Kodak Polydol

[Too Many Cameras]

Over the weekend I picked up 14 one-gallon cans of Polydol NOS at a camera store in Fort Bragg (at $2.75 per can, I figured why not.) So now that I'm back to a place with Internet, I cannot find anything about how to develop film with them. I did find an archived APUG thread, but I was surprised that there was no data on the MDC about Polydol (that I could find either directly or by Googling.) Are there any developer times and combinations I can use as a jumping-off point?

I'm going through a gallon of Microdol-X right now but my hope was to mix up some Polydol after it and see how it works.

 

[removed account4]

hi too many cameras

here you go


if you go to "advanced search" (search bar top right corner )
type polydol
this post is in one of them
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Polydol was a large format B&W film developer. I just found a photo-net post by Ron Mowrey

"Polydol, useful for commercial, portrait and school photography. Use at 68 deg for 8 - 11 mins. Capacity, 40 8x10 sheets / gallon."

here are a few pages worth of threads
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

if you click on a thread and open it, click on "thread tools" ( just at the top of each thread)
and type in polydol in the search bar there too


have fun!
john

 

[Too Many Cameras]

Thank you, John! That's a great help. I also found a Verichrome Pan developing table online with data for D-76 and Polydol. It looks like D-76 1+1 and Polydol stock have developing times that are the same or within 30 seconds for Verichrome. So I may give the D-67 1+3 time a shot with Polydol 1+1 for a test roll and engineer some times from there.

David

 

[MattKing]

Polydol is one of the Developers listed in my 1970 Kodak Darkroom Dataguide - for Verichrome Pan it suggests 10 minutes at 68F with stock Polydol.

 

[removed account4]

Thank you, John! That's a great help. I also found a Verichrome Pan developing table online with data for D-76 and Polydol. It looks like D-76 1+1 and Polydol stock have developing times that are the same or within 30 seconds for Verichrome. So I may give the D-67 1+3 time a shot with Polydol 1+1 for a test roll and engineer some times from there.

David

have fun and good luck with that !
if you have a dark green safelight
it might make your life easier
because you can always develop by inspection
if don't have an exact time.

 

[barzune]

I've found some information about Polydol, in the Amphoto "Photographic Lab Handbook".

The recommended developing times for roll film and 35mm, in a small tank, are:

Verichrome Pan: 20C- 10 min. 24C- 7 min.
Plus-X Pan: 20C- 7 min. 24C- 5 min.
Tri-X Pan: " 8 min. " 6 min.

Agitation is recommended at 30 second intervals.

Try it, and let us know.

Dan

 

[Paul Howell]

When I was in the Air Force we used Polydol replenished for sheet film in large tanks. In the day we still used 4X5 for officer portraits that need to in included his/her personnel file, good tones from what I recall, but gain was course when used with 35mm or even 6X6.

 

[Werewolfman]

I have all the info you need about Polydol as I still use this developer today. I'll try to answer any questions that you may have.

 

[Werewolfman]

Over the weekend I picked up 14 one-gallon cans of Polydol NOS at a camera store in Fort Bragg (at $2.75 per can, I figured why not.) So now that I'm back to a place with Internet, I cannot find anything about how to develop film with them. I did find an archived APUG thread, but I was surprised that there was no data on the MDC about Polydol (that I could find either directly or by Googling.) Are there any developer times and combinations I can use as a jumping-off point?

I'm going through a gallon of Microdol-X right now but my hope was to mix up some Polydol after it and see how it works.

I still use Kodak Polydol 'til this very day. IMHO, it is better than any other Kodak developer on the market. Just subtract 30 seconds from the times recommended for full strength Kodak D-76 and you'll do perfectly fine. This developer surpasses D-76 in full emulsion speed, shadow detail, will not block highlights and MUCH FINER GRAIN. Excellent for both roll and sheet films. It has one developing agent, Metol (Elon), and 1 gallon will process 40 rolls of film. If you need any more info, contact me as I'm the Polydol expert! Kodak NEVER should have discontinued this developer!