p-aminphenol developer

Bill Burk · Dec 20, 2020

I am interested in trying a p-aminophenol developer after seeing a chart in Mees showing low fog density.

I am considering using it to improve the results that I am getting from old (1952-expired) Super-XX 35mm.

In standard Metol-Hydroquinone developers (tried stock, cold D-76 and Dektol with and without Benzotriazole) the fog is high 0.96, CI is low about 0.30 and EI is low - about 2.

Are there standard or well-known developers based on p-aminophenol that I should consider?

Bill Burk · Dec 20, 2020

This is the graph that caught my attention...

juan · Dec 20, 2020

I’ve been happy with Pyrocat P and Pyrocat PC, the former with water and the latter with glycol.

Patrick Robert James · Dec 20, 2020

Rodinal is a P-Aminophenol only developer. Using it with Benzotriazole works great on old film. If you want something simple to mix yourself, Gainer's EZ Rodinal is simple. You can just buy it of course...

Bill Burk · Dec 20, 2020

Patrick Robert James said:
Rodinal is a P-Aminophenol only developer. Using it with Benzotriazole works great on old film. If you want something simple to mix yourself, Gainer's EZ Rodinal is simple. You can just buy it of course...

Great! I have R09 on hand

john_s · Dec 20, 2020

I think I read that ascorbate is a fairly low fog developer. If you're looking for a higher EI than 2 (!), maybe a little sodium ascorbate in your T09 could add a little speed. Just a guess. There are articles about Rodinal plus ascorbate,

OOPS, I take back the ascorbate suggestion: I have found reports of excessive fog, not what you want!

grainyvision · Dec 20, 2020

john_s said:
I think I read that ascorbate is a fairly low fog developer. If you're looking for a higher EI than 2 (!), maybe a little sodium ascorbate in your T09 could add a little speed. Just a guess. There are articles about Rodinal plus ascorbate,

OOPS, I take back the ascorbate suggestion: I have found reports of excessive fog, not what you want!

Ascorbate is a very bad developer if low fog is a requirement, if used at high pH. At lower pH (<10.5) it can be superior since it's practically inactive as anything but a superadditive agent and radical scavenger. Ascorbate is extremely difficult to keep stable in solution though. Ascorbic acid can be dissolved in propylene glycol with a lot of patience to get to 8%, but in anything polar it'll decay quickly (releasing CO2, the bottle will become slightly pressurized as an indicator in acid, or will change color in alkali)

john_s · Dec 20, 2020

earlz said:
Ascorbate is a very bad developer if low fog is a requirement, if used at high pH. At lower pH (<10.5) it can be superior since it's practically inactive as anything but a superadditive agent and radical scavenger. Ascorbate is extremely difficult to keep stable in solution though. Ascorbic acid can be dissolved in propylene glycol with a lot of patience to get to 8%, but in anything polar it'll decay quickly (releasing CO2, the bottle will become slightly pressurized as an indicator in acid, or will change color in alkali)

Thanks. I was not aware of the difference in its behaviour according to pH.

Rudeofus · Dec 22, 2020

@Bill Burk please note, that these three curve plots were made for a specific set of photographic developer formulas. Any variation to these developer formulas will change the chart, You know well, that there are MQ developers with very different contrast, and the contrasty ones are not necessarily foggy.

Bill Burk · Dec 22, 2020

@Rudeofus Thanks, I will be trying R09

john_s · Dec 22, 2020

This article was linked here at APUG a few months ago. In case you didn't see it:

https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Develope-VERY-Old-Film-and-Get-Good-Results/

I particularly was interested in the comment near the end about the apparent superior keeping qualities of Kodak film. Good news for me as my stock of old (1970s) film is mostly Kodak, not yet used because I've been busy.

Bill Burk · Dec 23, 2020

I’ve been corresponding with Daniel Keating. He’s exactly the kind of person you want in your court when you play with old film.

This is the best so far. I want something with a little more contrast. So I think I may get it if I can reduce the fog. I don’t care about eliminating it entirely. I just want to bring the fog down measurably.

p-aminphenol developer

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