Originally Posted by
Tim Povlick
Greetings to the Group.
I hope someone can shed some insight into this problem. Searching the group didn't turn up anything relevant so new thread time.
I've tried Catechol Film Developer, specifically the Windisch from Formulary after reading about the magic of Catechol and seeing some images posted here. The range in stops is the big draw. A year or so ago I tried it but the negs came out very dense, with edges of film also dense -- base fog? The edges were as as dense as the negative should have been. After some tries I gave up on Cat. I recently tried it again with same results. The stock solution is mixed per the instruction sheet using distilled water. If developed as long as specified (10 minutes) same over dense / fog. If, however one drops development time to 3 minutes - viola the negs are fully developed and the exposure range is amazing (an indoor scene with windows shows good exp for both in/out). It seems after 4 minutes of development the spent developer turns to black ink and then the useless density builds on the negative. Question is why such a huge difference in development time. Film - TMY-II and Delta Pro 100 in 4x5, using mainly a patterson tank in taco method. The agitation doesn't seem to have a huge effect (perhaps oxidizes the developer faster). Temp is 72F. I've tried many developers (Xtol to PMK) without any problems.
Also, has anyone tried the formulas for Catechol (TD-2?) that are in listed in "The Film Developing Cookbook" last page of chapter on Tanning Developers? I've been trying these and the development time is more per the book w/o the high density. Once the Windisch is used I'll go back to the ones in the book. One big reason is no Sodium Hydroxide to handle. What does 'drain cleaner' bring to the party? The formulas in the aforementioned book do not use it. Can anyone kindly comment on the expected difference in these developers?
The intended use is to contact print and / or drum scan. For alternative (Van Dyke) printing the negs are just to flat.
Many Thanks,
Tim
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