HC110 and the rebellion against imperial measures

NikoSperi · Aug 1, 2005

I've had it with the odd dilutions of HC110. It used to be my only developer, and I had to have an Excel sheet open to calculate soup quantities, which inevitably came out to weird amounts of concentrate. Then I tried Rodinal, and regardless of the qualities of the developer, I really loved the metric-friendly dilutions.
So... as it's really hot here now and I have an easier time developing at 24°C than 20°C which resulted in stupidly short times in HC110B I decided that instead of working at 1:63, 1:39 or whatever, I am going down to Rodinal-like 1:50, 1:25, and possibly 1:100.
Anyone care to join in this rebellion against archaic dilutions and share some times? Here are the first results I've gotten for a diffusion enlarger CI:

HP5 at 400 in HC110 1:50 = 9 minutes at 20°C
FP4 at 100 in HC110 1:50 = 15 minutes at 20°C (could be a tad bullet-proof)

David A. Goldfarb · Aug 1, 2005

I'm just glad that my graduates read in both ounces and ml (and I have one for US oz, British oz, and ml), so that I can pick which to use, depending on what I'm mixing and how much.

Gerald Koch · Aug 1, 2005

There was a method in Kodak's "madness". The different dilutions were meant to produce the same development times as some of Kodak's other developers. See the information in http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

erikg · Aug 1, 2005

I hear ya. I did the same thing a few years ago, I settled in on 1:50 HC110. Partly for simplicity, partly to extend the time out to a safer range. I have switched to other developers since, but I could go back and look up some times if you are interested.

NikoSperi · Aug 1, 2005

David A. Goldfarb said:
I'm just glad that my graduates read in both ounces and ml (and I have one for US oz, British oz, and ml), so that I can pick which to use, depending on what I'm mixing and how much.

Me too. And I am aware that 1:31 conveniently turns into a quart... But to cover a roll of 35mm for example, I'm looking at 20oz, not 32, in my tank, so where's the convenience? I need to measure 5/8th of an ounce which remains a PITA. ANd we're still talking dilution B... go into the higher ones and it becomes pretty much guesswork, or you're sucking up syrup into a syringe (mine are metric).
Besides, I think 1:50 for HC110 could be a happy medium between the short times dil B gets, and hard-to-measure small quantities of goop.

NikoSperi · Aug 1, 2005

Gerald Koch said:
There was a method in Kodak's "madness". The different dilutions were meant to produce the same development times as some of Kodak's other developers. See the information in http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

I didn't know the common denominator was standardized dev't times. I thought it was convenient US unit measurements (32 oz based).

BradS · Aug 1, 2005

NikoSperi said:
Me too. And I am aware that 1:31 conveniently turns into a quart... But to cover a roll of 35mm for example, I'm looking at 20oz, not 32, in my tank, so where's the convenience? I need to measure 5/8th of an ounce which remains a PITA. ANd we're still talking dilution B... go into the higher ones and it becomes pretty much guesswork, or you're sucking up syrup into a syringe (mine are metric).
Besides, I think 1:50 for HC110 could be a happy medium between the short times dil B gets, and hard-to-measure small quantities of goop.

I always mix HC-110 in metric units...

My tank, a paterson system 4, takes something like 300ml per 35mm reel...so for one reel, I mix up 320ml of dev. and pour it all in...10ml + 310ml

for one sheet of 4x5 (same tank) I do HC-110D (1+39), mix up 800ml...that's what, 20ml + 780ml...YMMV

john_s · Aug 1, 2005

And for those who are not aware, US and Imperial (British) volume measurements are different (fluid ounce, quart, gallon)

Jim Chinn · Aug 1, 2005

Long live the furlong, rod and fathom! And grains and drams.

Earl Dunbar · Aug 1, 2005

Jim Chinn said:
Long live the furlong, rod and fathom! And grains and drams.

I am especially attracted to drams... you have your wee, your not-so-wee, and your FREAKIN' HUGE! drams.

Slainte,

Earl

MikeS · Aug 2, 2005

NikoSperi said:
I didn't know the common denominator was standardized dev't times. I thought it was convenient US unit measurements (32 oz based).

Yes, 2 of the offical Kodak dilutions have exactly the same developing times as DK-50 and DK-50 1:1

-Mike

HC110 and the rebellion against imperial measures

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