Lith Developer

[Silverpixels5]

Does anyone know of a good lith developer avaliable in the US? I've heard of one by fotospeed and Novolith, but I can't find either here in the US.

 

[Les McLean]

Try Luminos in Yonkers, they are Fotospeed's American agents.

 

[Silverpixels5]

Thanks! I went to the Luminos site, but I don't think they sell direct, although they do have distrubutors, and so I found some at Freestyle. B&H also has it but they won't ship it. I also found a few recipes, so I can mix it up from scratch.

 

[ann]

How about Kodak's Kodalith developer. It is a two part developer. B &H had it last month and will ship.

 

[Silverpixels5]

I just came from their site and saw it (kodalith). Its the liquid stuff they won't send...didn't know that. In any case, I'll probably be ordering some, or the chemicals to make it myself.

Has anyone here had good results from a particular formulation/paper combo?

 

[Donald Miller]

Photo Warehouse (photowarehouse.biz) sells a two part A & B developer. They sent it to me a month ago.

 

[Silverpixels5]

dnmilikan:

Is the developer you're talking about the one in the graphic arts section? Has it given you good results? Also, is there any particular paper that works well with this developer? thanks for any info you can offer!

 

[Donald Miller]

Yes, it is the one in the graphics art section. I have used the developer in producing masks for conventional silver printing. I have not used it in lith printing on photographic paper. I intend to try it for that purpose on Classic Polywarmtone paper as one of my upcoming projects. From what I understand graded Seagull paper works fairly well as a lith paper and I will try a comparison of these two papers. Sorry that I can't give you more help on this at this time. Good luck.

 

[Robert]

I think the freestyle catalog has something on lith developers. I just skipped over it.

 

[blansky]

I have used the Kodak Lith Developer with Forte Polywarmtone and had interesting results.

Michael McBlane

 

[ged]

I have tried 3 papers so far, always with Kodalith. For another choice, I have read that some people like the Moersch lith developer. Here is a link to a store in Toronto that sells it. Call them and see if they can send it down to the US:

http://www.eightelmphoto.com/paper.htm#moersch

Regarding papers that respond to lith, Ilford MGIV FB gives the most subtle results. It is probably a useful choice when you want to tame a very contrasty neg but don't want/need too obvious a lith effect.

Forte Polywarmtone FB (Variable Contrast) responds to lith more noticeably. Personally, I don't like the warmtone brownish-cast it has but others seem to like it.

My preference so far is for Luminos Classic (Warm tone) Fibre. I believe it is also known as Kentmere Kentona is the UK and Australia. This turns a colour that people have described variously as peachy/pinkish/reddish. However, a few of my friends have thought the prints were sepia toned. Of the three papers, this one is supposed to have the most interesting response to toning after development although I have yet to experiment with this.

For references, Tim Rudman's "The Master Photographer's Lith Printing Course" is an excellent and comprehensive guide. Les McLean wrote a superb 4 part series on lith printing in Black & White Photography magazine. In February 2003 (part 2 of the series) he discusses different papers.

I will try to upload a few photos to my personal gallery shortly so you can see what the papers look like when developed in lith. I don't have any scans of the Forte Polywarmtone though. If you have any other questions about lith printing, feel free to contact me and I'll try to help.

 

[ann]

The developer i am talking about is in power form. two packages . B% H shipped it several weeks ago with no problems. I had no idea it came in a liquid form.

 

[Silverpixels5]

Thanks for all the help guys! I'll be ordering some Kodalith and Luminos Classic in the next week, so we'll see how things turn out.