Looking for recipe, at home reversal black and white

[chris23]

Hello,
I am using a jenny and bourke cold tone developer with a tf-2 alkaline fixer. It is a basic black and white developer, I just wasn't getting good results with d-76 kodak packet so I started mixing my own. The developer ingredients are something like (dont have my book rn) sodium metaborate, sodium thiosulfate, sodium carbonate, sodium sulfite, potassium bromide. I mix chemistry, develop film and make prints at home, but my experience is just black and white 35 mm. My darkroom cookbook does not list any processes/recipes for reversal, please leave any recipes you have used.

I want to reverse process black and white film, specifically ultrafine brand 120 film. I do not want to buy a whole reversal kit, I'm hoping theres some way it can be an easier process than needing a whole kit.

What chemistry can I mix myself at home? Can it be as easy as 1. dip in developer 2. expose and bleach 3. developer again 4. fixer ???



Thank you for any comments!!

 

[Gerald C Koch]

B&W reversal processing is sort of tricky and not quite as easy as regular B&W processing. The following site details Ilford's method which works very well.

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=90

However follow the instructions exactly and make no substitutions! APUG has quite a few posts from people who though they could make various substitutions. However if you cannot get Ilford's developers then you can use any comparable PQ developers. However you may have to do some testing.

You can get potassium permanganate from stores/sites that sell water softening supplies. For sulfuric acid you can use battery acid from auto supply stores. Read the label to determine the correct amount to use. You will have to make the calculation based on the acid percentage. The Ilford documentation tells you how to do this.

If not using Ilford film you may have to adjust the amount of thiosulfate in the first developer. Start with Ilford's recommendation based on the film type and work from there.

 

[vdonovan]

Here is the process I follow (copied from someone else, posted somewhere) for Tri-X. It works great. I buy the dichromate, acid, and metabisulphite from Photographer's formulary. I've used it with other films at about the same times and it seems to work fine. You can re-use the developer for about a ten or so rolls of 120. Re-use the other chemicals even longer. Everything works best if mixed with distilled water.

1) Dektol stock 1L + 10g (sodium thiosulfate):8mins at 20º/68f

2) Wash: 30s

3) Bleach (1 L water + Potassium dichromate 9.5g + Sulfuric acid 12ml): 3min

4) Wash: 30s

5) Clearing Bath: 3 mins (Add 25g sodium or potassium metabisulphite to 800ml water. When the sodium or potassium metabisulphite is dissolved add water to make up to 1 litre)

6) Wash 30s

7) Reexposure: 1 minute, 50cm from 60 watt bulb

8) Dektol stock: 7min

9) Wash: 30s

10) Fix :5min

12) Wash

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Potassium dichromate is quite toxic and really is no longer recommended since it must be disposed of as toxic waste. Even small amounts are carcinogenic. It is harmful if it gets into the ground water. This is of particular concern in Florida since most of our drinking water comes from the aquifer. The permanganate bleach will work.

In my experience reversal of slow films provides the best slides. It also helps if the film base is either untinted or lightly tinted.

 

[vdonovan]

Potassium dichromate is quite toxic and really is no longer recommended since it must be disposed of as toxic waste. Even small amounts are carcinogenic. It is harmful if it gets into the ground water. This is of particular concern in Florida since most of our drinking water comes from the aquifer. The permanganate bleach will work.

In my experience reversal of slow films provides the best slides. It also helps if the film base is either untinted or lightly tinted.

I agree 100% with this. I haven't used the permaganate bleach because I'm already set up for dichromate, but it is Kodak and Ilford's standard.