Help, new develpoer Need start times to begin testing.

[mark]

I am no where near where i usually get my non-pyro developer. I found a camera store run by a good guy in a small colorado town but all he had was DD-X I cannot find develoment information for this with classic 200/BPF/fortepan. Is there onyone out there using this combination or know what developer DD-x is clse too so i can get some development times? Is it cose to d-76 and Id-11. It was all the guy had. I know I will run out of pyrocat and wanted a back up. I assume I could start at 9 minutes but would like some info before starting.

There is something up with Kodak. I have been to four small camera stores in the past month who have lost their Kodak Dealership status because of what sounds like really dumb stuff. In this guy's case he had no need to buy disposable cameras from them because he would not be able sell them. They said if he wanted to continue gettng their chemistry then he had to, so now he does not carry the chemistry. Oh well. I have no problem with ilford stuff I just can't find starting times to test with. More pyrocat is on order but will not be here when I need it.

 

[Nige]

Having been in a similar position (with different materials) what I did was found a developer/film combo of something that I could compare with the film/developer combo that I wanted to use then made a semi-informed guess.

So, say film A in developer X needs 10mins and my film (B) needs 11mins in that developer I checked film A's time in the developer I didn't have a time for Film B and guestimated based on that. In this hypothetical, say it was 8mins, then I tried 10% (10->11mins difference in devl X) so I'd use 8:45.

Also, DD-X can be use 1:9 instead of the 1:4 recommended on the bottle. Was some discussion in p.net and rec.darkroom (one of them) newsgroup about how much to extend times for that dilution. DD-X is very expensive in my part of the world so I was experimenting with this but have not gone back to it once I finished my bottle.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Thinking along the same lines as Nige, I would use a starting time of 6 minutes at 68F.

I got developing times from the J&C chart for Ilford ID-11 and Microphen. Then I looked in the Ilford charts for Delta 400 rated at 200 in ID-11, Microphen and DD-X. J&C 200 was a pretty good match with Delta 400 rated at 200 both in ID-11 and Microphen (5 & 7 minutes versus 6 & 7 minutes). DD-X and Delta 400 rated at 200 is 6 minutes at 68F.

 

[Annemarieke]

I regularly use DD-X, but only in combination with FP4. 1+4, 9 minutes. I've never tried it with any other film.

 

[Tobik]

I usually use comparison with similar combination too. But I use also my own test, specially for home mixed formulas. It works good for stronger solutions.

1) Cut short strip of film.
2) Immerse part (1/3 - 1/2) of the strip into working solution of developer. Let it be there for loger time, agitate time by time. It will turn to maximum black.
3) Immerse strip deeper and start your timer. Agitate as usually. Check the strip time by time against light. There are now two or three parts - black one, the second one turning dark and mayby rest of the strip.
4) At the moment the second part reaches the same density as the first part (ie. turns to maximum black too), stop the timer. This is starting point.

The idea is to find the moment, when fully exposed film reaches maximum density. More development could lead to blocked highlights, less development could lead to low contrast. But, of course, this is really only starting point.