Gotchas or disadvantages of higher temperature processing

[swmcl]

Hi,

I'm thinking of standardising all my development at higher temps so that I have a greater portion of the year available. I live in a hotter climate than many Europeans and North Americans and I think it might be better for me to set my heater to 24C rather than try to keep things at 20C. It also means I could do things during the day more often rather than try to get things happening at some ungodly early hour!

Are there any particular disadvantages to doing this? Is it possible to use all developers (paper and film) at higher temps? Do some developers become difficult to use - perhaps they oxidise or do something else.

Are all the other chemicals stable at higher temps?

Would you not have a pre-wash at higher temps for example...

I am aware of the possibility of very short dev times too. I would try to adjust things to have a 'normal' film dev at 8 to 12 mins ideally.

This is a general question respecting the vast experience on this forum.

Cheers,

Steve

[jbenedict]

Here's a link to a Google Book's excerpt from Steve Anchell's "The Darkroom Cookbook"

http://books.google.com/books?id=laB...lopers&f=false

Scroll down the linked page to find the section of tropical development procedures.

There are some charts showing times for higher temperature developing and types of additives such as sodium sulfate to alter the developing characteristics.

[ic-racer]

For many years table-top processors, like the popular Jobo units, have been implementing a heater to maintain bath temp. This only works when developing temperatures are above the ambient temperature. One popular developer designed for 24C is T-max developer and I'm sure others will chime in with their favorites. One example of a developer not suited to 24c is HC110, due to the short development times.

[jbenedict]

For many years table-top processors, like the popular Jobo units, have been implementing a heater to maintain bath temp. This only works when developing temperatures are above the ambient temperature. One popular developer designed for 24C is T-max developer and I'm sure others will chime in with their favorites. One example of a developer not suited to 24c is HC110, due to the short development times.

What kinds of short HC-110 times are you talking about? It could be diluted to give a longer development time just as long as there is enough of the 'juice' in there to actually do the developing. I have used HC-110 highly diluted to do compensating development. I can't remember the amounts needed for all of film sizes but do remember that to develop 120, it needed to be done with one reel in a four reel tank and use the volume of developer one would use to process four rolls of 120 if it were at regular strength. I'll have to look up the exact dilution but it was something like 1 to 30 ( 1 oz HC-110 stock, 30 oz water- maybe weaker.) and development time was about 25-30 min. with a five second agitation every 5 or 6 minutes.

I bought my Jobo used and the previous owner told me that, if the summer environment got too hot (he was in AZ), he would turn the heater off and put ice cubes in the tempering water to get it down. If it got too far down, he would turn the heater back on. Kind of fiddley but the temp only needed held for the 20 or so minutes of a 68-70 deg. developing process so it wasn't like it needed to be spot on for an hour.

[ic-racer]

I was getting about 4 minutes with HC110 at 24c and t-max or tri-x when I tested it. T-max developer works out to around 6 minutes and gives better shadow detail to boot.

I'd recommend those contained 'ice packs' that one can use to keep drinks cool. I have also filled up some of the extra bottles with ice/water. The heater is on a thermostat, so no need to fiddle with it, just set it to the desired temp. I'd not put free ice in a Jobo water bath.

[StoneNYC]

You could always drop $3,000 on a new CPP3 that will cool itself down if it's too hot

[swmcl]

OK.

So the answer is ...

There are no chemicals in the photographic process that do anything other than work more energetically at higher temp. Perhaps pyro will be more oxidised but not by much... No toners, stabilisers, fixers, two bath concoctions nothin'.

Just gotta find a new 'normal'...

[Jim Jones]

Maintaining darkroom temperatures between 20C and 30C, and compensated with time adjustments for film and paper seems to work. Emulsions may be softer at higher temperatures, but with care that's no problem. Rapid filling and draining of film tanks becomes important. I always used a prewash for film.

[Bruce Watson]

Are there any particular disadvantages to doing this?

Depends on the developer, but yes, there are disadvantages. Developers that use more than one developing agent, for example, metol and hydroquinone (the so-called MQ developers, like Kodak D-76), are "balanced" for a specific temperature, typically 20C. As temperature varies, the activity level of the developing agents also vary, but they vary independently of each other. This in turn unbalances the mix, which results in a different development -- say, higher contrast with harsher tonality, or lower contrast with softer tonality.

IOW, more changes than just the development time.

If it were me, I'd start with a non-hydroquinone developer like XTOL, I'd dilute it to, say, 1:3, and reduce agitation to the low end of the range. Then do the Zone System tests to find my new EI and my "N" development time at my new temperature and workflow.

Oh, wait. I do have this problem. I use ice with my Jobo in the summer.

[Martin Dake]

You could always drop $3,000 on a new CPP3 that will cool itself down if it's too hot

I live in a warm climate and there are 2 things this brings...
1. High ambient temperatures
2. High tap water temperatures

I could turn the A/C down to get the house down to 20C but the tap water is still 25-26C.
I don't think a CPP3 can cool itself down to less than the tap water it is connected to.