Kodak TechPan

GreyWolf · Oct 6, 2004

Years ago in a magazine I picked up a modified formula for developing TechPan. This mixture worked quite well, was quite simple to make and is as follows.

Edwal FG-7 (normal mixture for selected film) + 1 35mm film can of sodium sulfite added to the solution.

Now I am looking to repeat this type of simplicity but Edwal FG-7 is no longer available where I live.

Would anybody like to take a shot at guessing what might be a suitable alternative for Edwal FG-7? Does anybody know what the ingredients were in FG-7?

I am seeking an easy alternative to Technidol for taming the contrast of TechPan and yet want the developer to be easy to make and use as a one-shot.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Kind Regards,

Tmax · Oct 6, 2004

G'Day (from 'Downunder') Greywolf,

HFD-301 developer works well with Tech Pan (in 35mm & 120). It was formulated by Hans F Deitrich (Published in an article in Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques - March 1992). The formula is:

Sodium sulphite 70g
Hydroquinone 2g
Potassium bromide 1g
Phenidone 2g
Boric acid 2g
Water to make 1000ml

Speed rating is EI 25. Use as stock solution. He listed a dev time of 8 min at 20 deg C, but try times 6 or 6.5 min at 20 deg C. These are times I have used with good results. Developed in Jobo CPE2 - slow continuous rotation, or try 7 min for intermittent agitation. This developer has a long shelf life and the stock solution can be .."used over and over again.." (Hans F Deitrich).
He recommends a stop bath of:

Acetic acid (glacial 90%) 20ml
Sodium sulphite 20g
Water to make 1000ml
(equivalent to 2% Sodium sulphite in 2% Acetic acid)

Fix as per usual.

He also recommended C-41 developer (developer only - don't put through a minilab machine!) at 10 min 20 deg C. This time the speed is at EI 50. Use stop bath as above and fix as normal.

Cheers - Tony Russell

bwfans · Oct 6, 2004

I would like to see more posts on developers for TP. Anyone has a good result using Rodinal, XTOL, HC110?

titrisol · Oct 6, 2004

I took the liberty to cpy this into the recipes section

Tmax said:
G'Day (from 'Downunder') Greywolf,

HFD-301 developer works well with Tech Pan (in 35mm & 120). It was formulated by Hans F Deitrich (Published in an article in Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques - March 1992). The formula is:

Sodium sulphite 70g
Hydroquinone 2g
Potassium bromide 1g
Phenidone 2g
Boric acid 2g
Water to make 1000ml

Speed rating is EI 25. Use as stock solution. He listed a dev time of 8 min at 20 deg C, but try times 6 or 6.5 min at 20 deg C. These are times I have used with good results. Developed in Jobo CPE2 - slow continuous rotation, or try 7 min for intermittent agitation. This developer has a long shelf life and the stock solution can be .."used over and over again.." (Hans F Deitrich).
He recommends a stop bath of:

Acetic acid (glacial 90%) 20ml
Sodium sulphite 20g
Water to make 1000ml
(equivalent to 2% Sodium sulphite in 2% Acetic acid)

Fix as per usual.

He also recommended C-41 developer (developer only - don't put through a minilab machine!) at 10 min 20 deg C. This time the speed is at EI 50. Use stop bath as above and fix as normal.

Cheers - Tony Russell

Tom Hoskinson · Oct 6, 2004

Tmax said:
G'Day (from 'Downunder') Greywolf,

HFD-301 developer works well with Tech Pan (in 35mm & 120). It was formulated by Hans F Deitrich (Published in an article in Darkroom and Creative Camera Techniques - March 1992). The formula is:

Sodium sulphite 70g
Hydroquinone 2g
Potassium bromide 1g
Phenidone 2g
Boric acid 2g
Water to make 1000ml

Speed rating is EI 25. Use as stock solution. He listed a dev time of 8 min at 20 deg C, but try times 6 or 6.5 min at 20 deg C. These are times I have used with good results. Developed in Jobo CPE2 - slow continuous rotation, or try 7 min for intermittent agitation. This developer has a long shelf life and the stock solution can be .."used over and over again.." (Hans F Deitrich).
He recommends a stop bath of:

Acetic acid (glacial 90%) 20ml
Sodium sulphite 20g
Water to make 1000ml
(equivalent to 2% Sodium sulphite in 2% Acetic acid)

Fix as per usual.

