[pure-silver] Re: Low Dmax - is it my paper or developer?
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 Jan 2010 20:36:32 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Badcock" <peter.badcock@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 4:27 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Low Dmax - is it my paper or
developer?
Thanks Martin, and also Nicolas for your comprehensive
reply.
The latest update I have is that indeed the developer is
dying. Testing last
night revealed that a 1+9 dilution takes 5 minutes to
reach Dmax (of 2.1)
and 1+4 takes 3minutes for Dmax of 2.1. As Nicholas
suggested, longer times
should further increase the Dmax.
I have Dektol and Ilford Cool tone developer arriving
tomorrow. If they end
up giving me Dmax of say 2.3 or 2.4 then I'll probably not
persist with the
Neutol Plus. However with a little planning and testing,
I plan to
continue using my Neutol Plus.
The first thing I am going to do is to transfer all the
concentrated
solutions into glass bottles. This page
<http://silvergrain.org/Photo-Tech/plastic.html>identifies
the permeability
of different plastics often used for photographic
chemicals. It suggests
transferring to glass containers for long term storage.
Guess which
plastic the Neutol Plus was sold in from AGFA ? HDPE which
has the poorest
gas permeability .... I cut open the plastic bottle last
night and it
didn't appear to have have an additional plastic lining in
it.
Then each time I use the Neutol Plus, I will do a quick
Dmax test to see how
long I need to leave the paper in the dev for. Some might
say I'm crazy,
but I have my reasons. I have 3 young children and just
the other day one
of them got their stool, leaned over the otp of my sink
and inquisitively
plonked their hand into my dev tray !! So the less toxic
chems I have in
the open the better. To that end I'm looking at eventually
using Tektol.
regards
Peter
Old paper can lose contrast and speed beside getting
foggy. I've had this problem with several types. I have not
measured Dmax but suspect the paper can lose enough speed or
contrast to make it hard to reach. I don't think this is
what happened here but its easy enough to prove by testing
with another developer or even with a stronger dilution of
the same developer.
Note that Neutol Plus gives _two_ dilutions: 1:9 for
"economy" and 1:4 for normal use. Peter states in his fist
post that he is using 1:9. I suggest testing with 1:4 to see
if the same results are gotten. I don't remember now which
dilution I used but think I tried both and settled on 1:4.
Neutol Plus evidently is a Phenidone and Ascorbic acid
developer, AFAIK the only one ever made for paper. In that
way it is similar to Xtol for film. I have not been able to
confirm this from the MSDS, they mention the ascorbic acid
but no other developing agent. That may be because Phenidone
is present in quite small amounts and is not considered a
hazard. If I am right about Neutol Plus it should be a good
developer and also an environmentally friendly one in the
same way as Xtol.
I used Neutol Plus for some time and did not have short
life problems with the concentrate, at least not sudden
failures of the sort Xtol had at one time. I would at least
try the stuff at the lower dilution and see what results you
get.
BTW, Rodinal makes a good, if expensive, paper
developer. It should be diluted about 1:25.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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