TheFlyingCamera
Membership Council
I posted the image for this a couple days ago, but I wanted to write up some of my results here. The impetus for this was my getting tired of having an unpredictable greenish tinge to my prints when developing warmtone papers in Dektol. I went on a quest for a new paper developer. I found the old Ansco 130 formula, and decided to give it a try, then shortly thereafter, Ilford announced they had come out with new warmtone and cooltone paper developers. In a fit of chutzpah, I asked the Ilford rep for some samples, and he obliged in a very generous fashion (many thanks, Simon Galley!). So, without further ado, the print sample -
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
As you can see from the image, I have included four different samples. All samples were developed using Bergger VCCB warmtone fiber paper. I will be repeating this process with Kentmere VC glossy fiber, and Foma VC 111 glossy fiber as well, and posting links as followups to this article when I have the prints finished and scanned.
The test:
I gave all four prints the exact same exposure at the exact same contrast grade. All were grade 2 on my dichro head on a Beseler 45 - filtration settings were 41 Y 32 M. All prints were given a total of 2 minutes time in the developer. The split warmtone/cooltone-developed print was given 1 minute in each developer bath, with the warmtone developer first, followed by the cooltone. The Ilford developers are diluted according to Ilford recommendation, 1:9. The Ansco 130 is diluted 1:1.
Les McLean has published a sample using this test, and found that in his case, (Ilford Warmtone paper) instead of a full two-minute development, the total developing time between the two baths was 1:30, or 45 seconds per bath for optimum development. I will be conducting a further test as part of this cycle to see what happens when employing variations of the split development technique: warmtone vs cooltone first, varying time ratios in each developer.
I tried his recommended time for this with the Bergger paper and found it to be too flat, with weak blacks and underdeveloped highlights. Until I have had opportunity to test this variance against other papers, I will ascribe my differing result to the paper choice.
Paper notes: Bergger VCCB is a warmtone, variable contrast paper. It is noted as being highly responsive to toning and development modulation. As you can see from the print samples, it produces noticeable tonal shifts based on the developer used.
Next Up: Kentmere VC Fiber Glossy.
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
As you can see from the image, I have included four different samples. All samples were developed using Bergger VCCB warmtone fiber paper. I will be repeating this process with Kentmere VC glossy fiber, and Foma VC 111 glossy fiber as well, and posting links as followups to this article when I have the prints finished and scanned.
The test:
I gave all four prints the exact same exposure at the exact same contrast grade. All were grade 2 on my dichro head on a Beseler 45 - filtration settings were 41 Y 32 M. All prints were given a total of 2 minutes time in the developer. The split warmtone/cooltone-developed print was given 1 minute in each developer bath, with the warmtone developer first, followed by the cooltone. The Ilford developers are diluted according to Ilford recommendation, 1:9. The Ansco 130 is diluted 1:1.
Les McLean has published a sample using this test, and found that in his case, (Ilford Warmtone paper) instead of a full two-minute development, the total developing time between the two baths was 1:30, or 45 seconds per bath for optimum development. I will be conducting a further test as part of this cycle to see what happens when employing variations of the split development technique: warmtone vs cooltone first, varying time ratios in each developer.
I tried his recommended time for this with the Bergger paper and found it to be too flat, with weak blacks and underdeveloped highlights. Until I have had opportunity to test this variance against other papers, I will ascribe my differing result to the paper choice.
Paper notes: Bergger VCCB is a warmtone, variable contrast paper. It is noted as being highly responsive to toning and development modulation. As you can see from the print samples, it produces noticeable tonal shifts based on the developer used.
Next Up: Kentmere VC Fiber Glossy.
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