Hi there,
Dokumol has been my standard developer for many years. What I like about it is that it is a very hard working developer, at 1 + 6 it is also a contrasty developer and also one that gives very intense blacks (provided you develop for at least 3 minutes).
It produces neutral tones even with chloro-bromide emulsions (it was a fantastic developer in combination with Polywarmtone for giving very rich tones, great flexibility but no warmtone - which I personally do not like).
For the past years I have used it with (sadly now discontinued - although currently still available) Adox Fine Print Vario Classic. With this paper in combination with Dokumol you can get a fantastically wide range of visual looks. The developer really brings out the paper's inherent micro contrast. I have also tried Dokumol with the Adox MCC and, whilst it was easier than AFPVC to get a decent print, I found that, to get an excellent print, the Adox paper was very much the better (if more difficult) paper for the finest results.
Of course, all of this is subjective to how you like your prints to look. I personally like prints that look contrasty but have detail throughout from dark shadows to sparkling highlights (all of the images on my website were printed on Adox Fine Print Vario Classic developed in Dokumol at 1 +6 for between 3 - 4 minutes).
One tip that I would offer with Dokumol is, that you need to be aware that (as a strong and powerful developer) the blacks and deep shadows go rocketing to full black if you are not very careful with exposure / contrast setting. However, this can be easily controlled by concentrating on finding the correct exposure for the deep shadows (you must assess this with a test strip which has been thoroughly dried) and then either adjusting the grade or burning in any errant overly bright highlights.
Generally, for my prints, I found that getting the right exposure for the deep shadows gave me a good print with nice open mid-tones but I sometimes had to give a broad highlight area (such as a sky) a couple of seconds at a lower grade to achieve a more pleasing balance to the print. By this I mean that there was detail in the bright highlights but they looked too bright for the overall print and therefore I toned them down slightly with a lower grade.
One last point regarding capacity of the developer, for each printing session I mix up 1 litre of Dokumol for a 30 x 40cm dish. My typical darkroom session will involve printing an average of 8 negatives. For each negative there will be at least two test strips followed by a work print and then the final print (plus an additional one if I notice that there is a speck of dust somewhere). All in all, a printing session will involve at least the equivalent of about 22 sheets of 30 x 40cm paper. At the end of the session the developer is still going very strong. Recently, I was doing some prints and realised that the first negative that I had printed would be suitable for a group exhibition and I needed another copy. At the end of the session, I put the first negative back in and made another print. To be on the safe side, I left it in the developer for an additional 20 seconds (to allow for possible developer exhaustion) and then fixed, toned and washed it. The following day when I inspected the dry prints I honestly could not work out which had been made at the start of the session (fresh developer) and which had been made at the end of the session (developer that had had a lot of paper through it).
Hope these bits of information are of use. I can't answer your question about the difference between Dokumol and Eukobrom as I have only used Dokumol.
Best,
David
www.dsallen.de
