[rollei_list] Re: Developer 130

  • From: "X.TRUONG" <truongthx@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 02:49:59 +0700

Many thank to you, Mr. Knoppow!

Your detail information is worth experience for me. I read some fomular on
www.photoformulary.com and want to compose by myself.

Best regards,
Xuan Truong

-----Original Message-----
From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Knoppow
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 11:16 PM
To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Developer 130


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "X.TRUONG" <truongthx@xxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 2:40 AM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Developer 130


> Thank you very much Mr. Knoppow.
> My mail server had some problems
>
> I saw some thing about the chemistry, metol make the print 
> sofer,
> hydroquinone make more contrast, borax make film harder, 
> postassium bromide
> prevent the highlight of first print??? Or sodium sunfit 
> make the film or
> print clearly... Please give me something about these...
>
> Best regards,
> Xuan Truong

     Well, the chemistry of developers is rather more 
complicated than this. I am not sure what books I can direct 
you to since the better ones are pretty old now. The 
understanding of photographic chemistry has changed a lot in 
the last twenty years so, to a real chemist, the older books 
are pretty outdated. Still, they give a good idea of the 
function of the various parts of the developer at a more 
elementary level.
     The relative contrast given by Metol or hydroquinone is 
partly due to the pH of the solutions they need to work. 
Generally, the more alkaline developers tend toward higher 
contrast. Metol will work in a neutral, or even slightly 
acid solution while hydroquinone needs a quite alkaline one. 
But, there is more: these two developers tend to react with 
each other when used in combination in a way that does not 
necessarily affect contrast but does affect the capacity of 
the developer and other characteristics because they tend to 
regenerate each other. The same is true of some other 
combinations such as Phenidone and hydroquinone and either 
Metol or Phenidone with ascorbic acid. A combination 
developer can be made to have a wide range of contrast, for 
instance D-76, a low contrast film developer and Dektol, a 
relatively high contrast paper developer, are both Metol and 
hydroquinone types.
     Borax is a relatively low pH alkali used mainly in film 
developers. AFAIK it was first used in Kodak D-76. D-76 is a 
relatively low contrast developer with fairly fine grain and 
good film speed. While it was originally designed for fine 
grain motion picture use it has become as close to a 
universal film developer as there is. More contrasty or more 
active developers usually rely on an alkali with high pH 
than Borax, for instance, the alkali in Dektol is sodium 
carbonate. In really high contrast developers, like Kodak 
D-8 one finds sodium hydroxide. This developer is intended 
for copy negatives of line work (drawings) with little, if 
any, gray scale. Its also a Metol and hydroquinone type.
     Potassium bromide is a fog suppressor also called a 
restrainer. Restrainers tend to reduce the number of 
_unexposed_ silver halide crystals that develop along with 
the image. If much bromide is used some of the low exposure 
image crystals will also be suppressed. Film developers tend 
to have the minimum amount of bromide necessary to eliminate 
fog and some developers, D-76 for instance, usually do not 
contain bromide. This is because bromide tends to reduce the 
usable film speed. Print developers have more because fog in 
a print veils the highlights and is very undesirable. 
Bromide comes out of film when its developed and accumulates 
in the developer. It tends to reduce fogging but also 
reduces the film speed especialy in the shadows. Some 
developers are more affected by bromide than others. For 
instance, Metol is relatively unaffected while hydroquinone 
is strongly affected so one finds lots of bromide in very 
high contrast developers which use bromide. There are more 
modern fog suppressors which have less effect on film speed. 
The one most often encountered is benzotriazole which is 
often found in developers using Phenidone.
     Sulfite has a very complex function in a developer. It 
tends to absorb oxygen preferentially to the developing 
agents so protects them from oxidation from contact with the 
air. It also has anti-oxident action with the reaction 
products of development. These last are complex and vary 
with the developer. For instance, the reaction products of 
Metol tend to suppress development while those of 
hydroquione tend to accelerate it. Where both developers are 
used these two properties tend to counteract each other and 
sulfite reduces them even more. Sulfite also has a "salt 
effect" which tendst to prevent swelling of the gelatin. 
This is important for several reasons but one important one 
is that it tends to prevent the migration of individual 
developed silver grains causing "grain clumping" and a 
grainy appearance. Sulite has another very important 
function and that is as a silver halide solvent. The solvent 
effect affects the way the silver crystals form when 
developed and tends to minimise grain. At the level of 
solvent action present in developers like D-76 the action 
also tends to slightly dissolve the surface of the halide 
crystals making more development centers available to the 
developer and increasing film speed slightly. More solvent 
action, for instance as in full strength Microdol-X, will 
destroy some of these development centers thus losing some 
speed. There is an optimum amount of sulfite which depends 
on the rest of the chemistry and on the intended use of the 
developer. Sulfite is also present in fixing baths to 
prevent oxidation of the thiosulfate and also to prevent 
staining from carried over developer.
     Liquid concentrate developers often do not have sulfite 
but rather some other chemical which can be dissolved in 
sufficient concentration but which functions as sulfite in 
the active developer.
     These four functions: developing agent, preservative, 
accelerator, restrainer, are present in nearly all 
developers. In a few cases sulfite is used as both the 
preservative and accelerator (D-23) and the preservative and 
restrainer are not always sulfite and bromide, as pointed 
out above, and not all developers have a restrainer (D-76, 
D-23 and others) but these four functions are present in 
nearly all.

--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

---
Rollei List

- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' 
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com 
Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.8.5/1764 - Release Date: 03/11/2008
7:46 SA

---
Rollei List

- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' 
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list

Other related posts: