SPLIT development or DEVELOPMENT MIX anyone do this ?

i know it has been discussed before that some people mix developers or use
2 different developers or baths to develop their film.
there are recipes for divided D 23 (and probably others ? )
that use a developer and then a borax bath as a #2 bath
and there are people who mix a developer cocktail like rodinal and xtol ( i think i got it right )
which gives the best of both worlds.

i've been mixing caffenol and a smidgen of print developer ( ansco 130 or dektol ) for almost 10 years
and get fantastic results .. i also use ansco130 (now dektol/D72 ) as a 1st developer for half the time
and Dcaffenol (caffenol and dektol) ( i used to use caf130 (caffenol+ansco130) ) as a 2nd bath ...

anyone else mixing developers and getting results that work for them ?

Well, I've been having success with divided D23 (1:0) with TriX both 35 and 120. Typically I use D23 with 5 seconds of inversion (about two good inversions) every 30 seconds for 4 minutes and then Sodium Carbonate (10 grams/liter) same time and agitation. I discovered that intermittent agitation gets more density or better mid-tones at least compared to constant agitation. I found Borax to be too compensating for my typical exposures. I intend to try what you suggested starting with D23 (1:0) for 3 or 4 minutes same as split and finishing with a 1:3 dilution of heavily used and replenished D23 to full development.

I think I'll just keep my life simple... most likely always Rodinal 1:50 or 1:100 if I want sharpness/acuity and always XTOL 1:1 if I want smoothness. I'm too old, feeble-minded and grumpy to fight with so many variables.

hi michael

while i referred to it as the best of both worlds, i realize it creates a totally different developer
which some folks might describe as the best of both worlds.
for example ...
as you probably know, i have processed film in ansco 130 for about 15 years, maybe more.
i have used it in a variety of different ways, stand, rotary, trays, small tanks, varied agitation different dilutions
and got very nice negatives no matter the film, iso &c it worked great.
when i began using caffenol c ( teaspoon method ) about 10 years ago i used that in a variety of differnt ways too
( same thing, rotary, hand tank, trays stand &c ) and while i liked it, it lacked something i wanted and the
"weird thinness of caffenol film made me nervous )so i decided to see what would happen if i added a splash of
full strength ansco130 into the coffee ... i got the contrast from the 130 and the beautiful stain and grain from the coffee
and it WAS a combination of the 2, and the best of both worlds .... ( i currently do the same thing with D72 )
nowadays i use 2 different developers ( one after the other ) and the contrast starts in first and all the other tones slowly come in
with the caffenol c. i am not sure how long i will continue to do this, maybe until i get bored, maybe not ?
but it is useful to be able to process film, any film, outdated or fresh, any iso, color/b-w in the same can or tray and have it come out fine
because i trust my developer and its magic ...
regarding using the water bath "trick" i wouldn't really call that a divided developer sort of thing ( maybe it is just me ? )
but using a water bath, for example when ansco 130 and azo paper ... it is used to slow down development and reduce the contrast
by diluting the developer ( maybe i am wrong ? ) and it really isn't a chemical componant like a borax afterbath, or a sodium carbonate "soak"
or fuming film in HOHO ( or ding dongs, or devil dogs ) ...
or using an entirely different 2nd developer like using dektol and selectol soft to develop prints ( or using split filtration with vc papers ) &c ...

you and i know about divided developers, or split development or split filtration, but i have a feeling the majority of people on this website haven't ever heard of it
or tried it &c ... and maybe this thread has generated interest ...

i'm not suggesting people take their prized perfectly exposed negatives and stick it in some strange developer, combination of developers or
2 or 3 or 4 baths in series without knowing what they will do ... in my case i have used these developers for a long time and i haven't ever processed
anything important in something i wouldn't know what the results might look like so

YMMV

Michael R 1974 said:

I prefer fuming in Yoo-hoo

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Can we have the recipe and times please.

hopefully it contains no whey or milk products, my film
tends to be lactose intolerant

Xmas said:

Can we have the recipe and times please.

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you might be able to get away with less than 7 mins, but it has to be about 70ºF

I have been splitting my PMK development into two equal amounts from day one, for example 7 min one liter , dump , then 7min one liter to finish off a 14 min development.

hi bob

when you do that, do the results come out differently than if you didn't switch to "fresh developer" halfway through ?
does PMK break down faster than other developers ?

I have found that this developer exhausts quickly...

When I first started we would load up a full run and process with one litre for the whole time, negs looked a bit thin, I decided to try two dev method and the same film was much thicker ..

so I have never gone back.

Bob

jnanian said:

hi bob

when you do that, do the results come out differently than if you didn't switch to "fresh developer" halfway through ?
does PMK break down faster than other developers ?

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John to add to this, back then I was processing 220 film a lot so it really drank up the developer , so we determined that our results were better by splitting the time in two with two complete litres of fresh dev.

sounds like a great system bob.
not just for pmk
but i am sure using developer, and then fresh developer halfway through
for other-stuff that might oxidize fast ( or maybe use a different dilution of the same developer for a different effect )

i've never had the good fortune of processing 220 film and never knew it guzzled as much as it did

- john

Mixing developers is a bit like football's forward pass. Three things can happen and two of them are bad.

Gerald C Koch said:

Mixing developers is a bit like football's forward pass. Three things can happen and two of them are bad.

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hi jerry

what is bad about mixing 2 different developers ?

i just made some contact prints last night using dilute dektol ( maybe 1:3 ) and 5 month old seasoned caffenol with a few oz of spent dektol in it.
i made the exposures, in the caffenol for 20 seconds, then in the dektol until the blacks started to appear then back in the caffenol to finish it off.
if i developed straight in the caffenol it might have taken 2 mins for the image to appear, if i had just developed in the dektol, it would have been all contrast
and the image would have developed out in 30 seconds ... 1 used to do this with different amounts of "spent" ansco 130 and paper negatives a few years ago.
in a spent tray black as coca cola and back adn forth until the image looked good, but caffenol seems to work as well.