Effects of developer ratios and developing time

[Jmarmck]

I have what some may consider a silly question. But I figure others here might benefit from the responses.

I have some Fomapan 100 that I need to develop. I am using HC-110.
I have already processed some sheets with satisfactory results using dilution b (1:31) and a time of 6 min @ 20C.
If I were to change to dilution h (1:63) and the recommended 10 min @ 20C or even 12 min. What would be the effects on the negative?
With regard contast and grain, given that the process effects remaining the same what is the effect of time using a more dilute solution?

[Larry Gebhardt]

In my very limited experience with HC-110 I didn't observe any noticeable image effects going from dilution b to h with respect to grain or contrast (when the time was adjusted). If you dilute far enough you will get a compensating developer. I think for HC-110 that's considered over 1:100. I did find that half dilution h (1:128) helped cut the upswept curve down a lot. But I found I liked other developers better so I stopped using it regularly (but I bet the bottle is still good 10 years later).

[Doremus Scudder]

In the past, I used HC-110 a lot with TXP, TMX and TMY. I found that the only good way to get good expansions (N+ developments) with the T-Max films was to use a weaker dilution and longer times. Similar contrast with the higher dilution seemed to give me a lot of base fog.

Otherwise, I found that normal development at 1+31 was approximately half the time for normal development at 1+63 (therefore, I might try 12 minutes in your case if you want to keep the same contrast). I found no significant differences in normally developed negatives with either dilution. The only reason for me to change was to lengthen development time somewhat for more even development (I was at 4+30" with dil B).

Best,

Doremus