Methods to Lower Contrast and Saturation in C-41 and RA-4

Theoretically, the sulfite would extend the life of the developer but offhand I'm not sure of the best way to use it.

You might also try lowering the pH of the developer slightly, but watch for crossover.

I have mixed my own home-brew RA-4 developer and lowered the level of carbonate (and thus the pH) from a published formula and got lower contrast from the slightly contrasty (to my eye) Fuji CAII paper without any crossover.

DREW WILEY said:

I don't ever fool with the chemistry, and I hate the effect of flashing. So I just resort to registered unsharp masks to either decrease or
increase contrast. I've used such technique for many years of chrome printing. But it would be interesting to see how RA4 developer tweaks work out. Glad this thread has been revived.

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I've been using contrast masks as well, but it's a lot of work just to see if a print has potential. I skip a lot of prints just because I don't want to make a mask and they have too high of contrast. I've never tried flashing color paper. I imagine it's hard to get the color balance just right.

RPC said:

Theoretically, the sulfite would extend the life of the developer but offhand I'm not sure of the best way to use it.

You might also try lowering the pH of the developer slightly, but watch for crossover.

I have mixed my own home-brew RA-4 developer and lowered the level of carbonate (and thus the pH) from a published formula and got lower contrast from the slightly contrasty (to my eye) Fuji CAII paper without any crossover.

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I've gotten stop bath in the developer. It definitely lowered the contrast, but it made an ugly mess of the image as well. I guess doing it in a controlled way might allow you to control it.

Maybe mixing my own developer would be the way to go. Can you point me to the recipe you used?

You can always add cc filters to the flashing light, but the effect is muddy nonetheless. Kills the crispness of the tones.

L Gebhardt said:

Maybe mixing my own developer would be the way to go. Can you point me to the recipe you used?

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distilled water 750 ml
triethanolamine 6 ml
sodium sulfite .2 grams (published formula was 1 gram)
CD-3 5 grams
Potassium carbonate 30 grams (published formula was 40 grams)
sodium chloride .5 grams
add distilled water to make 1 liter

This developer has no odor like the Kodak RA-4 developer since it lacks the smelly preservative. The sulfite is the only preservative but if it is increased the contrast will lower, and you may want to experiment with that. The developer is VERY sensitive to changes in it. Hydroxylamine sulfate may work in place of the other preservative but I have not yet experimented with it. The upshot is that this developer has a short shelf life, probably less than a week in full, glass bottles. Therefore it may not be suitabe for your purposes. I mix it as I need it or keep it for a few days. You may want to try simply lowering the pH of regular developer with acid, adding very carefully in small increments.

I have experimented a little with simply adding sulfite to regular developer but the image quality just seemed better by lowering the pH and best with the above developer.

I use it at 68-75 degrees for 2-2 1/2 minutes. You should test for other times and temperatures.

RPC, thanks. I imagine that if it has such a short life it may not be good in the roller processor, but may work well used one shot in a Jobo.

What did you find wrong with the image quality when adding sulfite?

L Gebhardt said:

What did you find wrong with the image quality when adding sulfite?

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As PE said in an earlier post, Dmax is reduced, especially with the the cyan dye. But it may work for you depending on how much contrast reduction you want.

RA4 developer without HAS suffers from short shelf life and short tank life. It tends to form a lot of gum and tar on the prints if used too much.

ECN and ECP manage this but do use a Sulfuric Acid stop. I suspect that it is to remove the gum and tar if any.

PE

I tested adding the sulfite to the Kodak RA4 developer I already had mixed up. I tried .5g/l and then .7g/l. There was a minor drop in contrast at .5g/l and a bit more at .7g/l. I was using Fuji Type C glossy, and .7g/l brought the contrast down enough to print a few of my negatives that were only mildly too high in contrast. On the Type C I noticed no change in color balance from prints I had made earlier. I tried a few sheets of Type II and on that paper there seemed to be a change in color balance from before.

I haven't printed enough yet to know if .7g/l is the optimal amount, but it sure is a major improvement. Given that we now only have one grade of contrast it may be that we need to stock a few grades of developer.