[pure-silver] Re: Chemical Blues
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:46:27 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: Adrienne Moumin
To: Pure Silver
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 6:58 AM
Subject: [pure-silver] Chemical Blues
I am wondering how to solve this issue, and would greatly
appreciate any suggestions:
My soup of choice is Sodium Sulfite + Edwal FG-7. Since Big
Yellow recently stopped making the SS (I could always depend
on my local chain to have ONE on hand for me), I recently
ponied up the cash for a 20-lb drum from Artcraft.
I had some FG-7 left from a previous film run, and all was
well w/the first few runs till I ran out & went to buy
more...
Twice I had to return the FG-7 to the store (which also
carries just ONE of this) because it was a dark reddish
brown color. It's supposed to be tan to lavender. So I
special ordered three from them, making sure it was from a
different lot vis-a-vis their internal warehouse code #'s.
Again, it is the dark color, so I have to return it.
Obviously I need to give up on my local supplier, a friendly
place where everyone knows me so it will be no problem
returning this for the third time.
I am fearful of mail-ordering from B&H or someone else lest
this also happen again, and it will be a bigger hassle
returning it w/the shipping costs, and an even longer period
of frustration when I just want to process stuff I have have
sitting around from back in Oct. for a long-term project.
Artcraft doesn't carry this product.
To add to my frustration, I googled "FG7", and every single
site, from adorama to calumet to digital truth, apug,
freestyle and amazon, is tagged in the search results with
"this site may harm your computer".
If anyone has any suggestions, info, or sources, I would
greatly appreciate it if you would let me know.
Thanks in advance,
Adrienne Moumin
Sodium sulfite is used for a number of
non-photographic purposes. For instance, it is very commonly
used to protect packaged foods from oxidation. Check with
places that sell home canning stuff. Sodium carbonate is
sold as Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. This is pure enough for
photographic purposes. Borax is sold as 20 Mule Team Borax,
again pure enough for photographic purposes. Sodium
hydroxide is sold as Red Devil Lye, same as above for
purity. Kodalk, AKA sodium metaborate, decahydrate (but
called octahydrate in old books), is made from Borax and
sodium hydroxide by adding them in solution, see Ryuji
Suzuki's site for a discussion on the name (hydration) and
formula. Or I'll post it later, can't find it right now.
As far as developers I don't know what it is about FG-7
that you like but I'll bet that some easier to obtain
developers will do as well or better. Many of them have
known formulas and do not use exotic and hard to find
chemicals. Suggestions are:
Very reliable standard developer: D-76 (Ilford ID-11 is the
same as far as the published formula goes but packaged D-76
is buffered and I don't think packaged ID-11 is).
D-76 gives close to optimum performance with many films.
D-76 works well at 1:1 dilution where longer developing
times are desired. It is a one-shot at this dilution.
Probably xtol is the optimum developer for many films, i.e.,
has the best combination of yielding maximum film speed,
finest grain, best sharpness, good tone rendition. It
garnered a reputation for being unreliable but I think that
had to do mostly with the packaging, which Kodak has
changed.
The formula for Xtol can be gotten from the two patents
on it so is pretty well known.
For maximum speed a developer like Ilford Microphen or
DDX, or Kodak T-Max or T-Max RS is best but has slightly
coarser grain than the above developers. Xtol will match
them for speed except for extreme pushing.
For finest grain Microdol-X or Ilford Perceptol either
used full strength. These two appear to be identical. There
is about a 3/4 stop loss in speed when these developers are
used full strength. When diluted the speed becomes about the
same as D-76 but so does the grain.
Kodak published formula D-25 gives similar results but
is not the same and uses a different mechanism to obtain the
extra-fine-grain. D-25 may produce dichroic fog on some
materials which work fine in the two commercial developers.
Exagerated edge (acutance) effects can be had with
several developers when diluted. For instance, either D-76
or Microdol-X (or Perceptol), when diluted 1:3 will give
strong edge contrast enhancement. Kodak and Ilford give
times for this dilution. Kodak does not give times for D-76
1:3 but Ilford does for ID-11 and they can be used for
either developer.
For paper Dektol is about as good as anything although
Phenidone formulas like Ilford Bromophen will deliver
somewhat cooler image color and probably have slightly
higher capacity. Many print developer formulas are
available.
Rodinal is not the optimum developer for anything but
is very convenient and is a good print developer when
diluted 1:25 (but expensive).
Other highly concentrated developers, specifically
HC-110 and Ilford's equivalent can deliver very good results
but generally are inferior to the less concentrated ones.
HC-110 is an extremely cleverly designed developer with very
long concentrate life, good performance and good results
with nearly any film. Ansel Adams recommended it because it
makes contrast control easy by adjusting dilution. However,
it does have some effect on the characteristic curve, mainly
in producing something of a shoulder on some films.
I usually get my supplies from Freestyle. Of course,
their main store is only about five miles from here, very
convenient for me, but they have an excellent reputation
for customer service and reliability.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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