Need help identifying this paper developer

[Marco Buonocore]

There's a paper developer in the Lustrum Press "Darkroom" book. It's in the Larry Clark section. I was wondering if it might go under another name? It's supposed to be a blue/black developer. Here it is:

Metol / Elon: 1/2 oz
Sodium Sulfite: 10 oz
Hydroquinone: 2 3/4 oz
Sodium Carbonate: 20 oz
Potassium Bromide: 1/4 oz
Water: to make 1 gallon

He says use straight or 1:1.

Also, could anyone double check my conversion from ounces to grams? (and to make 1000ml of developer)

Metol / Elon: 3.74g
Sodium Sulfite: 74.90g
Hydroquinone: 20.60g
Sodium Carbonate: 149.80
Potassium Bromide: 1.87g
Water: to make 1000ml

I'm lousy at dealing with ounces.

Thanks!

 

[David Allen]

Hi there,

not sure about your conversion but the formula for Defender (du Pont D-54) Print Developer that I have (came from an article about Eugene Smith) is as follows:

Water 1500 ml
Metol 7.5 grams
Sodium Sulphite (anhydrous) 142 grams
Hydroquinone 39 grams
Sodium Carbonate 283 grams
Potassium Bromide 3.5 grams
Water to 1500 ml to total volume 3000 ml

I tried this many years ago and found it to give very cold tones and very deep blue blacks. I found it very demanding to use as it is so intense, requires changing the stop bath after every print (if you use plain water like me) and takes ages for anything to appear and then you need to take the paper out as soon as possible.

I ended up settling on Dokumol diluted at 1 + 6 for 3 - 3.5 minutes. This gives cold tones (even on the old Polywarmtone), rich blacks, about 1/2 grade more contrast, long working life in the dish, has a very high capacity and is very easy to work with.

Bests,

David
www.dsallen.de

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Photographers often make changes to developer formulas to meet their own needs. For example, you have such variations as Weston's Amidol, Lootens's Amidol, etc. This makes it extremely difficult to determine the original formula unless the photographer was kind enough to give this information.

I looked through my collection at 16 different cold tone developers and could not find anything that was even close.

 

[pdeeh]

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Marco Buonocore]

Thanks all for the input.

I'm aware of the other blue/black developers out there - truthfully, I've never had any great luck with them. I was curious about this one because:

a) it seemed very different (heavy handed, if you will) to other formula
b) I like Larry Clark's early work, and his approach to the darkroom.

Next time I'm bored down in the darkroom, I'll make a batch and report any findings.