...when my wife lets me have it! Using slimt first time. Also trying out HC110 solution B. Will combine slimt with variius developers. HC-110, TMAX dev, and 2-bath. Will be more rigorous next round. Just getting familiar with slimt.
Second photo shows how I do long rinses.
The first two in HC-110B only with standard development looks good. Plenty of contrast and density. Will know more when I scan in and look on light able.
Colornof bleach bath after 5 min. Tmax100 presoaked for 2 min prior
So slimt works well with Tmax and hc110, jury out on Pyrocat 2-bath. It worked but didn't. Uneven development and very thin neg. I will redo this developer with slimt to be sure I didn't do something wrong. Incorrect dilution use of photo lot, etc.
One thing I have noticed is the sp445 is inconsistent on developing negatives. Sometimes they are great and sometimes one edge gets swirl marks. Long edge. It is for sure eithernnnporing in developer or pouring it out and the short time before the stop bath is poured in. I am thinking it is on pouring out the developer and it stands for a second before stop bath is added. Having said that, it means t happens when pouring in.
Think I will try tray processing next or an expert drum, but tray seems most fool proof.
If you are getting uneven development on one side then it might be necessary to dilute your developer and process longer. the few seconds of fill and dump will have less impact.
Two bath pyrocat should already be compensating, not sure why you want to do both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
http://www.searing.photography
Steve, as Kachel notes, various films and developers respond very differently to SLIMT. Having been through amny rounds of experimentation myself over the past year -- and only with D23 -- I say testify that it takes a while to find time/dilution combinations that work best.
I have had no problem with the SP-445; evenness has been excellent, no presoak needed. But my developer is different.
Following your progress. Have fun!
Philip Ulanowsky
Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
www.imagesinsilver.art
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/
The sp445 when it works, works great. This time I got the same problem with HC-110B (1 to 33 mix) and got the identical swirls and such that I got with Tmax dev and 2-bath pyro. So I am guessing it is happening when pouring out the developer. It is always on the long edge away from the pour/fill spout. My initial trials with SLIMT and Tmax dev and HC-110 worked great. I may increase from 50ml/liter of bleach bath to 75ml or 100ml the next couple of rounds. I am also going to try and make the 2-bath pyro with SLIMT work. Gonna take 1/2 to dozen of same image so I can do a straight 2-bath dev with pyro as a bench mark and to make sure my exposure settings were correct. Then from there start making controlled developments and bleach baths till I find something that works and I like.
Why? Because if it works then I will have something that will further enhance my negatives ability to capture tonal ranges and details well beyond what we get now. I am after the perfect image that captures both the deepest shadows with detail and the brightest highlights with detail while maintaining contrast and hopefully will print/scan well.
This road with 2-bath/SLIMT may not work out as I hope, but I will keep searching.
I have not worked with pyro or any compensating developer type, though I did experiment (only partially successfully) with divided D23. I presume that you may be familiar with John Sexton's work. He uses, I believe, Kodak RT at high dilutions in a very-low-agitation, extended-development routine that, he says, allows him to keep detail in a range such as your goal. However, he is also a master print maker, and, as indicated in his printing examples in Places of Power, he relies on his printing expertise as well, to manage his tonal range. This may include print flashing among other techniques.
Philip Ulanowsky
Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
www.imagesinsilver.art
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/
Will have to check that out.
Doesn't Mr. Sexton use a slosher for his minimal agitation negatives? I seem to remember that from an article....
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
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