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Sverre Aurstad
6-Jan-1999, 07:33
Does anyone have any experience in using homemixed D-23 developer for 4x5 negati ves? I use a JOBO processor with continous agitation and will probably opt for D elta 100 film. The litterature I have does not explain the capasity of the devel oper. May be a 1:1 one shot dilution is the best? I want a fully developed negat ive that doesn't block the highlight and I am conserned with good contrast in th e middle tones. Is a two bath variant of this developer good for Delta 100 films ?

Sergio Caetano
6-Jan-1999, 21:47
Being myself a D23 user since 20 years ago when I started seeing/reading Adams i mages/literature, presently my experiences have been with TMax100. Perhaps usef ul for you as starting points here are "MY" ( TMax100 4x5 with D23 ) standards: ( N-1) D23 1:3 EI=25 9min 20 C ; ( N ) D23 1:3 EI=50 12min 20 C ; (N+1) D23 1:1 EI=100 12min 20 C ;

Developing method : ordinary PVC tubes (see thread : Older messages/Darkroom/4x 5 processing techniques/Robert Patrick jan26 1998)

If you try that, let us know the results. Good luck.

(Sergio Caetano)

John Hicks
7-Jan-1999, 11:51
Good thinking but the flaw is continuous agitation; this will prevent any compen sating action that otherwise would occur. I've used 9'30"/68F intermittent agitation for Delta 100, EI 100, for D-23 1:1 with good results, but the curve shape is still fairly straight. Although there 's a slight shoulder, it's not going to have whole lot of effect compared to the dead-straight-line curve shape of, say, Xtol, and continuous agitation would pr obably remove that shoulder. Yes two-bath works. Try using 30g borax/liter for the second bath. I've gotten "normal" contrast with 9'/75F in part A 3'/75F part B, down to a very usable N- 3 with 3'/75F in part A and 3' in part B for EI 50. This yields a straight but l ow-contrast curve shape.