Once Upon A Time:

dancqu · Dec 2, 2005

Once Upon A Time:

I used to think a print developer needed metol,
hydroquinone, carbonate plus some preservative.
Later I found out that some other agent or agents
plus a strong alkali such as carbonate and a
preservative will make up into good workable
combinations.

It never occurred to me that D23 would do as a
print developer. Last night I did find that it works
quite well. I was working on my paper test for
film developers; correlating results on paper
with expected results on film.

I had a shot of my 8 - 80 D23 remaining
so decided to up the exposure 50% and run it
through the .25 - 2.5 grams metol - sulfite portion;
solution volume 125ml. I was a little surprised at the
results; a very nice print. A 5 x 7 on Arista
RC Plus Grade 2. Dan

Donald Qualls · Dec 2, 2005

Next, try developing some film in Dektol. It was a standard operation when I was a kid; I did it for the first time in about 1970. Might have to do it again; I have *way too much* Dektol stock solution around after misguidedly buying a 5 gallon pack...

Lachlan Young · Dec 3, 2005

What sort of results does film developed in Dektol give?

Photo Engineer · Dec 3, 2005

Lachlan Young said:
What sort of results does film developed in Dektol give?

Surprisingly good results as far as grain and sharpness go.

Use Dektol 1:3 for 3' or 1:7 for 7' as an average starting point.

This was demonstrated to us by Al Weber at the Vestal/Weber workshop at the Formulary in Montana in 2004.

PE

Christopher Colley · Dec 3, 2005

I've tried Dektol 1:3 for 3min 30 secs 68f with 30seconds of initial agitation then none afterwords, Same procedure for Ilford PQ 1:9 with similar results, to my eye it (hp5+ 35mm) seemed to have less apparent grain in dektol than when developed 'normally' in d76 1+1, it has a 'smooth' feeling to the grain and contrast, I'm not sure how well that translates into words, but I think it could be worth attempting if you havnt already!

nworth · Dec 3, 2005

Over 40 years ago, Dektol (along with DK60a) was a standard developer for press films. It's very contrasty, but it works well. Consider that D-19 stock is roughly D-72 (Dektol) 2:3. As for using film developers for paper, D-23 may be a bit extreme. But D-19 is quite usable. There are several "universal" developers, like D-61 and ID-68 that work for both film and paper. Kodak used to market Versatol (sort of like DK-93) and Universal M-Q (reportedly D-61) for both uses.

dancqu · Dec 3, 2005

nworth said:
As for using film developers for paper,
D-23 may be a bit extreme.

I'd not go so far as to say extreme. A sulfited only
developer has a lower ph and is slower to work than
one which also contains carbonate. Induction time
for the 5 x 7 print was 100 seconds and
development time 5 minutes.

Results look very much like those from Ansco
120/Beer's A; two same-formula carbonated metol
print developers. The two are very similar to FX-1
and Beutler's film developers.

A .3, .9, .9 grams metol, sulfite, carbonate portion
of Ansco 120/Beer's A in 500ml of solution proved
to be enough for a roll of Pan F+. So, film or
paper, those combinations work well.

Beer's A, for those not familiar, is the low contrast
metol only Beer's 1. There are seven Beer's blends of
VC paper developer. Beer's B is the hydroquinone portion.
Ansel Adams' split Ansco 130 is a VC glycine version. Dan

John Bartley · Dec 3, 2005

This use of D23 for paper was suggested about 6 months ago as an experiment which I tried and found to be very useable. At that time I used extended D23 with a Borax second bath on both Ilford RC and on ooooold F3 AZO. I haven't used it since, as it was only an experiment to find out if it would work well enough to allow me to reduce/simplify what chemicals I take with me when we head to our place in Northern Ontario.

Here;s the thread :

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

cheers

Kirk Keyes · Dec 3, 2005

Anyone remember Kodak Tri-Chem packs? Same solution for developing negs and papers...

Donald Qualls · Dec 4, 2005

Yep. The developer in Tri-Chem packs was Dektol, at least when I bought one in 1970 to develop my Verichrome Pan.

Charles Webb · Dec 4, 2005

We used Dektol in various dilutions for fast press work on Ansco Super Hy Pan, Royal Pan, and RoyalX pan and Super XX. At the Pueblo Star Journal, The Chieftan and at the Denver Post. All along time ago, the negatives made prints that pleased the editors so it was a win,win situation! Charlie.................

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