Re: Am I doing something wrong with this 8x10 development?

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Danforth <jdanforth@sc.rr.com>
Sent: Apr 17, 2004 9:56 PM
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Subject: Am I doing something wrong with this 8x10 development?

I know this isn't necessarily alt-process related but I think that I might
need to try an alternative developer if this prooves to be a problem.

I developed two sheets of 8x10 T-Max 100 today (my first EVER large format
shots! Yay!) and there's a slight red tinge to the emulsion. I used
Ilfosol-S for 7.5 minutes. I've had a lot of experience with Tri-X 400 and
Acros 100 using this developer for 120/220 but I've never seen this effect
on the emulsion before. Note that I have never shot T-Max 100, developed
it, or printed from it before.

Is this damaging? Does anyone have a better reccomended developer for this
film? I'll probably switch to my Tri-X standby once I exhaust my stash of
T-Max but why waste the film? Does the red tint have any contrast effect on
the prints? I wonder if this would be preferable for Pl/Pd?

Thanks,
Jon

   The pinkish color is due to sensitizing dye which is bound to the gelatin. Kodak suggests that increased fixing will eliminate, perhaps. A sulfite wash aid, like Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent will eliminate it right away. Treat in this for three minutes and wash for five minutes. The wash aid will turn pinkish magenta, a color similar to the foundation garments favored long ago by my mom. T-Max, and other tabular grain films, are harder to fix than most conventional emulsions. This may be partly due to the large content of silver iodide but there may be other contributing factors. While the usual rule of thumb is to fix for twice the clearing time it may be well to fix these films for three times the clearing time. Its also very helpful to use a two bath fixing arrangement. Use the wash aid to make sure the dye is released.

Richard Knoppow
dickburk@ix.netcom.com
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Received on Sun Apr 18 00:02:49 2004