Staining developer with Bluefire Police film

dslater · May 9, 2007

Hi all,
a while ago, I tried the Bluefire police film using the supplied Bluefire HR developer. I Bluefire HR developer is an extremely low contrast developer - I believe it is similar to POTA. Anyway, I was wondering if there is a way to make a staining developer that works like POTA but adds image stain?

Dan

Tom Hoskinson · May 9, 2007

Consider using the Windisch Catechol Compensating developer. It is a staining and tanning developer.

Solution A:
Water 100ml
Catechol 8 grams
Sodium Sulfite (crystal) 2.5 grams

Solution B:

Water 100ml
Sodium Hydroxide 10 grams

Tank development: 500ml water + 12ml Solution A + 7ml solution B.
Develop for 15 to 20 minutes at 68 F with continuous agitation.

Page 421, Grant Haist: Modern Photographic processing, Volume 1, 1979

dslater · May 9, 2007

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the suggestion - this is exactly what I was looking for. Photographer's Formulary has this developer as well as a modified version of it that they claim works especially well with Kodak Tech-pan. Do you have any experience with the modified version? Which one would you recommend?

Dan

Tom Hoskinson · May 10, 2007

dslater said:
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the suggestion - this is exactly what I was looking for. Photographer's Formulary has this developer as well as a modified version of it that they claim works especially well with Kodak Tech-pan. Do you have any experience with the modified version? Which one would you recommend?

Dan

Dan, I have sucessfully used the unmodified version of the Windisch formula to develop Kodak Tech Pan. I have not tried the P.F.
modified version. Easy enough to try both versions.

According to Anchell and Troop, the P.F. modification reverses the proportions of sulfite and catechol in Solution A.

Anchell and Troop also note that reducing the amount of sulfite in the A solution will increase the tanning and sharpness, but may also decrease speed.

For low contrast, Maxim Muir recommends using a 10% sodium carbonate B solution instead of sodium hydroxide. I haven't tried this yet - but it makes sense to me.

dslater · May 10, 2007

Tom Hoskinson said:
Dan, I have sucessfully used the unmodified version of the Windisch formula to develop Kodak Tech Pan. I have not tried the P.F.
modified version. Easy enough to try both versions.

According to Anchell and Troop, the P.F. modification reverses the proportions of sulfite and catechol in Solution A.

Anchell and Troop also note that reducing the amount of sulfite in the A solution will increase the tanning and sharpness, but may also decrease speed.

For low contrast, Maxim Muir recommends using a 10% sodium carbonate B solution instead of sodium hydroxide. I haven't tried this yet - but it makes sense to me.

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the additional info. I think I might try the sodium carbonate modification - am I correct in assuming a sodium carbonate B solution would have a long shelf life?

Dan

juan · May 10, 2007

Dan, I use sodium carbonate in other developers. It has a long life in solution, but I find it easier to calculate the correct dry amount and simply add it to the working solution without going to the trouble of mixing a B solution.
juan

Staining developer with Bluefire Police film

dslater

Tom Hoskinson

dslater

Tom Hoskinson

dslater

juan

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