at
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4043/f4043.pdf

And the thread here on Magenta cast to film
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

In short, per Kodak the fix is exhausted or the film is under fixed, at least if the magenta it is pretty pronounced.

TR

You did fix it, didn't you? The way you described your process it appears you were looking at the negative directly after the developer.

Patrick the Dev was mixed around 30% stronger than it should have been, instead of 1+9 it was 500ml in 3.875 litres. That alone has a very significant effect on negative density

Ian