Soemarko LC-1 Developer

[jon.oman]

Can anyone tell me the shelf life of the stock solutions for this developer? Assume a partially filled storage bottle.

Thanks,

Jon

[jon.oman]

Is there anyone out there using this developer? I was considering this instead of Rodinal, because of the shipping restrictions of Rodinal. I do not have a local dealer I can buy it from. I would be interested in any information anyone can give me about its use. If I am going to be buying the chemicals to brew my own, I would like to know how long it will last as stock solutions.

Jon

[DanJones]

I have used this developer, but only with lith film. I've found that the stock solution lasts about a month. In the new edition of Christopher James's book he has a newer formula that seems to work better.
Here's the original:
http://www.eriepatsellis.com/LC1.htm

[jon.oman]

I have used this developer, but only with lith film. I've found that the stock solution lasts about a month. In the new edition of Christopher James's book he has a newer formula that seems to work better.
Here's the original:
http://www.eriepatsellis.com/LC1.htm

Thanks Dan, I do want to process lith film. That is the reason for the interest in this developer. I guess I will have to try to mix smaller batches, since I do not know if I can use up the quantities as shown. Thanks for the information!

Do you have a name for the Christopher Jame's book?

Jon

[Vaughn]

Do you have a name for the Christopher Jame's book? Jon

The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. Second Edition, pp.98-100

Vaughn

I will have to give it a try!

[Jeremy Moore]

Does anyone have examples using this developer?

[BarryS]

Can someone please post the new version of the LC-1 formula? Thanks.

[Vaughn]

Can someone please post the new version of the LC-1 formula? Thanks.

From The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes...Second Edition, page 100, by Christopher James:

750ml distilled water at 125F
4 g Metol
80 g Sodium sulfite
4 g Hydroquinone
20 g Sodium bisulfite
add distilled cold water to make 1 liter stock solution

For use, dilute 1:5 to 1:10...5 to 10 minutes at 75F

Suppose to similar to LC-1, diluted 2:3:5, but with more of both sodium compounds

[jon.oman]

From The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes...Second Edition, page 100, by Christopher James:

750ml distilled water at 125F
4 g Metol
80 g Sodium sulfite
4 g Hydroquinone
20 g Sodium bisulfite
add distilled cold water to make 1 liter stock solution

For use, dilute 1:5 to 1:10...5 to 10 minutes at 75F

Suppose to similar to LC-1, diluted 2:3:5, but with more of both sodium compounds

Thanks for the new information. What makes this better than the original though? Other than it being a single stock solution, instead of parts A and B. Am I correct in assuming that it will be slower acting because of the increased Sodium bisulfite?

Jon

[Vaughn]

Not exactly sure -- lower contrast for making internegatives, I believe. Might be for greater consistancy...but that's a guess.

Vaughn

[jon.oman]

Not exactly sure -- lower contrast for making internegatives, I believe. Might be for greater consistancy...but that's a guess.

Vaughn

Well, something more to consider for the toolkit!

Jon

[PViapiano]

Not exactly sure -- lower contrast for making internegatives, I believe. Might be for greater consistancy...but that's a guess.

Vaughn

I think it lets you have even more control when making interpos/internegs...

So far, Dektol at 1:9 works great for me with Arista APHS lith film for enlarged negs.

I just picked up a 3800 to try digital negs with...boy, what a can of worms that is! In a way, I feel like I'm cheating a little bit...;-)

We'll see...if I can't make digi-negs work the way I want, I'll stick with traditionally enlarged negs, but it sure takes a long time and a lot of planning making interpos one day, drying, then making internegs on another, plus all the possibilities for dust and anomalies when contacting/enlarging so many times through glass surfaces. Oy!

[jon.oman]

We'll see...if I can't make digi-negs work the way I want, I'll stick with traditionally enlarged negs, but it sure takes a long time and a lot of planning making interpos one day, drying, then making internegs on another, plus all the possibilities for dust and anomalies when contacting/enlarging so many times through glass surfaces. Oy!

That is one of the reasons I wanted to go to 8x10. I know some of the frustrations in working with smaller negatives, and then enlarging them to make the larger negatives. It can be time consuming, and there is always the problem of dust at each stage. I had considered digi-negatives, but I feel that the cost of inks for printing are just too much. I just don't think that it is cost effective, even though it may be easier. Besides, I just love the images on such a large ground glass!

