HC-110, what effects does dilution have?

[Helinophoto]

Hi

I've been using HC-110 for a while now, mostly dilution B, or "H" if dilution B is too short for my particular film.

But, what role does the other dilutions (A, C, D, E and F) play?
Or, to ask another way, are there other effects by using other dilutions? (ie. other curve shapes perhaps?)

A is 1+15, so I would believe that using dilution A, gets you a faster development than using dilution B (half the time in fact).

I just don't understand why there are so many different dilution suggestions on the bottle. =)

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Several of the dilutions are intended to produce development times that are the same as other Kodak developers such as D-76 or DK-50. You can really ignere these dilutions unless you are switching to HC-110 from one of the other developers and don't want to change your process time.

Check out the following website for lots of information on this developer,

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110

Also check Kodak's website. You should read Kodak Publication J-24.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

1:100 stand development is great for taming contrast.

 

[pgomena]

Way back when, the newspaper darkroom person where I worked used the A dilution in tanks for developing 35mm. She would put the film in the tanks, give them a little agitation, then let them sit for the 3.5 minutes or whatever the (short) time was. So, yes, the "thicker" dilutions have or had their uses, especially where time mattered.

Peter Gomena

 

[Helinophoto]

Ok I see =)

Thanks for the link, I'm reading it as we speak ^^

 

[jcoldslabs]

I use HC-110 to develop 8x10 sheets one at a time in Cibachrome drums. The drums only hold 240 ml of solution, and 5 ml of HC-110 concentrate is required for developing 80 sq. in. of film, so I end up using dilution E (1:47) by default. Not sure if the results are any different from using other dilutions, although I have used dil. G with semi-stand development for its highlight compensating effect.

Jonathan

 

[Gerald C Koch]

I routinely use HC-110 1+49 with Kodak's recommended agitation with excellent results.

 

[newtorf]

I use 16oz (~480ml) stainless steel development tank. To get dilution B (1:31), 15ml syrup is needed. The common recommendation is minimal 6ml syrup for one roll of 35mm film. So even I develop two rolls of 35mm film in one shot, 3ml syrup is wasted. If using dilution D (1:39), only 12ml syrup is needed. Plus, it gives me more development time (1.25x of dilution B). This is preferred because in the summer, the temperature of tap water here is often around 24 C instead of 20 C, meaning shorter development time than usual. And we know development time shorter than 5 minutes is not recommended.

Later I learned that the minimal amount of syrup for developing one roll of 35mm film is indeed about 3ml. So I switched to dilution E (1:47, 10ml syrup) to save more syrup and make development time longer, all went well. Recently I started to use dilution H (7.5ml syrup) for two rolls of 35mm film, even more saving on syrup and longer development time, still everything looks good.

 

[pgomena]

I used to use Dilution B for everything, 35mm, 120, 4x5. My times for Tri-X were pretty short, 5 minutes at 68F for Tri-X 400 roll film rated at EI200. I eventually found that using Dilution B for tray processing 4x5 film gave too short a time, and went to Dilution H (basically dilution B 1:1 with water.) That helped give me some control of contrast by letting me stretch out the development time.

Peter Gomena