Neutral print dev - from raw chems?

[Sim2]

Hallo there,

Just wondering about this - can anyone recommend a neutral tone black & white print dev that can be made up in small quantities from raw chemicals?

Background being - I normally print with a warmtone developer but occasionally want to go with a more neutral tone on the print. I have had success and like the look/tone from Patersons' Acudev but do not print enough with this dev before the stock goes off in the bottle. This is "sort of" ok but tends to mean that I may not have fresh stock to call on when I want to go neutral. My thought is: get a bundle of raw chems (!) that can be left as powder, then mixed up in a (probably) very small quantity to make 1 litre of dev (not stock solution) fairly easily and for almost immediate use. Any thoughts?

May not have explained too clearly so feel free to ask further questions!

Sim2.

 

[Ian Grant]

Try ID-62, then read the article I wrote here on APUG where I suggested making a stock solution and adding tthe Benzotriazole & bromide just before use so you could vary it beteween a neutral developer and with bromide alone make up a Warmtone developer.

Ian

 

[Sim2]

Try ID-62, then read the article I wrote here on APUG where I suggested making a stock solution and adding tthe Benzotriazole & bromide just before use so you could vary it beteween a neutral developer and with bromide alone make up a Warmtone developer.

Ian

Thanks for the suggestion - I will be having a look at the article.
Just on a slightly different tack, it may be an odd way to go about it but, would there be a chem that could be added to a pre-mixed up stock of something like Bromophen to take the warm edge off and make it act like a neutral dev? (might save buying ooodles of more chems!)

Sim2.

 

[Ian Grant]

Adding a little Benzotriazole will cool Bromophen, 20ml of 1% solution. also cut exposures slightly and icrese the dev time to around 3 minutes. Exposure and development times are the key to controlling the degree of warmth from a warm tone paper.

Ian

 

[Athiril]

Potassium Iodide is also good.

 

[Slixtiesix]

You could also look for Adolux Adotol Konstant (formerly known as Calbe N113). You may get this in the UK. It is a powder developer that has a very long shelf life even mixed. And it is cheap.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

A neutral nlack is not only a function of the developer but also of the paper itself. So it is best to control the color with potassium bromide or benzotrizole not matter what developer is chosen. Another factor is the color temperature of the viewing light.