Harvey's

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I don't doubt that it worked for you Thomas, but I am talking a sometimes 6 month gap. I didn't trust it after that length of time. If it was easy to get and wasn't expensive I would still use it. I liked it, especially for skin tones, but the hassle was too much.

You should give Edwal 10 a whirl if you haven't already. It seems like we appreciate the same developers as we have discussed a bit in the past. Edwal 10 is basically Edwal 12 without the PPD. The result is the grain is not as fine, but the contrast doesn't get out of control. Edwal 10 is more an all purpose developer with the nice glycin bump.

After all these years of messing around, my favorite developers are Rodinal (I use something close to Gainer's EZ formula), Pyrocat-PC, and the Edwals (10/12).

Patrick, I meant to try Edwal 10 back when I was using Edwal 12 exclusively. I never got around to it. It did present an almost identical film curve to Edwal 12; I remember dfcardwell showed me his plots, and there was nothing in it. I buy the Developer 12 kits from Photographers' Formulary and use those. I don't have the needed scales and such to mix my own, unfortunately (or the time, for that matter).

Anyway, I sometimes think that all developers are good, and often times I feel like I get too hung up on these types of details. At the same time there's some intellectual stimulation to that aspect of photography, and a good dose of curiosity can't keep me from mucking around with developers.

 

[benjiboy]

Who was Harvey?

In the U.K "Harveys" is Harveys Bristol Cream a sherry.

 

[Roger Pellegrini]

I've never figured the hoopla about HCB. I have two of his books, "The Decisive Moment", which was a disappointment as to the photographs and the quality of the printing, and "The Modern Century"-a much better book and a lot less for the price.

His photographs never did invoke much emotion like W. Eugene Smith's photos to me and few left an lasting impressions, unlike Smith's did.

I need to get in touch with Bluegrass and find out when or if you can obtain some of the 777 developer. I'm all for trying it.

You can contact Bluegrass by emailing Ellen Waddle at ellen@bluegrasspackaging.com. Their phone # is (502) 425-6442. Please let me know if you have any luck. I am getting very frustrated trying to get them to sell me some. Thanks.