U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: lith film

Re: lith film



On Wed, 10 Sep 2008, Keith Gerling


Here come the part where I lose the squeamish:  I never discard the
developer.  I have a bucket with 2 liters of very dark developer that
I started with several years ago.  Like Theseus' ship, it isn't really
the same, I lose developer every time I use it, and I keep adding
water and concentrate, as well as occasionally discarding the sludge.
But it is the same 2 liters and somewhere in that bucket floats a
molecule or two that I started with (I think).
 ....... The trick is the very weak
developer.  I have no idea why it seems to work better using exhausted
developer, but whenever I've tried coming up with a ratio of fresh
concentrate to fresh water, I've always got bad results.
I don't claim that this is the explanation, but what comes to mind is something I read back before the beginning of time -- that a byproduct (or byproducts) of development is some kind of "restrainer" (which is why we're supposed to only use *fresh*). By keeping the used solution you would have plenty, which for the purposes of this "explanation" restrain where & how you need/like.

I also don't at this moment recall the names of official restrainers, but if you look in the formula books under "soft working developer", they probably name some. Or, if he's around, Dave Soemarko will know....

Dave.....?????

J.

  • References:
    • lith film
      • From: Keith Gerling <keith.gerling@gmail.com>
    • Re: lith film
      • From: Keith Gerling <keith.gerling@gmail.com>