diy reversal usually is based on a tin salt based solution, to chemically fog the undeveloped silver.
It is not that environmentally nice, and it also has a tendency to allow things to 'grow' in the stock solution that makes it a hassle to use, as I recall.
Below are a collection of notes I have gathered a few years ago from rec.photo.darkroom when it was active, and beore a lot of contributors moved to places like this. I myself have not tested all of the information presented below:
Here's the steps from a Kodak publication for reversal processing
(1973): (supplied with Kodak Reversal Processing Kit)
1 First developer D-67 6-8 Mins. (68 F)
2 Rinse Water 2-5
3. Bleach Bleaching Bath R-9 1
4 Clear Clearing Bath CB-1 2
5. Redevelopment Fogging Developer FD-72 8
6 Rinse Water or SB-1 Stop Bath 1
7. Fix Kodak F-5 or F-6 5
8. Wash Water 2
And here's the formulas:
D-67
Water at 125 F 500ml
Elon 2.0 gr
Sodium Sulfite (Anhydr) 50.0 gr
Hydroquinone 8.0 gr
Sodium Carbonate (mono) 52.5 gr
Potassium Bromide (anhydr) 5.0 gr
Sodium Thiocyanate (liquid) 51% solution 3 ml
Water to 1.0 l
OR
D-19 1.0 liter
Sodium Thiocyanate (liquid) 51% solution 3 ml
Replenisher D-67R
Water (125 F) 750 ml
Elon 2.0 gr
Sodium Sulfite (anhydr) 90.0 gr
Hydroquinone 8.0 gr
Sodium Carbonate (mono) 52.5 gr
Sodium Thiocyanate (liquid) 51% Sol. 7.5 ml
Water to l.0 l
FD-72
Part A EASTMAN Sodium Dithionite (sodium 5.0 gr (hydrosulfite (Cat No. P533))
Part B
Water 500 ml
Balanced Alkali 10.0 gr
EASTMAN L-(+)-Cysteine 0.3 gr Hydrochloride (Cat No. 2367)
Water to 1.0 liter??? Not sure here
Disolve 5 grams of Part A in 1 liter of Part B not more
than 2 hours before use. Discard after one use.
Bleach Bath R-9
Water 1.0 liter
Potassium Dichromate 9.5 gr (anhydr)
Sulfuric Acid (concentrated) 12.0 ml CAUTION: Add slowly, stirring constantly.
Clearing Bath CB-1
Water 1.0 liter
Sodium Sulfite (anhydr.) 90.0 gr
SB-1, F-5 and F-6 are well known formulas.
The films listed are the discontinued Direct Positive, Panatomic-X,
also discontinued, Plus-x and Tri-x Reversal films, discontinued as well.
And 4-X reversal 7277, something unknown to me.
I'll bet the EASTMAN chemicals, which were some sort of special bulk
order at the time are no longer available from Kodak.
A long, long time ago I used Pan-X in 35mm to make direct positives, then
enlarged onto Kodalith processed for continuous tone and used these to make
T-shirts using Inko Dye (kind of like making a cyanotype on cloth, except
you had the option of different colors.) I don't think there 's any reason
to believe that the modern (or is that post-modern?) equivalent won't work.
TMX processed in either the Kodak or other reversal chemistry can produce an
excellent negative. Several years ago I made quite a few 8x10 enlargements
using both Kodak's chemistry (tried early kits with dichromate bleach and
later ones with the permanganate bleach) Finally
I quit using their re-exposing developer and re-exposed to light for the
reversal. Had no further problems.
The major problem I had with Kodak's kits was the cost. At about $30 (then)
per kit which would process 15 (I think) sheets, plus the cost of the
film, it was easy to spend a lot of money quickly. As a grad student the
costs were prohibitive. Another concern is exposure, since you need to fill
the drum for maximum economy, it's not always easy to make test strips and
see what they look like. But if you're doing a lot of work you'll get the
exposure figured out fairly quickly.
Hal Faulkner
Hi all,
Reversal is easy to do, making a neg for printing out on self masking
materials like Pt/pd or kalitypes is not. One old source says:
"The negative which prints perfectly in platinum is one which has been
exposed for the shadows and has been developed until the surface of the
plate appears to have lost its image."
Luckily I made some by accident but not by the simple way copying neg ->
interpos -> neg -> print. I tried various films for reversal, these 1982
notes show some of the problems and results:
Verichrome pan 125 - Good gradation & tone, bad reticulation in mid
tones, chewedl way, interesting graphic effects. Process: Rodinal (Agfa)
1:15 10' with hypo 9ml, bleach std, redev rodinal 1:20
Plus X prof 125 - Good gradation, slightly overposed suggest ½ stop,
sharper, more detailed, slightly grainy- worse than FP4, 10x grain crisper,
watch hardening, tends to scratch. Process: Rodinal 1:15 12' with hypo 6ml,
redev rodinal 1:12.5 2films. Pre-bath hardener: formalin 2%.
