Kodak D23 DEVELOPER

Good evening,
I am an italian architect with the passion for photography.
I use 35mm, 6x7-6x9 and 4 x 5.
My film are Rollei superpan 200 for 35mm and Rollei Tonal 100 for medium and large format.
I love D-23 for developing my film with 1+1 or 1+2 diluition.
The contrast is low, the gray scale is wide but the acutance is low.
For increasing it I have read, in many scripture, is possible to use :1+3 diluition, add 50cc potassium iodide 0.001% and to make an unbroken agitation for the first minute and 5 seconds/3-4 minutes.
Somebody had ever tried to follow this procedure? What are been the results?
Is sufficient increasing the developing time of 25/30% starting from that used for 1+2 diluition (19.30 minutes).
Thanks and sorry for my bad english
giampiero

Two things are contributing to the low contrast problem. First, Metol is a low contrast developing agent which needs time to work. Second, the higher dilution of 1+2 works to lower contrast. There is nothing wrong with increasing the development time. I would first try increasing times by 15% and then 30% if necessary. You are right dilution will help with acutance. You mention 50 ml of potassium iodide solution but don't mention the total amount of developer solution. Typically 5 to 10 ml is added to 250 ml of developer.

You can also try adding 2 grams of borax to the undiluted D-23. The slightly higher pH will improve contrast without increasing development time.

At higher dilutions, D-23 is highly compensating. It gives very low contrast overall with generally good local contrast.

Given enough time, and given enough sheer volume of developer to be sure it doesn't exhaust, D-23 can offer a full density range. I'm pretty sure that would mean having plenty of developer if it is used very dilute as you say you intend.

At 1:3, which I've never used, for testing, I'd want to have maybe an empty reel for each reel with film in it, and filling the tank right to the top, as a starting strategy for roll film. Some similar plan would need to happen for sheet film. If your subject matter had a lot of high density areas - skies and white backgrounds etc, that would be especially important, since those areas exhaust developer the most rapidly.

All of this is probably a good question to do testing on rather than guessing based on speculations from others.

I've not used D-23 with medium or low-speed films, so this experience may not apply. I have used it diluted 1:3 and 1:4 with 35 mm TriX shot at ISO 400. Using a semi-stand agitation - first 30 seconds constant and then six inversions every five minutes, I wet print grade 3 with 1:3 done 20 minutes at 68 degrees f. With 1:4, the prints were consistent grade 4 but with greater definition. That said, neither gives the same definition as two-bath D-23 as per Barry Thornton.

Good evening,
I have tried to develop a Rollei Tonal 100 4 x 5 with D-23 1+3 + 5cc potassium iodide 0.001% for 32 min. with an unbroken agitation for the first minute and 2 reversal every 3 min.
The result is very good for me: medium contrast, very good definition, high power of compensation and wide tonal scale.
These considerations born only to see my sheets becouse I have no densitomer and I cannot make a prints becouse my darkroom is condemn for the great earthquake of 6 April 2009.
Thank for your suggestions.
giampiero

Hi giampiero,

Great to see you have had good results from D-23. It's a great developer. I'll have to try it at 1:3 sometime. I would like to hear how it prints for you when you get the opportunity to do prints from these negatives.

Experimenting now with green X-Ray film, it has been noted that D-76 1:3 for 5 mins at 72 degrees is not taming contrast quite adequately. Barring for now the use of Pyrocat HD, would someone know if the use of D-23 would offer some contrast relief? If so, would you place it somewhere part way between D-76 and Pyro? Thank you.

Low contrast is a sign of under development. I developed a roll of Tri-X in undiluted D-23 last night for the recommended 7.5 minutes as part of a project. The results were quite similar to D-76 (1+1) for 9.75 minutes, but the grain was somewhat softer and the sharpness was somewhat less. Simple scaling would say that the development time in D-23 (1+1) would be about 10.5 minutes, but the massive development chart recommends 13 minutes. Even undiluted, D-23 shows some decided compensating effects. At 1+3 it is very similar to the Windisch compensating formula, which is well known for massive contractions on the order of N-4 or even N-5. Highlights and upper midtones would be greatly compressed. When diluted, D-23 exhausts quickly, and it should be used as a one-shot at dilutions greater than 1+1.