The Dulovits film developer

[JPD]

The famous hungarian photographer Jenö Dulovits, 1903-1972, (also of the Duto soft filter fame) was fascinated by strong light and shadows, which can be seen in many of his photographs. He invented a film developer that would tame the contrast:

For 1 liter:

4,8 g Metol
90 g Sodium sulfite, anhydrous
6,4 g Potassium metabisulfite

Is it a good formula, and how would it work today with modern films?

 

[relistan]

Looks like it has about 2/3 the metol of D-23 and will maybe have a slightly lower pH. Because of the lower amount of metol vs D-23 I would suspect times between those of D-23 and D-23 1+1 but results a little more solvent than D-23 because it will spend more time in the same amount of sulfite. Should work with modern films but I’m not sure how different it will look from D-23.

 

[Rudeofus]

I'd rather compare it to D-25, which is a less alkaline version of D-23. Since there hasn't been a point in sacrificing speed for grain in a long time, I would not expect all that much from it.

 

[JPD]

I have tried a similar developer, Agfa 14:

4,5 g Metol
85 g Sodium sulfite, anhydrous
1,2 g Sodium carbonate, monohydrate
0,5 g Potassium bromide

It's soft working fine grain developer, and almost to opposite to Rodinal when developing the old, real, Agfa APX 100. Just by looking at the negatives you can easily tell it's not an accutance developer... It gets better diluted 1+2.

I have never tried D-23, but I have always wondered how it can produce negatives similar to D-76 and be very sharp when diluted 1+3, when a developer like Agfa 14, and probably the Dulovits formula, which also have Metol, but less sulfite, struggles with sharpness.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1273/4711177019_c884e22ac4_b.jpg