FP4 125 - Slightly contrasty, highlight thickness, need for bleach
subsequently, tends to frill but hardening may fix it.
PX - Thin neg and dense highlights i.e overdeveloped, gradation not bad.
Process: Bromophen 1:2 5' with hypo 6ml, ½bleach
FP4 - Dmax thin, good gradation. Process: Rodinal 1:15 with hypo 21ml,
bleach ½std, redev Ultrafin 1:10 ( a Tetanal product), acid hardener, no
pre-bath. GOOD
PXP - Development contd while bleaching, some remains at re-exposure
stage, took it out of bleach part way through for inspection, lightly
fogged. This was then bleached after completion so overall density reduced.
Appears OK otherwise. Process: Rodinal 1:15 with 6ml hypo, bleach ½ std,
redev rodinal 1:25, hardens good, no pre-bath.
VerPan - Thin and grainy, grain related to thiness. Process: Rodinal
1:15 10' with hypo 5ml, bleach ½std 5', clear by inspectio 1', redev rodinal
8'.
VP250 - reticulated, could it be the fix? Process: Rodinal 1:15 with
hypo 7ml 9½', bleach ½std, full secondary exposure 4', redev Microphen full
strength - slow but OK, finished off Bromophen1:1, 2'. Acid fix, hardener:
colour film conditioner (formalin bath).
Agfapan 100 exp200 - Very dark and contrasty, soft gelatin at start but
OK on drying (could try fix without hardener). After treatment with weak
ferricyanide to give good transparency. Good gradation at 100ASA. Try again
with extra hypo or re-use first developer. Process: Rodinal 1:15 with hypo
4ml, bleach ½std, full secdry exp. redev Bromophen 4½', very acid fix, film
conditioner.
Agafapan 400/400 - Bit thick, highlights not cleared. Used .... ? but
bleach selective. Good surface, soft gradation but OK. Process: Rodinal 1:15
with hypo 5ml, 10'. Bleach: Pot dichromate 45ml/10%soln, sulph acid (conc)
6ml, water to 500ml. Clearing sod metabisulphite by inspection.
Chemistry:
Hypo: Sodium thiosulphate 25% soln (not fixer, but just the plain
tradtional hypo crystals in solution).
Bleach (standard):
Pot permanganate 1g
Sulphuric acid conc 5ml
Water to 500ml
(For ½std increase water or reduce chemical quantities to half.)
Or, as I mixed it, for ease of use:
16ml of 25% pot permanganate soln
5ml of conc sulphuric acid (these days, try 50ml 25% sod bisulpate
soln instead)
Water to 500ml
Hydrochloric acid can't be substituted for sulphuric in this bleaching
process as the developed silver has to be removed. This is not the same as
the bleach and re-develop for contrast control where the cloride or bromide
is needed to so it can be re-developed. The silver here goes down the sink
as silver sulphate leaving the positive image behind as unexposed film. Pot
dichromate can be substituted for the permanganate and an alternative using
this is:
Stock solns:
Pot dichromate 5%
Sulphuric acid 5%
To use pour 5ml of each into a 1litre of water. (Don't worry about 5%
strength sulphuric, it doesn't taste nice, but doesn't cause any dramas).
Bleach until silver disappears - about 5 mins.
Another SAFE one (Weber):
Pot dichromate 6g
Sod bisulphate 20g
Water to 1l
Clearing bath:
I didn't record any for the permanganate bleach so it probably wasn't
needed.
The dichromate does need it: 5% sod sulphite, 5 minutes (Kodak CB-1 has 9%
soln). Some films are sensitive to clearing.
Hardener: Formalin 2%
Fogging: some peculiar chemical can be used but they may cause havoc
elsewhere around the darkroom as well as being difficult to obtain and
expensive. Bright light is needed for complete fogging and this is best done
under water: 1min 30cm from a 100w light. May need several minutes if
further away. Too much can be given.
Some of the direct positives may have been capable of producing an excellent
negative but not on lith processed as contone. If I had a proper contone
film with a long scale and a suitable developer it probably would have been
practical with a softer transparency developed out fully. The Agfa N31 would
be a good choice. Kodak commercial 4127 and probably the new Aristatone
from Freestyle may be suitable.
Lith film is to be avoided if the direct process is to work. It is made for
a purpose to form black or white, which is why the pinholes appear. The
grains of silver in it have been designed to clump together by
infectionously joining with adjacent ones during development and some
interesting graphic affects can be had with different developers. Lith film
has to be distinguished from contrasty continuous tone film which does not
develop that way and where the tonal character can be changed. Ortho films
typically are fairly contrasty.
