Which developer for old glass plates?

[moggi1964]

I plan to shoot a project starting this year on my Voigtlander Bergheil 9x12 using old stock dry plates from various points in the last century.

I typically use DDX at 1:4 for my B&W film processing but wondered if there might be a better option for these old plates? Would they benefit from a less 'aggressive' solution (DDX 1:9) or something like a Pyrocat/510 Pyro?

When I shot some old (1960's) plates on my 4x5 I used DDX and shot them at ISO2.5 and they came out okay but I wanted to check if a different developer might be better suited.

Thanks.

 

[ntenny]

I’ve used HC-110 for fog control with old plates. Older ones are often ortho, so you can develop by inspection, but for pan plates you’ll have to do some guessing.

-NT

 

[moggi1964]

I’ve used HC-110 for fog control with old plates. Older ones are often ortho, so you can develop by inspection, but for pan plates you’ll have to do some guessing.

-NT

Thank you.

Fortunately I have 36 of the HP3 from the same source so I am hopeful that after a few experiments I should be able to get it right and have enough plates left for the actual pictures.