This will be my first time in changing the developement. For one particular neg I need to reduce dev by 30 per cent. If I do this to the time I will go well under 5 mins and the kodak paper warns of uneven dev. Can I reduce the HC110 strength by 30% and keep the same time. I will be tray processing Tri-X in HC110-Dil B.

Also on a general note, if I prewash my negs in water do I have to adjust the dev time. I want to prewash because I was told it helps in getting even developement of the neg.

Thank you for any help.

As you can see, I am new at this!

-- Claudia (claudiap72us@yahoo.com), January 08, 2001

Answers

Certainly stay away from times below 5 minutes. Yes, you can dilute the developer and use the same time. Just how much to dilute it can only be determined by testing. But what you are suggesting sounds in the ballpark.

Prewets will affect the devlopment time, but it sounds like they do so erratically. Phil Davies reported some tests where different film/developer combinations responded in differing ways to a prewet. Some manufacturers (e.g., Ilford) recommend against a prewet since they incorporate agents into the film to promote even wetting etc. Again, only testing can answer the specific question, but when I tested a 5 minute prewet of TriX with HC110, it needed a slightly longer development time (approximately 20% or so longer). Good luck. DJ

-- N Dhananjay (ndhanu@umich.edu), January 08, 2001.

Claudia if you do dilute your developer more then usual make sure you maintain the same amount of developer concentrate/film. If for example a 1 litre working solution requires 20ml of dev. concentrate then do not go below this amount of concentrate just add more water to make a more dilute working solution. You therefore need larger dev. tanks to accommodate the increase in volume.

Regards,

-- Trevor Crone (tcrone@gm.dreamcast.com), January 08, 2001.

Why are you reducing your developing time?

How did you determine the 30% time reduction?

I'm just wanting to ensure that you are doing what you intend.

-- John H. Henderson (jhende03@harris.com), January 08, 2001.

You could lower your temperature and agitate less to achieve the same thing. But I use dilution F and add 30% more time with less agitation. Why are you beating yourself up with tray development? Hangers are much easier and with hangers and Tri X you can still use a water bath. James

-- lumberjack (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), January 08, 2001.

Claudia, I'm not quite an expert on Tri-X in sheet format, but I've been using HC-110 for as long as I exist (photographically, I mean). And I presume that it wouldn't be any sacrilege to say that with this combination you've a quite good margin of operation and error, without sacrifing much of you negative potential. Mainly, if you're a good printer... Anyway, it's plain obvious that some testing should be done before you "test" the wrong negative. Both Tri-X and HC-110 have outstanding latitude and some testing should exhibit this clearly. Welcome to the tray game. Cesar B.

-- Cesar Barreto (cesarb@infolink.com.br), January 08, 2001.