Kevin O'Brien
Reversal processing is simpler and less fussy than all the formulations
suggest. Most are very similar; the variations are probably result more from
commercial copyright reasons than any other. One doesn't need to be a rocket
scientist to do it, it's cheap and most of us have suitable chemistry
already. A large part of the process can be carried out in dull room light.
The aim for most here is to make what would be bad slides but what, when
enlarged, would make thick, dense, long scale negs (just like we would have
liked to have done in the camera). From experimentation, confirmed by the
manufacturers, fast films - ASA 400 - can be reversed but are too soft for
slides. Films like Pan F (50ASA) give brilliant slides but we have to
reduce them so might as well take the bonus of a faster film to start.
Another bonus- the reversal process gives finer grain from a given film
because of the solvent added to the first developer. You may need to
experiment with the film speed: minimum exposure leaves maximum density on
the resulting transparency so you may gain a stop or more.
Basic steps:
(0. Optional formalin hardening bath.)
1. Develop right out in developer containing a very weak silver halide
solvent.
2. Dip rinse
3. Bleach out developed silver with acidic bath which also stops
development.
4. Clear bleach stains.
4. Render remaining silver halides developable.
5. Re-develop
6. Quick rinse
7. Quick fix/harden
8. Wash
1. First developer - The only control step.
A choice of developers is possible The aim here is full development: Ilford
PQ Universal 1+5, Bromophen, Rodinal (paraphenyldiamine), MQ, ID36, D158,
D72, Eukobrom, Paterson Universal. Strength 3-4x regular film use.
Add plain hypo 6-50ml of 25%soln i.e 2-12g/l of working developer. Faster
films need the higher amounts. Ilford recommending 12g/l for FP4 plus or
DELTA 100.
The time in the developer is important as a vigorous development is needed
and it is a race against the hypo which is trying to eat away the undevelope
d silver. The longer the development the softer the result. Changing the
quantity of hypo that would make a good slide also alters the gradation.
2. Permanganate bleach
Use your regular sulphuric or make:
Pot Permanganate 2g (½l level tsp)
Sod bisulphate 20g (rounded tbsp)
Water to 1l
It is possible to over bleach - but difficult. This bleach has only one job
to do - eat away the developed silver so it can be washed out. Once the film
has been in the bleach for 30s white light can be turned on and the rest of
the process carried out.
3. Clearing use 5% sodium sulphite or 3% sod metabisulphite (the smelly
alternative with the sharp odour).
4. This stage can act as rinse for the previous one. Keep the film wet
remove it from any spiral and expose both sides for at least 1 min to a
fluorescent light or 150w bulb at a distance of approx 30cm or 1ft. Don't
splash the bulb! Avoid sunlight - you don't want to do printing out at this
stage. Plenty of light to fully fog it - but not too actinic does the trick.
Chemical foggers work but no one recommends them. They are also very
hazardous to have around a working darkroom; a little bit of contamination
could cause a lot of regretted spoilage.
5. Re-develop in your regular paper or film developer (not lith or other
alternative process developer). Dektol 1:2 works well.
7. Rapid acid/fix hardener for regular recommended time. The time here is
mostly for the hardening. Don't over do it as bleaching may occur.
8. Final wash. Careful with drying, the film has had a hard day and you
could give your new trannies a beautiful crinkle on their emulsion. Don't
use the hair dryer. A little wetting agent or dish wash and hang to dry.
Keep the temperature as even as possible throughout all steps to avoid
reticulation and frilling, ideally within ±1ºF. If temperature control is a
problem try hardening the film with a preliminary bath of 2% formalin. The
rinses can be minimal, it seems to make little difference but it keeps the
water useage down and reduces the risk of physical damage to the film.
Stainless steel film holders and reels aren't recommended by some but it
seems again to be inconsequential.
Some experimentation is necessary to match your film/developer/hypo
gradation requirements but that should be fairly easy.
In a message dated 2/20/99, PM 05:22:54,
alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
writes:
<<Lith film is to be avoided if the direct process is to work. It is made for
a purpose to form black or white, which is why the pinholes appear.>>
Lith film can be successfully processed for low contrast, but to use it in
direct reversal process is more difficult / challenging. The reason is if we
process the film to low contrast, the high density area is not fully
developed, so after the reversal, the Dmin would be high, which will give long
printing time.
The way to try to work around it is to expose the film to near the shoulder
(but still have good separation) and then develop it to full in order to get
reasonable Dmin, but of course when you do that, the contrast will be very
high. I believe that is the reason why some are working on tests in the
attempt to tame the contrast during the re-development.
Dave S
