Special developer

[rafaelmotta]

Hello everybody, in an old post I was looking for help because of my problems developing the Kodabrome RC.
On 12-18-2014 I, in a last desperate struggle against this paper, I made the traditional D-76 formula (that I don't like, because don't give the high contrast that I'm looking for), and some sort of miracle happens. I have images on that paper, the same that was blackening at the ilford ID14.

I believe that the Carbonate turns the development very strong for this paper (develops Ilford's and Kentmere papers in less than 30 seconds) and using the D-76 that uses Tetraborate as the alkali slow down the reaction.

I want to know if there is any paper developer that substitutes the Sodium Carbonate for the borax, because with the D-76 I have brown results (like I had made a weak selenium bath).

Can I substitute the borax for the carbonate in any developer formula?

 

[pdeeh]

D-76 is a developer formulated for film, not paper.
It'll develop paper, but the results you are getting are not surprising.
Why don't you use a paper developer?

 

[rafaelmotta]

Because the undiluted Dektol was blackening this paper.

 

[pentaxuser]

How old is the Kodabrome RC? When you say you have images with D76 do you mean just images, i.e. not prints as they should be. The problem may be connected to the age of the paper. While D76 may be working it is suspicious that other proper paper developers are not.

It doesn't sound as if the problem lies with normal paper developers. In my 10 years here I have never heard of a situation where normal paper developers do not produce good prints with paper that is as the paper manufacturer designed it to be.

pentaxuser

 

[Rick A]

All the Kodabrom paper I've had in the last five years is age fogged. That being said, dilute your D-72 as usual and add some benzotriazole as a restrainer to help keep it from graying. You will have to do a little testing to get the percentage needed.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Even if you are able to prevent the paper from fogging, you will have lost a lot of contrast. If you're trying to save this paper, it's better to use it as paper negatives where some fog is not the end of the world.

 

[rafaelmotta]

Thank you guys for the feedback.

Today I was testing it again, and I did the D72 without carbonate (I substitute that for 20g of borax), in a 1:1.5 dilution I get contrast in the Kodabrome. The Images look pretty cool, and the fog was gone (sure, there's absolutely not pure white or pure black, but is very close to the tonality).

I solve the problems of the brownish image by making the F-5 fixer (I was using pure Thiosulfate, and I think that was the cause of the almost sepia tone).

If you want I can upload the results tomorrow.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

If you cannot get a useful print using D-72 with the addition of benzotrizole then it really is time to discard this paper. When paper emulsions were changed to eliminate toxic metal compounds of cadmium and lead the storage life of papers was severely effected. Kodak hasn't made papers for years so this paper is old. Ditch it, it just isn't worth the effort.

 

[MDR]

You can try to do some lith printing Kodabromide should work in lith even with fog.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

You can try to do some lith printing Kodabromide should work in lith even with fog.

That's another good suggestion. I've used Kodabromide successfully with lith chemistry.

Or do paper negatives as I suggested earlier. If you have an 8x10 camera, they provide some pretty interesting results. Fogged paper can be preferable to use for this purpose since due to its much lowered contrast.