On the sodium ascorbate addition & development times and image contrast. I find, with my local tap water (very hard) that adding the sodium ascorbate to the developer gives more contrast in a direct comparison to straight Rodinol (1+75) as well a developing times about 1/3 quicker. If I go back to using distilled water for mixing the developer, will these findings still hold true?(posted 8267 days ago)I emphasize that the development is done with working negatives, shot back to back & processed within 20 minutes of each other (5x7's, 2 sheets of the same subject with no exposure changes, and 8x10's, 2 sheets of the same subject with no exposure changes). Not with contact printing step wedges, though I will probably do that in the future. In the 3 separate tests I have run, all using normal images from a days shooting, the sodium ascorbate, whether 2 grams per 750ml working solution (at 1+75 dilution) or 4 grams per 750ml working dilution pick up more contrast than the normal Rodinol at the same dilution without the ascorbate. Haven't worked enough with the 2 grams compared to the 4 grams to see any real difference. So far they both look good. Will check a bit more when I have time, but usually I end up testing on negs as I shoot rather than sitting in the darkroom being "Mr. Wizard".
In showing contact prints from the negs to others the contrast difference is noticeable. The shadow detail in both seems the same so in picking up contrast while cutting development time I don't seem to be losing anything.
Anyone else have info on the differences, dilutions & results?