Kodak Technidol with FP4?

[wiggy]

I've been offered some Kodak Technidol developer for silly money (i.e nigh on free). I know this was designed for Kodak Pan but would it work OK with FP4?

 

[jim appleyard]

No. Technidol is a low contrast dev that was designed to give "normal" contrast to a high-contrast film, Tech Pan.

If you really want to waste (or invest, depending on your point of view) film and dev, you could try souping the FP-4 in Technidol for a longer time, or at a higher temp or with more frequnet agitation, or with all three to try to get normal contrast, but I think you'd be far better off with something that was designed for FP-4: D-76/ID-11, HC-110, etc.

 

[fschifano]

Jim,

I think it's more like the other way around. D-76 has been with us in one form or another since sometime in the 1920's, and has long since been the de-facto standard to which other developers are compared. FP4+ came much later, so it's safe to say that FP4+ was designed to perform well in that developer.

 

[glbeas]

Try some litho film or copy film in the Technidol. I found Konica 750IR did very well in Technidol, too bad it's not made anymore.

 

[jim appleyard]

Perhaps I should have written my response differently; I'm aware that D-76 came out in the '20's and FP-4+ is much newer!

What I should have said is that Technidol is a specialty developer and FP-4 is a conventional film; they were not designed to be used together in normal situations. FP-4 should be used with a conventional dev (like those I listed) for conventional photos.

I hope this is better.

 

[wiggy]

Thanks everybody for the info - I think I'll let it go. Just coming back to developing my own stuff after a 20 year gap and completely out of touch.

 

[Murray Kelly]

If the Technidol is so cheap why not try it as a combo with the FP4?

All the fornulae I have seen for using copy film as pictorial are very concentrated. BlueFire (Copex Rapid) and its developer - H&W - and Gigabit to name a couple might go well in dilution. Treat the Technidol as a stock and use gradually greater and greater dilutions. I think it might work well. Worth a try anyway
Murray

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

If the Technidol is so cheap why not try it as a combo with the FP4?

All the fornulae I have seen for using copy film as pictorial are very concentrated. BlueFire (Copex Rapid) and its developer - H&W - and Gigabit to name a couple might go well in dilution. Treat the Technidol as a stock and use gradually greater and greater dilutions. I think it might work well. Worth a try anyway
Murray

Murray, IMHO that would be a waste of the Technidol.

Sell the Technidol on eBay and buy some ID-11 or D-76.

 

[Murray Kelly]

I thought of that, too. I often see wails that it's as hard to get as TechPan itself. Still, it was probably a theoretical query and I gave it a theoretical answer. A pity to see it wasted, but.
Murray

 

[jd callow]

What about pushing the fp4 to increase contrast and then using the technidol? You could expose a single sheet of film @80, 160, 320, and maybe 500. Cut the sheet in half and develop one half at 10 min's and if it shows promise adjust the time accordingly and try and narrow in on a time and exposure.

It might produse intersting results or be a complete failure. Nothing ventured nothing gained.