hi there(posted 8168 days ago)gaf marketed the same developer as gaf universal developer, it had instructions on the "can" for processing film as well as paper. i was under the impression that was why they called it "universal" developer ..
anyhow, the red & white can of "gaf universal developer" had pretty cryptic instructions on it for processing film .. "68º, dilute 1:5 6 1/2 mins. agitate" no information about film speeds or anything.
it was in a studio i used to rent - left there for 20+ years and kind of rested on the window sill. eventually i decided to open it. i was flat broke and couldn't afford to buy more developer at the time, and even though this stuff had been sweltering in 115º heat in the summer, and 40º-50º in the winter ( for 20+ years!) ... i figured i had really nothing to loose. yes, i was kind of desparate :)
i also had no idea that 130 has a huge shelf life, so i mixed it and made 5 gallons, and prayed that i could use it all up throughout the summer, and before it was shot. i processed about 55 rolls of film in it, as well as 100-sheet-boxes of 4x5 film also made 100s of prints, both fiber and rc. as you can guess i didn't have a problem with the developer going bad, but i was really upset after it was all used up. i bought a photographers cookbook to see if i could try to figure it all out, but was pretty much stopped in my tracks... eventually i spoke to a guy in oregon at equinox photo, and he set me straight and told me that i could find it at the photographers formulary, and that it was also called formulary (ansco) 130 .. i haven't used anyting else since ...
sorry for the long introduction :)
depending on how old the developer is, i have diluted it a few different ways, and ALWAYS gotten good results. i have some stock that was mixed last fall. it is the last gallon of 4 gallon supply :) so it is kind of getting "spent" i have been processing film lately with a dilution of 1:2 and 1 :1 and getting really nice results. i usually tray process about 4-6 sheets at a time in about 1-2L of diluted solution. i pre wet with regular water for about 1-2 mins and then shuffle the film for about 7 - 8 mins in the 130. i develop by inspection so i don't really know exactly how long i process for .. i would say "around" 8 mins or so ..). i don't use stop bath but use another tray of water and rinse for about 1-2 mins then directly to the fix. sometimes with the more diluted chemistry i get negatives that are quite a bit thinner, but they are still nice :) i have really over processed my film in 130, but have never had a problem with bad highlights or shadow areas. i have been shooting tmax 400, tmax 100 and tri x and had great results with all the film, even film outdated by 2-4 years .. i used to process everything in sprint, dk 50, tmax rs, then xtol. i have about 3 packets of xtol that i got "just in case" (for emergency purposes) but they sit un-mixed in a drawer :)
its funny ... most people kind of look at me like i am out of my mind processing film in this stuff .. but i find it to be a really nice fine grain developer, with a nice tonal range - what it does for paper, it seems to do for film .. i am going to make another 4 gallons of developer in a few weeks (waiting for the "fresh" glycin to dry out), and will mix some of my old stock into it, to "mellow" it a little bit, kind of what "old timers" would have told you to do with a tank of dk50 when it was pretty much spent ..
best of luck!