I can't remember what the developer I used to like was called.

[DCphotos]

Years ago I used a developer for B&W film that yielded great results. It was a 2-bath developer and left the negs with a light green stain. The stain was supposed to have a grain reducing effect or something, I probably got it from formulary. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[Henry Carter]

Sounds like a PYRO based formulation such as PMK PYRO. The stain masks the grain and yields wonderful edge effects and hence high acceptance with films like HP5, and with PYRO you maintain good highlight detail without blowing out the highlights.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

It might be advisable to contact the Formulary and ask Bud Wilson if he can recall. Maybe they still make it?!

Agree with Michael above that it sounds like a pyro formula.

I know Sandy King's Pyrocat can be used as divided developer, meaning two baths, but that developer is a pyrocatechin developer, not pyrogallol, and leaves the negs with more of a brown stain and hadn't been invented yet 'years ago' anyway, but it kind of leaves the door open to wonder whether there are other two bath pyro developers out there.

 

[DCphotos]

As I remember the development process has 2 steps, as in 2 solutions. Also by years ago I'm talking around 15 years, not super-long time ago. I don't remember everything I used back then but I remember this stuff having great results.

 

[kevs]

Years ago I used a developer for B&W film that yielded great results. It was a 2-bath developer and left the negs with a light green stain. The stain was supposed to have a grain reducing effect or something, I probably got it from formulary. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Hi DC, I can't help directly but thought you could browse through the names of devs on http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php (Massive Dev chart) and see if any of the names ring a bell for you. Discontinued devs are at http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?doc=discontinued. Bit vague but there you go - sometimes surprising things trigger the memory! :-D

best,
kevs

 

[jim appleyard]

This sounds like Jon Wimberley's WD2D; a two solution pyro dev available from the Formulary. It's a fine dev and dates from the mid 70's.

 

[Henry Carter]

Sounds like a PYRO based formulation such as PMK PYRO. The stain masks the grain and yields wonderful edge effects and hence high acceptance with films like HP5, and with PYRO you maintain good highlight detail without blowing out the highlights.

That should read 'high ACCUTANCE', and not 'acceptance' - gotta love automatic spell checkers!

PMK PYRO gives wonderful edge effects with high accutance films such as HP5, increasing perceived sharpness. The stain partly masks the grain but also acts as a hardener and reduces local infectious development and hence helps maintain highlight detail even with overexposure.

My lab divides the development into 2 baths to prevent exhaustion of the developer (for 16 minutes of development it is 2 baths at 8 min each).

 

[outwest]

Dixactol?

 

[jim appleyard]

WD2D isn't a two-bath developer though. It's just packaged in two parts like most staining formulas. WD2D's stain wouldn't normally be greenish.

Yes, I realize that WD2D is not a two-bath dev, but the two separate solutions, A & B are mixed together to use as a single bath. Is this what the OP means?

I use to get great results with this dev and APX 400. The negs exhibit a brownish green stain , at least to my eye, and it is the first dev I thought of that has ben available from the Formulary for several years.