Processing CatLabs Film

bill koechling · Mar 14, 2021

I have recently been successfully experimenting with Arista Premium Liquid Film Developer. It has worked as I'd hoped with Tri-X. I have a number of rolls of CatLab 120 film that I'd like to develop with the same Arista Premium (aka Photographers Formulary FA-1027, aka Clayton F76+)

I have not come across any suggested starting times/dilutions/temperature for this combination. The Massive Development Chart offers no clues for CatLabs & FA-1027.

Has anyone had any experience with this? I've used Rodinal and that's fine but I hoped to try the other developer without simply burning through film to experiment. Thank you!

Pieter12 · Mar 14, 2021

Have you tried contacting CatLabs?

bill koechling · Mar 14, 2021

Pieter12 said:
Have you tried contacting CatLabs?

I did and am awaiting their response. I've also written Freestyle.

Pieter12 · Mar 14, 2021

CatLabs lists some developers and times on their website, I think F76+ is the same or similar to D-76:
Processing Instructions (at 20° C):

D-76 / ID-11:

ISO 80:
• Stock- 9:30 min
• 1+1 - 15 min

ISO 320:
• Stock - 15 min

ISO 800:
• 1+1 - 21 min (results unpredictable)

bill koechling · Mar 14, 2021

Pieter12 said:
CatLabs lists some developers and times on their website, I think F76+ is the same or similar to D-76:
Processing Instructions (at 20° C):

D-76 / ID-11:

ISO 80:
• Stock- 9:30 min
• 1+1 - 15 min

ISO 320:
• Stock - 15 min

ISO 800:
• 1+1 - 21 min (results unpredictable)

Thanks! I just found this as well. I didn't see it through their site but did find it through a Google search. This will help me get a starting time for development.

bluechromis · Mar 14, 2021

I found that EI 80 lost too much shadow detail with CATlab X 80. It did better for me at EI 40-50. I use a home-brew ascorbate developer, but I imagine would be similar with F76.

bill koechling · Mar 14, 2021

bluechromis said:
I found that EI 80 lost too much shadow detail with CATlab X 80. It did better for me at EI 40-50. I use a home-brew ascorbate developer, but I imagine would be similar with F76.

CatLabs replied that they have no data for that particular developer. I'll do a little interpolation. Thanks for your suggestion on rating it at EI 40-50. I've pretty much been doing that & processing with Rodinal.

bill koechling · Mar 15, 2021

bill koechling said:
CatLabs replied that they have no data for that particular developer. I'll do a little interpolation. Thanks for your suggestion on rating it at EI 40-50. I've pretty much been doing that & processing with Rodinal.

For anyone considering CatLabs film with F76+ developer I got this from Freestyle Photo today. (His reference is to AP, Arista Premium is the same as F76+):

"There are no concrete processing times for the CarLabs films and AP Film Developer. The reason being is that no one really has tested the combination properly. However, I do know that the AP Film Developer is a faster acting developer that is similar to Kodak's D76 in results. Here are my suggested starting points:"

CatLabs 80 and F76+ 1:9 - 8.5-9 minutes at 68F
CatLabs 310 and F76+ 1:9 - 6-6.5 minutes @ 68F

NortheastPhotographic · Mar 15, 2021

I can recommend using the D76 times and rating the film at ISO 32. 80 is optimistic to say the least!

This film is also good in 510 Pyro, also with an ISO of 32. I quite like it. It's sort of like Pan-F but you can get it in sheets.

bill koechling · Mar 15, 2021

NortheastPhotographic said:
I can recommend using the D76 times and rating the film at ISO 32. 80 is optimistic to say the least!

This film is also good in 510 Pyro, also with an ISO of 32. I quite like it. It's sort of like Pan-F but you can get it in sheets.

Thank you! Maybe they can make a Type 55 version using CatLabs film! (Just kidding!) My son shoots this in 4x5. Thanks for the info. I shot the two rolls I shot in really contrasty light so I stand developed it using Rodinal. That was quite nice. I'll give your D76 recommendation and ISO rating a shot.

Peter Schrager · Mar 16, 2021

is this the Atomic-X film that the polaroid guys were selling for a minute?
if so I had no problem developing it at asa 80 with Xtol...times unknown
seemed like a nice enough film...it was priced right too

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 16, 2021

I've used the Catlabs 80 in my 8x10. My best results were rating between 25 and 50, develop in Pyrocat HD 1:1:100 @ 75F. IIRC time was 11 minutes-ish but I don't recall off the top of my head.

Processing CatLabs Film

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