Novice question: dual purpose paper/film developer

walter23 · Dec 3, 2006

I'm just getting into this, and I successfully developed my first 4x5 negatives this weekend - they turned out very nice!

I realized it would be most effective use of my time (and chemistry) to also do some contact prints right after drying my negatives. I used ilford ID-11 for the negatives - can I also use this developer with paper? If not, is there a good film developer that would function with paper too? My priority of course would be the negative quality as better prints could be made later from nice negatives.

Roger Hicks · Dec 3, 2006

walter23 said:
I'm just getting into this, and I successfully developed my first 4x5 negatives this weekend - they turned out very nice!

I realized it would be most effective use of my time (and chemistry) to also do some contact prints right after drying my negatives. I used ilford ID-11 for the negatives - can I also use this developer with paper? If not, is there a good film developer that would function with paper too? My priority of course would be the negative quality as better prints could be made later from nice negatives.

No, ID11 isn't a good paper developer.

There have been quite a few 'universal' or 'film/paper' developers, normally used at one concentration (stronger) for paper and another (weaker) for film, but all are fairly poor compromises when used with film: big grain, poor sharpness, low speed. This won't matter much with contacts, it's true, but even so, I'd strongly recommend using paper dev for paper and film dev for film.

You might care to look at some of the free modules in the Photo School at www.rogerandfrances.com, such as 'Welcome to Film', 'The Large Formats' and some of the 'How Do I...?' threads.

Cheers,

R.

John Bartley · Dec 3, 2006

Once, just for the heck of it, I developed my prints (AZO) in the same divided D23 that I do my negatives in. The prints turned out just fine. The biggest trouble that I could see was that the paper really sucks up the developer, so I'll bet that the stop and fix would wear out pretty quick.

cheers

gainer · Dec 3, 2006

Rodinal makes a very good paper developer when diluted with about 20 parts water. It's also easy to make the stock. See the article about EZ Rodinal.

dancqu · Dec 3, 2006

walter23 said:
I used ilford ID-11 for the negatives - can I also use this
developer with paper? If not, is there a good film developer
that would function with paper too?

ID-11, D-76, will make good prints. Typical of the low
activity film developers, more time in the developer and
likely a little more exposure then when using the usual
print developer. Those two are non-carbonated high
sulfite film developers.

No reducing the sulfite but you can add some sodium
carbonate to speed it up. For starters try a 1:3 dilution.

For dual purpose use give the more active carbonated
low sulfite film developers a try. Beutler's, a film developer,
and Ansco 120, a print developer, share nearly the same
formula. Rodinal is another active low sulfite and likely
good dual purpose. HC-110, if carbonated, does well.
Sodium carbonate, washing soda. Got some? Dan

Jim Jones · Dec 3, 2006

When big enlargements aren't anticipated, and I want to boost contrast and exposure index, I sometimes use the same paper developer for negatives as for prints.

removed account4 · Dec 3, 2006

hi walter

if you have some of the ingredients for ansco 130 lying around,
you can process film in it ( sheets 1:5 ) for about 7-8 mins@ 72º, and then make prints in it 1:2 ...

good luck!
john

mikebarger · Dec 3, 2006

Over on photonet some people are are working on using 510 Pyro as a paper developer.

Dead Link Removed

Mike

jim appleyard · Dec 3, 2006

Pick up a copy of Anchell's "Darkroom Cookbook". There are a few universal developer recipes in there, providing you like to mix your own chemistry.

walter23 · Dec 3, 2006

jim appleyard said:
Pick up a copy of Anchell's "Darkroom Cookbook". There are a few universal developer recipes in there, providing you like to mix your own chemistry.

I don't mind mixing my own chemistry if the stuff is easily available. Right now I'm so new that I don't really have a need to discern the finer differences between development strategies - I just want something economical that will give me the same quality negatives I have got from the ID-11.

I'll look for that book though; thanks for the tip.

Gerald Koch · Dec 4, 2006

Any of the universal developer formulas should give good results with 4x5 films. Ilford Bromophen is commercially available but D-72 can also be used. You will have to work out your own time/temperature for the film you are using.

Novice question: dual purpose paper/film developer

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