Ilford reversal 1st developer?

[HandleyPhoto]

Just wondering if anyone can explain why Ilford recommends adding thiosulfate to the first developer in the b/w reversal documentation? I accidentally forgot to put the fixer in the first developer and still got very good results. Is it to act as some sort of restrainer?

Thank you
-Jacob

 

[koraks]

It's used as a silver solvent in order to get the highlights to clear. There are many threads and web pages discussing this issue, most of them focusing on thiosulfate and thiocyanate as the solvents used.

 

[HandleyPhoto]

Heard, thank you Koraks. I'll look through those threads then

 

[relistan]

Just wondering if anyone can explain why Ilford recommends adding thiosulfate to the first developer in the b/w reversal documentation? I accidentally forgot to put the fixer in the first developer and still got very good results. Is it to act as some sort of restrainer?

Thank you
-Jacob

Because tuning the reversal process takes awhile, I'd suggest that if you are happy with your results, you may not need solvent. It's film/developer/process dependent, entirely. But of course you should experiment however you like to learn about the process and how to change your results.