He also recommended C-41 developer (developer only - don't put through a minilab machine!) at 10 min 20 deg C. This time the speed is at EI 50. Use stop bath as above and fix as normal.

Cheers - Tony Russell

Tony,Are you sure about the 2 grams of Phenidone???

That is a lot ot Phenidone! I would expect 0.2 to 0.3 grams per liter - not 2.0.

Other than that (and the amount of Hydroquinone - 2 grams versus 6 grams), the Deitrich formulation is very similar to Crawley's FX-3 compensating developer.

GreyWolf · Oct 6, 2004

Hi Jay,

It would seem that you are rapidly becoming a bit of a TEA expert lately. As such I was hoping that you may be help to help me understand the ingredient.

I see that at one supplier TEA is purchased as a solution while at another supplier TEA seems to come in powdered form. Am I wrong in this assumption?

If not, then how might I convert the powder form into a solution?

Thanks for the guidance.

gainer · Oct 6, 2004

GreyWolf said:
Hi Jay,

It would seem that you are rapidly becoming a bit of a TEA expert lately. As such I was hoping that you may be help to help me understand the ingredient.

I see that at one supplier TEA is purchased as a solution while at another supplier TEA seems to come in powdered form. Am I wrong in this assumption?

If not, then how might I convert the powder form into a solution?

Thanks for the guidance.

Be sure you ask for triethanolamine. Tech grade will suffice. It is a liquid organic base. For practically all uses, it is not alkaline until you add water, but the stuff we want does not come in solid form unless they mean frozen. It freezes at about 70 F, but I don't think you could powder that.

gainer · Oct 6, 2004

Perhaps they are selling it by weight instead of fluid measure. I'm sure it is a liquid in either case. If it is solid when you get it, as might well be the case this time of the year, put it in a warm place until it thaws and keep it at aout 80 F or higher. I won't spoil. Above 90 F it may turn yellow, but no harm is done.

Ian Grant · Oct 6, 2004

can only comment:

I tried 35mm TechPan a few years ago was impressed, then tried KB14 (35mm EFKE 25) and was totally amazed as fine grained but so much sharper.

I did and still use TechPan in 5x4, but only for specialist uses, only half a box left though.

Efke 25 has far beter tonal responses and is far easier to use.

Tom Hoskinson · Oct 6, 2004

Ian, my experience is similar to yours. I have 35mm, 120 roll and 4x5 in the freezer and rarely use it anymore. I also find Efke 25 to be easier to use (easy is relative!) with better tonal respose.

Ian Grant · Oct 6, 2004

Tom Hoskinson said:
(easy is relative!) with better tonal respose.

I think we both mean predictability.

From memory TechPan took off in the US for pictorial work at a tine when Adox/EFKE had been long forgotten,and wasn't being distributed properly. I found Adox in the UK market & tried it with excellent results.

But why use a very slow 35mm film on a tripod, as its far easier to use a medium format camera hand held or in my case a 5"x4" on the tripod, and get far superior results.

I now use PL25 (Adox 14) in sheet film & it's a great film I still need to learn every nuance, I know them for APX100 and TMX.

Ian

Tmax · Oct 6, 2004

Tom Hoskinson said:
Tony,Are you sure about the 2 grams of Phenidone???

That is a lot ot Phenidone! I would expect 0.2 to 0.3 grams per liter - not 2.0.

Other than that (and the amount of Hydroquinone - 2 grams versus 6 grams), the Deitrich formulation is very similar to Crawley's FX-3 compensating developer.

Hi Tom,
Yes, the amount of phenidone is definitely 2 grams (Mr Deitrich specifies Phenidone "B" in his formula - not sure what "B" means?). I have mixed and used this formula (HFD-301 exactly as I originally listed) many times with good results; no streaking in even toned areas (skys etc), density range similar to a conventionally processed film, very cheap and easy to mix, and very fine grain.

Someone also mentioned the use of Rodinal to develop Tech Pan. I have tried it several times at a dilution of 1+100 for around 8 min at 20 deg C (as I recall). I found that it was ok for short range subjects (eg cloudy days), but for 'sunny day' work highlights tended to blow out. Reducing dev time to control the highlights produced a negative too thin in the shadows, so exposure would need to be increased from EI 25. It was about this time I started using HFD-301...much better results!

Regards to all
Tony Russell

Mark Layne · Oct 7, 2004

Techpan

TP can be troublesome but I don't know of any other film with the increased red sensitivity if you need it.
There was a recent article in Photo Techniques giving some dev times

Kodak TechPan

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