Lith developers

[modafoto]

Hi

Where I live they do not stock that many different chemicals, so I need you to name as many different lith developers as you can so I can find at least one in a store near me.
Furthermore:

• Can I use ordinary B&W Paper with a lith dev.
• Where can I read Beginner's Guide to Lith Printing
• Are their any differences between lith dev for paper and the one for lith films?

Greetings Morten

 

[Mark Layne]

Hi

Where I live they do not stock that many different chemicals, so I need you to name as many different lith developers as you can so I can find at least one in a store near me.
Furthermore:

• Can I use ordinary B&W Paper with a lith dev.
• Where can I read Beginner's Guide to Lith Printing
• Are their any differences between lith dev for paper and the one for lith films?

Greetings Morten

Morten
You can use your regular papers for lith. Developers are numerous but you can use graphic arts lith developer.
I recently developed (no pun intended) a mild interest in this subject and would recommend you get a copy of Tim Rudman's Lith Printing Course.
I don't think I would have got very far without it.

Mark

 

[Soeren]

Hi Morten
See if you can get a copy of Tim Rudmanns book about lithprinting or look here
http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Lith2/lith2.html
It is based on 2 parts of a 5 part Lith printing series that he wrote for Black & White Photography.
I wanna try lithprinting myself when I get more experiensed in the darkroom.
Søren

 

[Snapper]

Normal b&w papers will give varied lith effects depending on what manufacturer's paper you use. I've experimented with quite a few papers and the choice is really down to your own personal taste and what kind of effect you are after. Generally, FB papers give good lith effects, RC not so.

Tim Rudman's book describes what papers give which effects.

As for developer, I use Fotospeed.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Morten

the very best lith developer I have used is Champion Nova Lith A B
you can get this At Kentmere. UK
very good product.

 

[modafoto]

Thanks for the informative posts.

What about Tetenal Dokulith? Is that a dev I can use for papers? They have it at my local photo store.

morten

 

[SamG]

I can re-emphasize the need to read Tim Rudman's book. It spends a lot of time on the basics with plenty of excellent photos/examples. Then he gets into some real photochemical details, which you may or may not wish to skip. (Here's a site for a recently posted update on line by Rudman: http://www.alternativephotography.com/articles/art031.html).

I have used exclusively Kodalith RT powdered developer. Kodak stopped making it, but I have found lots of larger supply houses that still carry it. The paper I have been using most recently is Foma FB. Gives nice rich colors depending on how dilute and how "used" the developer is. I'd go with materials that Rudman suggests mostly because you will want to have a successful first printing session or two to keep you going. I am finding it to be a fun yet sometimes frustrating form of printing. I can often get quite interesting and expressive prints from negatives that print so-so in straight prints. Also, there seems to be a very wide range of possitilities from a single negative depending of the length of the exposure, the time in the developer, the dilution and the "age" of the developer, as well as how much old developer you add to the mix. Definitely worth trying, but get ready to spend a lot of time since development times are often at least 7-10 min (and can be much longer) and exposures can be 3-4 min.

Good luck and enjoy yourself,

Sam