Anyone using Ilford warm & cooltone paper developers?

[brian steinberger]

I'm using Ilford MGIV NB and WT papers both in 130 developer. I'm wondering what experience anyone has had with the Ilford cooltone and warmtone developers. I've heard good things about them. The fact that they are liquid form, and economical is very attractive, but I've never used them. How do they compare to a classic like Dektol, 130, or Amidol?

[william linne]

I've tried both. I think both are wonderful developers, especially the warmtone version. I have used with it Bergger VC Warmtone and Oriental VC Warmtone. Both papers exhibited really deep lush warm tones. Toned lightly in selenium, those paper/dev combos are my recent favorites. Have not had a chance to print any neutral papers using the cooltone.

[reellis67]

I use the Cooltone and like it quite a bit. Prints developed in Cooltone appear somewhat colder than using Ilford's Multigrade or Universal developers using MGIV (FB), but the effect is not striking, at least to my eye. I do like the results though, and have been using Cooltone for much of my recent printing. It changes the effects when toning as well, but you really need to see the results to appreciate the differences. It helps to have a stock image printed with various developers, papers, and toners so that you can compare the results side by side. I would certainly suggest trying it based on what I've seen.

- Randy