Starting point for Benzotriazole quantity in Amidol?

[Jarin Blaschke]

Hello:

I'm contact printing my first 8x10 negs onto Lodima soon, and am trying concoct an Amidol developer with robust contrast and a cool to neutral tone. I'd like to use benzotriazole completely (no bromide), but have no idea how much to use as a starting point, as almost all formulas use bromide, so I have no reference. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how much benzo. I should start with?

Otherwise I'm using Michael Smith's developer as a base (since it's his paper), with maybe a little extra Amidol to cool it town, so I'll try:

With 1L of water:
Sodium Sulfite - 30g
Citric acid - 3g
Benzotriazole - ____???
Amidol - 10g

Fein's amidol has .8g of benzo, but the loads of citric acid and sulfite in that formula probably introduce a lot of other variables, so I'm reticent to use that as a starting point.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Gerald C Koch]

The citric acid is used to keep the developer on the acid side of neutral. This helps to preserve the developer during use from oxidation. You can do this with Amidol for it is the only developing agent that will work in acid solution. Other than lowering the pH the citric acid has no other function.

 

[juan]

Look at Michael's developer for enlarging paper. He adjusts the KBr and adds a bit of benzo. Back when I used Kentmere Kentona, I had a problem with it yellowing because of the high processing temperature I had to use. I made adjustments to that formula of Michael's with good results.
michaelandpaula.com, Azo, Formulas