Has anyone tried the 2-bath catechol / glycin based developer, DiXactol? I'm probably going to try it, but I'd appreciate some feedback from anyone that already has. Cheers

-- fw (finneganswake@altavista.net), August 02, 2000

Answers

fw, I have been using Barry Thorntons DiXactol for some months now and am completely "addicted" to it. I was a committed pyro user until I tried DiXactol. This dev is superb for both old and new technology films, in fact I use it with APX 25 and FP4 Plus. It is difficult to describe how good it actually is!! The negs stain as well as any dev'd in Pyro but there is a noticeable "luminosity" to them as well. It is a straightforward dev to mix and use, and the instructions are very clear and concise. Definitely worth a try !! Regards Paul

-- paul owen (paulowen_2000@yahoo.com), August 02, 2000.

I'm rather underwhelmed with it.

Compared to the version of PMK I tried (Rollo/Leban) the stain is much more brown than yellow/green, which should help prevent muddiness when printed on VC paper.

It's very grainy but the grain is crisper than Rollo/Leban and acutance is fairly high.

Now....imho there's not much to recommend these developers aside from the stain, which would be great for achieving the high DRs needed for alt printing, and for those instances in which extreme compression of the lighter tones is needed...but that compression can be achieved with other developers without the grain and poor RP.

The drawbacks of DiXactol and PMK/Rollo/Leban wouldn't be any problem with contact prints from 8x10 or small prints from 4x5.

Anyway...you'll probably get responses from people who love that sort of developer and others who don't see why anyone would want to use such a developer, but I think we'll probably all agree that you should give it a try and see for yourself.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), August 02, 2000.

OK,

But where do you buy it ? I cannot join M Barry THORNTON by email or fax !

-- Pierre (pierre.zeler@dcc.laposte.telepost.fr), August 03, 2000.

Photographers Formulary in the US. No idea about anywhere else.

http://www.montana.com/formulary/

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), August 03, 2000.

Pierre, try http://website.lineone.net/~barry-thornton/dixactol.htm or try http://www.silverprint.co.uk e-mail: sales@silverprint.co.uk These guys stock it, good luck,

-- Trevor Crone (tcrone@gm.dreamcast.com), August 03, 2000.