Ilford Galerie Fiber dev'd w/ Ansco 130, Neutol WA, or Dektol, thoughts?

[George Hart]

George, I have never heard of either of those. What qualities do you attribute to them that make them your preferred developer, as opposed to more common developers?

Bryan, I speak from personal experience not with great authority, but unlike some developers that bang through the tones rather quickly, Bromophen takes longer and handles the highlight details in particular with more finesse. It's tonality that I am after in my prints. But of course, the differences between prints made with different developers is much less than with film.

[Corran]

Thanks George, I am just curious (and I do like to try different things).

I tried a developer some time ago that was slow-working - like 6-10 minutes for development slow. It didn't work for me due to this personally, especially as I didn't, at the time, see a difference in the prints compared to other developers. But that is interesting nevertheless. I think we are all after good tonality in our prints though .

[Drew Wiley]

It all depends on image color. My own incentive for using a pricey bromide paper like Galerie is to obtain a cold tone, so I develop it in amidol then tone it in gold chloride. It develops slowly and takes 4 or 5 min to go to completion. Dektol gives a slightly greenish tone, and 130 is a bit warm. Otherwise, I find it less versatile than current premium VC papers. I'm glad it's still around, but use it sparingly.

[Chuck Pere]

With graded papers the way to get some contrast adjustment is to use both a normal developer and a low contrast developer. Adjust the time in each for the contrast you want. The old standby is dektol and selectol-soft. You could use Ansco 130 and 120. I also like Bromophen or Ilford Universal PQ. Seems softer working than dektol with nice tonality.

[Corran]

I understand the ways to lower contrast. How about increasing contrast though?

I notice that with Ilford MGIV in Dektol I can increase contrast easily by prolonging development. I tried that with Galerie with a negative that was a bit low contrast and it didn't seem to push the contrast even with very long development times. I could be wrong.

This has been a helpful and interesting discussion.

[Merg Ross]

I understand the ways to lower contrast. How about increasing contrast though?

I notice that with Ilford MGIV in Dektol I can increase contrast easily by prolonging development. I tried that with Galerie with a negative that was a bit low contrast and it didn't seem to push the contrast even with very long development times. I could be wrong.

This has been a helpful and interesting discussion.

Increase the Hydroquinone for greater contrast. An old thread.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...eveloper/page2

[Corran]

Thanks Merg! That's very helpful.

[Merg Ross]

Thanks Merg! That's very helpful.

Corran, thanks for starting this thread. I have not used the Galerie paper. You may like printing on Classic using 130. Bear in mind, chemistry is a very important part of the process; a slight tweak can make a difference.

I await your further discoveries and comments.

[Corran]

I am learning here, so please take my comments with a grain of salt .
I've made great strides since my first prints made in my bedroom at night and washing outside with a hose, but I certainly don't have the breadth of experience with many different papers, chemicals, and toners to speak with much authority comparatively. Perhaps one day.

I was hesitant to post at first because the old "try it yourself" mantra would be all I got, which is fair, but I do like to note others' experience.

[plaubel]

I understand the ways to lower contrast. How about increasing contrast though?

Rollei RHC 1+4 is fine for increasing contrast.
This is my standard developer.
Foma's Hydrochinon 1+1 instead of 1+3 developer works nearly the same way.

Printing darker followed by bleaching the highlights is a possibility, too.

Take a lith developer for strong increase of contrast.
Protecting the shadows with Selen followed by bleaching and then redeveloping cares about the warm and brown lith tones, and may increase contrast further, depending on your technique.

Since you always tone with Selen as said before, I don't have to mention this step.

You could do something to your negative, too, for increasing a print.
Redeveloping, reducing, increasing, retouching...

Ritchie