Jon

[dh003i]

From The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes...Second Edition, page 100, by Christopher James:

750ml distilled water at 125F
4 g Metol
80 g Sodium sulfite
4 g Hydroquinone
20 g Sodium bisulfite
add distilled cold water to make 1 liter stock solution

For use, dilute 1:5 to 1:10...5 to 10 minutes at 75F

Suppose to similar to LC-1, diluted 2:3:5, but with more of both sodium compounds

Where do you guys buy your chemicals for making developer? I used to work in a bio lab as a technician, so know that VWR is the premier source of laboratory-grade reagents.

2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) of Sodium Sulfite, Anhydrous, Guaranteed Reagent, ACS Grade, 98% (EMD Millipore brand) is $156.63 from VWR (https://www.vwrsp.com/catalog/product/index.cgi?catalog_number=EM-SX0785-1&inE=1&highlight=EM-SX0785-1). $28.5 / pound.

5 lbs of Photographers' Formulary Sodium Sulfite (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/124093-REG/Photographers_Formulary_10_1341_5LB_Sodium_Sulfite_Anhydrous.html), Anhydrous from B&H Photo is $16.95. $3.39 / pound.

That is quite a difference. Photographers Formulary Sodium Sulfite is not spec'ed out for purity. I can only presume that the guaranteed purity is significantly less than the EMD Millipore brand reagent.

Perhaps I can call B&H photo to see if they know the specifications.

Thoughts?

[BarryS]

It's common for research institutions and companies to have various discount deals with VWR. I'm not even sure they'd sell to an individual without a company. Artcraft (http://www.artcraftchemicals.com/products/) has just about anything you need at competitive prices. Don't be so sure you're getting any higher purity with VWR--they're likely buying the chems form the same suppliers as Artcraft.

[dh003i]

I think VWR can sell to individuals, as a sales rep I contacted after leaving the Univ. Rochester over a year ago didn't seem to indicate otherwise. That said, they might have restrictions on what they can sell; but I suspect if B&H or Artcraft can sell it to Joe Average, so too can VWR.

From my memory, VWR MSRP prices are about twice what they charge universities.

VWR will have the same chemical, such as Sodium sulfite (https://www.vwrsp.com/psearch/ControllerServlet.do?D=Sodium+sulfite&spage=noresults&CurSel=Ntt&Ntk=All&Nu=RollupKey&N=0&Ntt=Sodium+sulfite&Np=2&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%2Bmatchpartialmax&showallsuppliers=1&y=0&x=0), from many different companies (EMD Millipore, JT Baker, MP Biomedicals, Alfa Aesar, Mallinckrodt Baker, etc). The company doesn't matter so much as the guaranteed purity (although I remember JT Baker and EMD Millipore are research-lab favorites).

Of course, that's for biochemistry and biology experiments; this is photography. Nonetheless, while I'm not sure the products offered by VWR are more pure, I am sure of their purity. Artcraft and BH Photo don't publicize the specifications for their reagents (see the link), so it is a black box. I will call to find out if they know, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't.

It seems common in film photography that companies don't know the products they sell. Ultrafine sells an ortho litho film (http://www.ultrafineonline.com/ulorlifi8x10.html), but when I called, they had no idea about its properties other than what's listed on the website. I wanted to know its spectral range and some other information (such as resolving power), but they didn't know.

PS: Given that it says "ortho litho" and says "redlight safe", I presume it is red-insensitive.

[Jay DeFehr]

I get very good results from my own low contrast developer, but I'm still tweaking the formula. For a single solution developer, it can be made as follows:

TEA 75ml
Ascorbic acid .5g
Phenidone 3.5g
TEA to 100ml

Heat with stirring until dissolved.

Dilute 1:100

Develop lith films for 6min

Stock solution should last a very long time.

[BarryS]

That's right--lab suppliers guarantee a degree of purity, which may be necessary for demanding applications. With photo suppliers--you get what you get. However, I spent over 10 years as a bench scientist and have been impressed with the reagent quality I've gotten from Artcraft and other photographic suppliers. Most photographic processes are robust enough to handle some variation in reagent quality, so I wouldn't worry too much. If Mike at Artcraft sells a chem, it's because it works for photographic use. He's probably give you the specs if you asked.