Amidol and Walter Woodbury

TERRY KING (KINGNAPOLEONPHOTO@compuserve.com)
Tue, 03 Feb 1998 07:33:01 -0500

Message text written by Don
Hi Terry,

I'm sure you mentioned it on-list before, but I don't seem to have it on my
hard drive anywhere. What formula do you use? In the past I've had good
results developing for 3-6 hours in a derivative of Clerc's formula:

Amidol 10 g
Sodium bisulfite 10 g
Sodium sulfite (anhydrous) 10 g
Water to make 1000 ml

I've always thought that one might tinker the formula to bring the time
down to 30-60 minutes and still get the same sort of results.

Thanks,

Don

The main complaint abot 'my formula' is that the development time is so
short that one has to let the film face down into the developer and flip
it over immediately and the give continuous agitation from one corner of
the tray to ensure even development. Development time is about 2m 15 s
for a Pt/Pd neg.

The developer is for film not paper.

Acid amidol

Water(boiled to get rid of dissolved oxygen) 20 oz 568 g
Sodium sulphite crystals. 1 1/2 oz
42g
Sodium bisulphite lye 10 drs
36 ml
Amidol
60 grs 4 g
Potassium bromide
5grs a small pinch)

For the lye, and this is the smelly bit,

Add 1/2 oz ( 14 g) of sulphuric acid to 7 oz ( 200 ml ) then add 4 oz of
sodium sulphite ( crystals ) and shake until dissolved.

The recipe comes from the 14th edition of the Illiffe Dictionary of
Photography from around 1936. I assume that the first edition, the format
is the same, was that edited by Walter Woodbury in 1890. It was the
first dictionary that I read from cover to cver.

Terry King