I am very puzzled by what could be in this developer that separates. AFAIK, the ingredients go into solution. Once in solution just gravity should not separate them. Developers are not like milk, which is not a solution but an emulsion. If subject to low temperatures its possible that something crystalizes but should go right back into solution once warmed up again.Eric wrote:
Shannon, Did you first and foremost make sure that your developer was well mixed? Just because you start with a liquid developer doesn't mean that you don't need to mix it up. I had a bad experience with someone that used one of my darkrooms years ago. He made some HC110 to process some film and complained that his film was thin, but he marked it up to under exposure. We went to process some of our enlarged negative materials and every thing was extremely weak. I soon noticed that the color in the bottle was not uniformed and the difference was not shadowing but rather that it was not fully mixed. Shook the bottle and WOW! Back to expected results. We even trimmed the dilution a little to compensate for poor mixing.
I did two more batches this afternoon, carefully shaking the DDX bottle before diluting, and it seemed to help. Most of the negatives are correct now, and the ones that aren't were probably bad due to human error (mine).
I exposed some older film this afternoon and processed it, and it seemed to do fine, as well as the newer film, so it probably wasn't the film age.
I will write a big sign on my developer : SHAKE!!! So I won't forget in the future.
Thanks,
--shannon
Voila!
I must have gained a stop in speed, at least. Maybe two.
Just FYI;
Stock Solution A
Metol Sodium Bisulfite Pyrogallol EDTA, Tetrasodium Salt
Stock Solution B
Sodium Carbonate
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