Shen45
1-Nov-2013, 22:01
Most of my photography these days is with my 5x4 but the other day I checked my freezer and found to my delight that I had frozen 40 [120] rolls of APX 100 in 2005. I couldn't remember what I used in the past to process regarding time and temperature etc so I figured I would investigate a 2 bath developer. The first obvious choice was Barry Thornton's 2 bath that so many people really like. I had all the chemistry on hand but then saw a post by "Relayer" on APUG about a pyro 2 bath he had designed. It has phenidone which I had so I made a small test quantity. My phenidone was obviously not well as the results were less than stellar. I do have plenty of Metol so rejigged the formula to include Metol and adjusted the "B" bath to a concentrated formula for hopefully better consistency.
My stash of APX 100 performed very well returning box speed. I also tried an old roll of TMax 100 that had experied in 2002 and kicked around in my darkroom through 40+ degree summers. Despite all that mistreatment it was only 1/3 of a stop down on box speed. I simply took one reading of the deepest shadow and put that on Z3. The developer controlled the highlights very well allowing me to print on a basic grade 2 filtration.
The Tmax didn't show any stain where the APX had just a slight hint of stain.
To make 500 ml
Part A
25 gm Sodium Sulphite
2 gm Metol
4 Gm Pyro
3 gm Sodium Metabisulphite
Part B
Sodium Sulphite 120 gms
Sodium Carbonate 80 gms
Water to make 500 ml
Dilute 20 ml / 500ml for use
Can do 2 - 3 film then discard. However as a one shot it will be more consistent
or
Alternate part "B"
8 gms Sodium Carbonate
15 gms Sodium Sulphite
500 ml of water.
will do 5 - 10 films [ pour back into bottle after use]
I found 3 minutes in each bath was all I needed to give easy to print negatives on my diffusion enlarger.
Before mixing this developer be aware of the toxicity of Pyro. Wear gloves and eye protection etc. etc.
My stash of APX 100 performed very well returning box speed. I also tried an old roll of TMax 100 that had experied in 2002 and kicked around in my darkroom through 40+ degree summers. Despite all that mistreatment it was only 1/3 of a stop down on box speed. I simply took one reading of the deepest shadow and put that on Z3. The developer controlled the highlights very well allowing me to print on a basic grade 2 filtration.
The Tmax didn't show any stain where the APX had just a slight hint of stain.
To make 500 ml
Part A
25 gm Sodium Sulphite
2 gm Metol
4 Gm Pyro
3 gm Sodium Metabisulphite
Part B
Sodium Sulphite 120 gms
Sodium Carbonate 80 gms
Water to make 500 ml
Dilute 20 ml / 500ml for use
Can do 2 - 3 film then discard. However as a one shot it will be more consistent
or
Alternate part "B"
8 gms Sodium Carbonate
15 gms Sodium Sulphite
500 ml of water.
will do 5 - 10 films [ pour back into bottle after use]
I found 3 minutes in each bath was all I needed to give easy to print negatives on my diffusion enlarger.
Before mixing this developer be aware of the toxicity of Pyro. Wear gloves and eye protection etc. etc.