Dev time for negatives

[12pmc]

Hello - I have read from time to time that people develop film in weak or very weak solutions for long periods of time. What does this do, when is this a benefit?

Thanks for any comments

Peter

[Liquid Artist]

I don't know everything, but one thing is does is decreasing contrast giving you better midtones.

Some films such as x-ray film is designed for blacks and whites only, however using the right, slow developing solutions gives them a beautiful full range of tones.

[Neal Chaves]

Prolonged development with regular agitation at lengthy intervals in highly dilute developers (usually "one shot") is called "compensating development". The idea is that the developer will exhaust itself in the highlight areas of the negative, where concentrations of exposed silver halides are the greatest, and continue to work in the shadow areas of the negative where there are fewer exposed silver halides. This should result in reduced highlight contrast (more detail in the highlights) and increased density in the shadow areas, for more detail there.

[12pmc]

thank you both for your comments - I guess dilution and time and temp is all matter of experience and experimenting....
Cheers