Search for Perceptol facts

gnashings said:

My poor head - now I am confused! I tried to always keep my agitation pattern as consitant as possible to eliminate an extra variable when I try to fine tune my process based on the results I get. It has so far been working for me - is this Perceptol 1+3 specific advice or just in general?
I do appreciate everyones input - thanks!

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Well - I'm not quite sure what you mean by specific vs. general. But 1+3 tends to give much better acutance. It's slightly less 'realistic' in the tonal sense - but there's a very soft, beautiful ETCHED quality to the 'lines' of separate tonal areas (sorry - the best way I can think of to put it). Since dev times are so long with Perceptol 1+3 (I was wrong actually - I looked up some data - and it looks like it'd be closer to 20 mins. - but you'll have to test for yourself since this combo isn't on the charts) - it's nearly stand development. That being the case - I was suggesting erratic agitation patterns so that you won't get any patterns forming on the film. The whole trick is to break up the surface layer of dev. on the film (like a static laminar layer) and get fresh dev onto the surface of the film every few minutes without marks from, say, sprocket holes or film edges. Maybe have two separate patterns that you alternate with. When I'm developing rollfilm - I normally BANG the tank on a hard surface with as much force as I reasonably can (without damaging anything) just to provide a bit of extra impetus to get the exhausted dev off the film. Just my 2 cents.

tony lockerbie said:

I use pan f and rate it at 25 and develop it in perceptol 1:1. This was a great combination, I say was because I can no longer get perceptol!

Do you people in the land of the free have a secret source of have you just been hoarding.

I also cannot find a recipe for perceptol, does anyone know where I can find one?

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Yes to both, Tony.

The secret USA source of Perceptol is Kodak who have concealed it under the name of Microdol-X.

Roland Anderson's Recipe for a Microcodol-X substitute can be found (with Apugger comments and suggestions) in the APUG Chemical Recipes:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Just for the record, Perceptol should be orderable now.

BBMOR said:

Hello

i have a recepie for perceptol
for one liter
5 gr of metol
100 gr of Na sulfit
30 gr Nacl (without iodium)
3.5 gr Calgon or Hexametaphosphate

have a good mixing

jm

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Hi, this recipe (with Sodium Citrate instead of Sodium Hexametaphospate) was published in the APUG Chemical Recipes by Gerald Koch.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The Film Developing Cookbook by Anchell and Troop p69-70 favors a version with sodium chloride as a close approximation to Microdol.They say the Dignan formula has been incorrectly published as equivalent to Microdol-X.

I've been using the A&T version for some time now and it works quite well. I use the same times listed for Mic-X.

What a great site, information everywhere! Thanks Peter but I will try mixing my own to see how that goes, if it doesn't work out I'll get back to you.
I still can't understand how you have it over there as Ilford supposedly stopped making it- or so I was told.

Tony - I was in Vanbar in Sydney a few weeks ago and there was a full shelf of Perceptol and so I picked up a few boxes to go with my "souvenir" box from about 2 years ago. A very fine developer. Some of my favourite negatives to print are perceptol developed. Mainly FP4 and HP5 at 1+1.
p.s. Anyone know why it only comes in 1 litre boxes?

tony lockerbie said:

I still can't understand how you have it over there as Ilford supposedly stopped making it- or so I was told.

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They were able to start making it again toward the end of 2005. On 02-NOV-2005, Simon Galley from Ilford posted, "I can confirm PERCEPTOL is back in stock at ILFORD and has been shipped to our distributors Worldwide"

Tony Egan said:

p.s. Anyone know why it only comes in 1 litre boxes?

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It used to be available in 5 liter boxes also, but I assume they didn't sell enough of that, so they didn't bring that size back when they reintroduced the product.

I have been using Perceptol with Delta 400 (@EI 200), FP4+(@EI80~100) and PanF(@EI25). Basically, Perceptol serves me too things: grain control and contrast control.

Why using a fine grain film (PanF) with a fine grain developer (Perceptol)?

My main reason is not grain control, but contrast control. PanF is a very contrasty film that you get highlight block out easily. Perceptol (using Metol) is weak enough as a compensating developer that helps me to tame the contrasty nature of PanF (though PanF+Perceptol will provides you less punchy, acutance effect, than Rodinal and Ilfosol-S do). Thus, sometimes people will criticize my landscape work using this combo, and loves my silky-smooth and grain-less portraiture (yet, in both cases, people are stunned by the silky-smooth look). I have heard that PanF+Perceptol (1+3) gives the best result, yet I never try it. Because 1+3 requires a very lengthy developing time that makes temperature control difficult for me. Yes, you can't see any different between 1+0 and 1+1 with PanF. Coz' PanF is very fine grain from the start.

Hope these info help.