Paper that wouldn't develop in lith developer

Last night I was doing some lith printing and trying some new papers. One was a resin coated VC paper from Jessops (UK camera store). I knew that Jessops had previously had paper made by Efke and I was hoping that this would also be so but it was labelled made in EU so I guess not.

Anyway I exposes two 12x8 test prints and put them in the developer (2.5 liters of LD20 1:1:25, two sheets through). Then I waited and waited and waited. After about 15 minutes a faint image started to appear but so slowly. After another 15 minutes I got bored and exposed the same image on some Fomatone paper and chucked this in the tray too. I snatched that at about 8-10 minutes so there was plenty of life left in the developer.

Just in case I took the two prints out and added an extra 20ml each of A and B dev. I returned them to the developer and they ended up with well over an hour in the developer. By this time there was a faint all over image but super low contrast with no real greys, let alone blacks. At this point I jacked it in and both prints when in the bin.

I then went on to make a few more prints with the trusty Fomatone.

I've tried papers that don't lith before
but they just developed fairly normally, with the shadows and highlights developing together. This just didn't develop at all. What was going on? Has anyone experienced similar? Why would a paper just not develop when it had this long in the developer.

It's a shame really as I've just fished the prints out of the bin and they were taking on a lovely shade of light pink.

I have had no problems with this paper using "normal developers" but have never tried lith. The Jessops leaflet with it gives the same dichroic filtration setting as the old Agfa paper and if it says made in EU I will hazard a guess that it was made by the former Agfa company for Jessops

Maybe someone will say whether the former Agfa paper "lithed" or not.

pentaxuser

I'm assuming you've tried the drop of solution b on the paper to see if it's at least possible to lith.

Have you tried heating the developer? When I've lithed Fujibro paper (only available in Japan), it works, but it takes over an hour in the developer at somewhat normal temperatures. But if I use a hotter developer, say 30 degrees celsius or so, it liths in normal time, 5-10 minutes.

Also, maybe you could try bleach and redevelopment, that might produce more fruitful results.

I forgot about that little test. I'll give it a go next time I set up the darkroom.

I know temperature can have a big effect and the developer was at room temp but so little development seems to have taken place that I was really surprised.

I keep bidding and loosing on tray warmers. I can't bring myself to spend what they seem to go for on eBay.

Simonh82 said:

I keep bidding and loosing on tray warmers. I can't bring myself to spend what they seem to go for on eBay.

Click to expand...

I have a couple spare, but shipping might be an issue....

I also use a buffet food warmer when I need to get the temperature up - Note: I picked up a cheap model from a local discount store. Shop around and you should find something suitable in your area.

+1 for using a food warming tray. I "inherited" my wife's since she quit using it. It keeps a perfect 37 degree C temp when using a Patterson tray (8x10 or 11x14). I find the harder plastic trays transmit more heat--over 40 degrees C.

I don't have tray warmers. I just use water that's the temperature I want and use that to mix the developer. I also bought larger trays to act as a water bath to keep the developer temperature warm for a longer period of time. (I develop 9.5x12 paper in 11x14 trays that are in 12x16 water bath trays. It takes a little more room, but it really helps keep developer temp consistent).