Revisiting Kodak's DK-60a (a nostalgia trip)

Kodak's DK-60a was my first film developer, in my teenage darkroom in eastern Canada, circa 1961 to about 1965. If my memories serve me accurately, the processing times with 120 Verichrome Pan were about 7 minutes at 20C/68F. The results were, as I recall, quite okay. I had a Yashica D TLR and a cheap Japanese meter and I shot weddings and often printed to 8x10 for albums and gift photos. No-one complained. Last year I finally dug up some of my old negatives and reprinted, again to 8x10. Sharp as anything. Almost no grain. I generally overexposed everything by up to half a stop back then, so contrast was good.

By 1963 I had acquired an old Kodak darkroom scale and weights and found a supplier of raw chemicals, and I was mixing my own DK-60a. A year or so later I read an article by the late Ron Spillman on two bath film development and then for a few years I used the Leica two bath for my roll films,perhaps wrongly as I now believe it was only for 35mm films. But again, with okay results.

In the late '60s I switched to D-76 and I have never looked back. I had a brief romance with Rodinal in the '70s and then with Agfa Rodinal Special in the '80s. My Rod Spec negs mostly print OK. Most of what I souped in Rodinal I now consider to be unprintable. Sad, but that's life. My mistake.

This said, now for largely nostalgic reasons I want to try DK-60a again, after half a century. Does anyone in APUG-land still use it? Someone I knew once referred to it as Kodak's original version of HC-110, which seemed, well, improbable to me. HC-110 I believe is (was, in Australia) an entirely different product, much more flexible and variable than DK-60a.

D-76 still serves me well, but I wonder what DK-60a would do with the TMax emulsions or with Fuji Acros.

I'm curious to find answers to the following questions -

Are there any advantages at all to using DK-60a in this modern age?

Are there any films more suited to this developer than others? Older emulsions, I would think. Efke (sadly now discontinued, tho I still have about 30 rolls) or maybe Fomapan?

Can DK-60a be modified in mixing from raw chemicals, to better suit modern emulsions?

I did fail chemistry in high school, hence the last question.

All your good advice about DK-60a will be greatly appreciated, and certainly enjoyed.

Oops. A brief follow-up post. I just Googled this site for info on DK-60a, and found several good threads. One noted the old (my copy at home is a second edition, dated I think, 1946 or 1947), 'This Is Photography' book by Kodak, which devoted two pages with illustrations on mixing variations of DK-60a. Unfortunately, the book is in my library at home in Australia, and I'm overseas now for the next few months. So.

The APUG threads on this developer are mostly about 10-12 years old and I would still like input from anyone here who may still be using this developer.

Tests are the best way to go, I suppose, using the Kodak data as a guide. I won't be able to do this for a few more months until I return to Australia and reconnect with my home darkroom.

Again, many thanks.

IIRC DK-60a was one of those developers for which Kodak developed HC-110 for commercial labs. It accounts for one of those weird HC-110 dilutions that people ask about. Don't remember which one.

DK60 & DK60a were derived from the Wellington & Ward Fine Grain developer which predates D76, however with a higher pH due to the 20g/l Sodium Metaborate grain is increased compared to D76. DK50 is fairly similar but with less sulphite amd metaborate.

Ian

I would be very interested to see that Kodak variations on DK60a when you get a chance to post it.
Gerald Koch's insight on HC-110 is most intriguing. I must remember to test more of the more esoteric dilutions.
Perhaps the desire for Kodak to design and make HC-110 was based on commercial labs wanting to move continuously mixing DK60 from scratch and what I could imagine the potential variables involved.

Many thanks, everyone, for your super fast responses. A lot of truly useful info here.

(RidingWaves wrote) "Perhaps the desire for Kodak to design and make HC-110 was based on commercial labs wanting to move continuously mixing DK60 from scratch and what I could imagine the potential variables involved."

Yes,true. Especially when mixing sufficient lots to fill a 50 gallon deep tank.

I recall visiting the largest photo lab in Moncton, New Brunswick (Canada) in 1962 or 1963 (Reid's Photographics, if anyone in APUG other than me hails from over there and remembers them), also the Wilcox Studio, a smaller operation with a deep tank film room. Both used DK-60a developer and replenisher packaged by Kodak Canada and sold in large cans to make 50 gallons. Reid's had containers of these and fixer stacked up four deep along a darkroom wall. I bought mine in one gallon cans and I remember paying 52 cents for developer and a few cents more for replenisher. Kodabromide paper cost a whopping $9 per hundred 8x10 sheets. Reid's kindly gave me the 10% pro discount on everything I bought there, which meant a lot to an unworldly small town 14 year old.

I will be test processing TMax and Acros test films in my home darkroom in October or November when I return from Asia, and I will definitely update this thread again with details of my results. If anyone has data they would care to pass out about these films in DK-60a, I would be truly grateful to have it.

Was this one of the original "push" developers?

DK-60a is a conventional MQ developer. It is not going to produced any miraculous effects. It was developed for deep tank commercial processing.