Strong Lith Developer

eddie · Sep 3, 2013

Has anyone used the Kodak Super RT? I mixed some, yesterday, but haven't had a chance to give it a good try.

schrochem · Sep 3, 2013

Cool to hear Thomas. That's what got me to try it stronger and stronger. As most know fomatone can be really colorful in lith. Well I just want a warm tone and not the links and oranges. So I started increasing the strength. I also played with adding kbr and other stuff but this came out to work for me. I think there are lots of paths to take in this regard. Like I said earlier it's quite cheap to use a boat load of the arista compared to paper costs...

Scott

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 3, 2013

eddie said:
Has anyone used the Kodak Super RT? I mixed some, yesterday, but haven't had a chance to give it a good try.

Eddie, I may be missing out, but I have used the same store bought Arista Lith for years, and while I have tried the Fotospeed LD-20 and others in the past, I'm just stuck there.

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 3, 2013

Here's a scan of the print that I took an iPhone snap of last night.

Ilford MGWT, 9x12" size (so it's scanned in two pieces and stitched together), Arista Lith 250ml A / 250ml B / 2700ml aqua / 1000ml old brown. Negative with strong contrast. Dev time about 4 minutes.

schrochem · Sep 5, 2013

Lots of cool things to do. Just stretch a few things this way and that. Crazy. But cool.
It's all in a warm tonal range that I find nice.

Scott

schrochem · Sep 7, 2013

Made one last night. Toned with selenium and it8.

Scott

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 7, 2013

Nice work, Scott. I want to get to toning my latest prints, but I can't seem to find the time. Drives me nuts.

Keep up the good work. Make good art...

Mateo · Sep 7, 2013

Kodak super rt is my main developer.

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 7, 2013

Mateo said:
Kodak super rt is my main developer.

Mateo,

I don't wish to be lazy, but if you have the recipe handy, can you share it?
What is your reason for choosing this developer? What dilution do you recommend?

Thanks.

schrochem · Sep 7, 2013

Like Thomas I'm curious about your dilutions.
Especially what you used on this beauty.
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

eddie · Sep 7, 2013

I'm curious, too. I've mixed some RT, according to the Rudman book, but am not satisfied with the results.

schrochem · Sep 7, 2013

Eddie what papers did you try?
If it was in Rudman's book I'd bet the dilution is more for 'standard' lith developing?
The Big Sur pic of Mateo's really looks like a normal developer with no lithing.
I'm really curious about that.
Start out with a normal developer that liths more and more as it depletes and along the way the colors change.
That's what I'm sorta doing with the Arista and Fomatone.
The color changes are all favorable to my pallet.
The lith is there just small at first (instead of zero) then gets more and more lithy...
I'm actually doing some right now.
Taking a break. I think I'm gonna try this mix with fomalux and see what happens.

eddie · Sep 7, 2013

Scott- I tried some Foma, MGWT, and Forte.
I'm in the darkroom, too. I found some Arista Lith chems. I added an ounce of A&B to the RT, just for kicks. First print on MGWT. Very fast development... Doesn't appear to look "lithy" but I like it. I'm about to see what happens when I tone it.

schrochem · Sep 8, 2013

Lots of fun last night.
It's just cool to get a wide variety of prints. I was working with the same negative and my small batch of developer. It will shift it's properties within 3-4 prints.
I did some fomatone and got similar results to those posted above.
I switched to fomalux and several more stops of light....development for it was more in the 5min range.
However, it has some great color. Selenium kills that color fast.
Before starting over with fresh strong developer I made this one.

It's definitely lithy but I LOVE what it's doing with the light. i'm just mesmerized by how subtle some of the light play is. Check out the to strong rays to the left on the side of the building. Those were downright cool in some of the more contrasty prints.
I can see why fomalux is a contact paper. It's much softer than the fomatone.
I'll probably scan some of the others from the session for comparison.

schrochem · Sep 8, 2013

Thomas and Eddie,are y'all using this developer at room temp or heating it?
I just using whatever the temp of the tap water is..... ;-) 75-80F I'd guess.

Also,all the prints above have been straight prints without any dodging or burning.
They seem to fit with my pyro negs quite well.

schrochem · Sep 8, 2013

Here's fomalux in 'fresher' dev

Here's the fomatone variant

schrochem · Sep 8, 2013

Another variant. Fomalux, fresher dev, probably a very quick dip in selenium, then bleached and toned in IT8

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 9, 2013

Well, my darkroom is in the uninsulated basement of my house, in Minnesota where winters are sub human. My darkroom ends up being something like 50 degrees.
So I have no choice but to heat it. I use a water jacket around the developer, in order to get the developer above 70 degrees.

I have to be honest here and confess that I don't really have temperature control of my paper developers. I'm usually somewhere between 60 and 75 degrees, a 'working range' that is not ideal, but I have no choice since I can't afford to install any expensive darkroom sinks with temperature control or any of that flannel. It is what it is.

Dodging and burning. I don't have any negatives that don't benefit from a little edge burning or small dodge to emphasize a particular element of the picture. While straight prints can look nice, I always feel obligated to the photography gods to make the best print that I possibly can. So I get a little bit picky about the output.

schrochem · Sep 9, 2013

Good to know Thomas.
Yes, I don't know the temps for paper dev either. I sort of know what my tap runs because I always have to add ice to it to get it 70F for film.
My 'enlarger' is a Beseler cadet II and is a rickety, inexact piece of....but it does a decent job and takes up little space (and was cheap )
BTW the bleach I use with thiourea is 50g potassium ferricyanide, 50g potassium bromide in 1 liter water and then do a 50-100x on that. I believe it was too weak at that dilution and took forever (in my mind anyway).
I'll try again, maybe tonight.

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 9, 2013

schrochem said:
BTW the bleach I use with thiourea is 50g potassium ferricyanide, 50g potassium bromide in 1 liter water and then do a 50-100x on that. I believe it was too weak at that dilution and took forever (in my mind anyway).
I'll try again, maybe tonight.

Exactly what takes forever? Are you fully bleaching the print back?

schrochem · Sep 9, 2013

I think I was probably going too far when I tried. So it was taking a long time. Are you just going til it starts to loose it's color and stopping?

Scott

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 9, 2013

schrochem said:
I think I was probably going too far when I tried. So it was taking a long time. Are you just going til it starts to loose it's color and stopping?

Scott

I bleach for only about 20-30 seconds, for just a touch in the highlights.
Then the selenium will surprise.

schrochem · Sep 9, 2013

Aha!
Now I see...
Very cool.
I have some reprinting to do.
ALOT....
;-)

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 10, 2013

schrochem said:
Aha!
Now I see...
Very cool.
I have some reprinting to do.
ALOT....
;-)

This will open up a new world for you.

Kobin · Sep 10, 2013

I bought this:

http://www.qcsupply.com/250200-kane-electric-baby-pig-heat-mat-135-36.html?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CLDLqvGmwbkCFfFj7AodZTgAlQ[/URL]

to place tempering baths on while developing E6. They come in various sizes, and would be handy to keep paper trays warm, seems to me.

Kobin

Strong Lith Developer

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