dektol

[blindpig]

This information probably exists on here but I haven't found it yet.
I'm looking for info about developing Arista 400 film in Dektol. Two different uses for the film will be,1:making inter negatives from color slides and 2:film shot in camera.
Most of the in camera shots I've been making lately have been paper negatives which are developed in aged and or diluted Dektol so I have fresh and aged Dektol available.Both types of resulting negatives will eventually be used for carbon printing.
Guess I'm getting lazy in my old age 'cause I could run some tests but am hoping not to reinvent the wheel and pick up some good advice on here.
Thanks in advance,
Don

[Luis-F-S]

Run some test. Someone else's development times will likely be useless in your situation unless all parameters are the same.

[Vaughn]

I have not used the Arista 400, but I have used (fresh) Dektol 1:1 for in-camera 11x14 negatives for carbon printing -- times around 6 minutes. Quite pleased with the results, but it will take a bunch of fine-tuning based on the range of the scene's brightness, and of course, on your carbon tissue (type and amt of pigment) and sensitizer method/strength.

Have fun!

[Kirk Gittings]

Curious as to why use Dektol for this?

[blindpig]

The reason for Dektol is that's what I have on hand as well as the Arista film and thought I'd give it a try.

[Kirk Gittings]

Vaughn what about for Carbon?

[Louie Powell]

Dektol was intended for use as a print developer, and I've never seen recommendations for use with film. That doesn't mean it can't be used, but as Luis said, you are on your own and probably won't find any published time/temperature starting points.

Many years ago, a friend mentioned that he had used Dektol to develop 35mm Tri-X - he wanted to increase contrast and emphasize grain, and dektol gave him that effect.

[IanG]

Dektol was intended for use as a print developer, and I've never seen recommendations for use with film. That doesn't mean it can't be used, but as Luis said, you are on your own and probably won't find any published time/temperature starting points.

Many years ago, a friend mentioned that he had used Dektol to develop 35mm Tri-X - he wanted to increase contrast and emphasize grain, and dektol gave him that effect.

Wrong, Dektol/D72 was originally formulated and sold as a plate and film developer and used for rapid processing 1+2 4 mins at 18ºC according to Kodak Ltd. Later Eastman Kodak began recommending it for prints but it was many more years before it replaced D163 in the UK.

Ian

[blindpig]

I think when I was a kid Kodak had a"TriChem Pack"sold to process both film and paper.Always suspected it was Dektol but don't know for sure.

[Jim Noel]

Wrong, Dektol/D72 was originally formulated and sold as a plate and film developer and used for rapid processing 1+2 4 mins at 18ºC according to Kodak Ltd. Later Eastman Kodak began recommending it for prints but it was many more years before it replaced D163 in the UK.

Ian

I don't know about use in the UK, but in the US D-72 was sold primarily as a print developer and D-76 was the prime film developer. I didn't begin using these until 1939, so I can not speak to usage prior to then. D163 was never in common use in the US from 1939 on.

[Bill_1856]

I think when I was a kid Kodak had a"TriChem Pack"sold to process both film and paper.Always suspected it was Dektol but don't know for sure.

+1

[jbenedict]

I've developed Tri-X 35mm in Dektol two or three times a long time ago just to see what would happen and the grain was like boulders and the contrast was way high out of control. Haven't done it since. Maybe at higher dilutions than 1:1 or 1:3 the contrast may come down but it would take some experimenting to find what you want. Too bad development by inspection isn't a popular technique any more.

[jp]

Take dirty used dektol and dilute it good, and develop it longer than you develop paper. No way around experimentation for this.

[Jan Pietrzak]

Head over digitaltruth film/developer chart go to Dektol and look at the films lots to choose from....jp

[Mark Sampson]

they say press photographers would develop in Dektol just to save a minute or two when on deadline. fix long enough to clear, 30 sec. wash, slap the still-wet neg into the enlarger and bang a print out... or so I'm told.

[Bill Burk]

Once I developed two sheets of TMY-2 in Dektol 1:2 for 9 minutes and 11 minutes, in small tray by themselves.
All tests were at temperature 20-degrees C/68-degrees F

9 min -> 1.0 CI
11 min -> 1.2 CI

I did a series of 35mm Tri-X in Dektol. First I tried 1:5 and I wrote a note that 1:5 acts too quickly for control.

I finished the series using Dektol 1:9 and got the following results...

3 min -> 0.42 CI
5 min -> 0.50 CI
7 min -> 0.55 CI
9 min -> 0.67 CI

The old rule of thumb is develop film in Dektol for "as many minutes as parts of water"...

My tests sort of corroborate the rule of thumb.

[Jim Noel]

they say press photographers would develop in Dektol just to save a minute or two when on deadline. fix long enough to clear, 30 sec. wash, slap the still-wet neg into the enlarger and bang a print out... or so I'm told.

Basically that is the way I worked for a short time. Dektol straight 2 minutes, acid stop, fix in strong fixer for about 2 minutes, run under the faucet and pop in the enlarger. About the best that can be said of those negative is that they looked OK as newspaper images.

[Harold_4074]

Kodak had a"TriChem Pack"sold to process both film and paper

This has been bugging me for the last week; I finally remembered what the developer was called : "Universal MQ". Metol (Elon) and hydroquinone, not that the combination is in any way distinctive. This would have been in 1959 or so, when Azo could be bought locally in 25-sheet packages of 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch sheets.

And now I proof 11x14 negatives by contact printing on variable-contrast, resin-coated enlarging paper!

[blindpig]

Harold,glad you remembered the stuff of Tri Chem Packs and I'd just take the time line back to 1950 or so for me...