I am thinking of mixing up some divided developer,(d-76 or Leitz etc.) but I have seen many different schools of thought concerning the "right" way to do this. I know the temps are not critical, Just keep between 65-75 Times are not critical BUT... I've seen 1 minute in bath A 1 minute bath B I've seen two minutes each, I've seen three minutes each.....

Also I've seen use a rinse before but not between I've seen no rinse before but rinse between I have a book that says "DO NOT RINSE UNTIL AFTER THE DEVELOPING PROCESS" or words to that affect.

I've heard no agitation is needed I've heard only a tiny bit is needed I've heard agitate it like you normally would in a tank with a single bath Will this make a difference in the contrast?

I heard the film speed makes no difference. Can I shoot Tri-X at 200,400,800,1600 and develop all four rolls at once and get good results?

Help Matt

-- Matt Mengel (mmengel@yahoo.com), February 13, 2002

Answers

Barry Thornton's site has everything you should know about using a binary developing scheme. Photographer's Formulary carries the chems he suggests.

-- Dave Doyle (soilsouth@cox.net), February 14, 2002.

Ok is it just my computer or is the some new secret password thing attached to the Barry Thornton website. For the past month Ive tried to access info from the site and all I get is "page not found". This is very annoying, especially where someone references the site in their postings

garrrrrry

-- Garry Lewis (glewis@ftw.nrcs.usda.gov), February 14, 2002.

Rinsing between the two baths would be disastrous. Temp. and time are not critical but there are limits (especially on the low side). I would imagine that if your chemicals are too cold, the action of the developer would be slowed down considerably. If they are too hot, you would risk to damage your film (by swelling the emulsion too much). Too little time would not permit the developer to penetrate the emulsion in the first bath and it would not leave it enough time to act in the second bath. I guess film speed is not so important, so it would be possible to develop two different films in the same tank. Check it out, though. With some divided developers the recommended times are different for slow and fast films. Agitation is needed in the first bath to ensure even penetration of the developer in the emulsion. In the second bath, some agitation is needed to renew the exhausted alkali that is in touch with the high density areas of the negative and wash away the bromide that is produced and acts as a restrainer. If you don't agitate at all, you risk to get uneven development. It always depends on the kind of formula you shall use, but I would suggest at least some agitation. If you don't overdo it, the edge effects will be there, don't worry...

-- George Papantoniou (papanton@hol.gr), February 14, 2002.

Ed Buffaloe's www.unblinkingeye.com has an article we wrote together on the use of divided D-23. You might find it of use, too.

-- Joe Lipka (joelipka@earthlink.net), February 14, 2002.

> Also I've seen use a rinse before but not between I've seen no rinse before but rinse between I have a book that says "DO NOT RINSE UNTIL AFTER THE DEVELOPING PROCESS" or words to that affect.

Absolutely do _NOT_ rinse between step A and step B. In a true divided developer, the developing agent has soaked into the emulsion in step A and step B "activates" it.

Most recommended divided developers really aren't divided; part A is a relatively complete developer (D-23 for example) used for a shorter-than-normal time and part B is an accelerator (borax, kodalk etc).

> I've heard no agitation is needed I've heard only a tiny bit is needed I've heard agitate it like you normally would in a tank with a single bath Will this make a difference in the contrast?

You'll most likely need to give "normal" agitation in step A and normal to continuous agitation in step B in order to get sufficient development evenness. What kind of agitation you give of course will affect curve shape; most likely if you give sufficient agitation for good evenness the curve shape will actually be virtually no different than if you'd used the "complete" developer to begin with.

> I heard the film speed makes no difference. Can I shoot Tri-X at 200,400,800,1600 and develop all four rolls at once and get good results?

Nope, it doesn't work that way.

-- John Hicks (jhicks31@bellsouth.net), February 14, 2002.

I've recently tried the D-23/Kodalk solution soup. I like the tonality of the prints I made from a roll of APX25 120 but blowing them up to 11x14 showed that the grain was a bit mushy. Hard to quantify but not exactly tack sharp like I get with Rodinal (for example) and APX25.

I've been planning on trying Barry Thornton's Metol 2-bath. It's very similar to the D-23 but cuts back on the Sodium Sulphite for increased sharpness and acutance.

-- David Parmet (david@parmet.net), February 14, 2002.

Thanks everyone, I have what I need now to go ruin, I mean develop, some flim. Matt

-- Matt Mengel (mmengel@yahoo.com), February 14, 2002.

There's the spirit!

All seriousness aside, it's quite difficult to ruin film with divided developer. At the very worst you will get very printable negatives. I'm actually surprised more people don't use it more often.

-- David Parmet (david@parmet.net), February 14, 2002.