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dsallen
22nd November 2011, 09:48 PM
On the theme of self-made developers, does anyone out there know the formulae for my developer of choice since the Dinosaurs roamed the earth - Dokumol?

Dave miller
23rd November 2011, 08:04 AM
I've moved this to its own thread so that it doesn't get buried. As for the question; it's one that I can't answer.

Mike O'Pray
23rd November 2011, 04:49 PM
I had a look in my 1963 BJ Photographic Journal which contains a lot of formulas but no mention of Dokumol. Maybe it didn't exist then.

Googling doesn't seem to elicit any formula for it either.

Hopefully someone will know of the ingredients or know of a link to the info.

Mike

Rob Archer
23rd November 2011, 07:26 PM
I haven't got anything for Dokumol itself, but this is for a 'high contrast, cold tone print developer. I got it with a load of formulae from a late friend, but I haven't had a chance to try it myself yet! If you do try it, let me know how you get on.

High-contrast, cool-tone developer

Water . . . . . . . . . . . .750 ml
metol . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 g
Sodium Sulfite anhyd . . 40 g
hydroquinone . . . . . . . 12 g
Sodium Carbonate . . . . 80 g
Potassium Bromide . . . . 2 g
Distilled Water to . . . . .1 L

The other one to try is the 'hard' beers dev. It's probably not as cool, but a little benzotriazole may help.

Rob

Tom Kershaw
24th November 2011, 06:11 PM
Dokumol certainly is high in contrast yet at the risk of repeating myself, I have found many claims of cold tone developers are not substantiated by the results.

Tom

Rob Archer
24th November 2011, 09:49 PM
'Cool' tones are as much a product of the paper as the dev. You'll never get a 'cold' image in a warm toned paper (although there are ways of achieving it post-development, but thats for another thread perhaps!). IMO what the 'cooler' devs do is to enhance the inherrent coolness of cool-to-neutral papers.

The coolest images I can get are with Kentmere Bromide in D72 (Dektol) with 10ml of 0.2% benzotriazole solution per 1l of dev. They are almost blue-black.

Sorry if I'm taking this off-topic - the OP didn't say whether they liked Dokumol for it's contrast or it's coolness!

Rob

Mike O'Pray
24th November 2011, 09:55 PM
I think the OP was specifically seeking the formula for Dokumol which seems to be scarcer than hens' teeth.

Mike

dsallen
25th November 2011, 07:31 AM
Yes, it was in the faint hope that someone knows the formula.

I originally settled on Dokumol because:

It is truly a high contrast developer which is particularly good at delivering micro-contrast in the higher value areas.
It brought Polywarmtone (sadly missed) to a pleasing neutral colour - I am generally not fussed about print colour so long as it is not overtly blue-black or brown-black (anyway under glass in gallery lighting much of the fine colour subtleties many pursue cannot be seen).
As a developer it just goes on and on and on (in a printing session I will change the water stop-bath and fixer a few times but I never need to change the developer).


So back to the OP it is the formula I am seeking - yes I could try other brews but, as many on the forum will be aware, I am very much of the 'if it aint broke don't fix it school' and I have used Dokumol for so long I know it like the back of my hand (i.e can make slight changes in dilution/time etc to fine tune a print without even thinking about it).

Thanks for all your responses and I await someone who has actually found the formula (perhaps a 'mole' at Tetenal!).

Domingo
14th December 2011, 01:03 PM
Since I am not going to prepare anymore Ansco 130 because the glycin (http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5192), I'm gonna try Dokumol with Adox MCC 110 -mainly- and Fomabrom 111 -some 9.5x12 sheets-.

Should I use in stock or could I dilute it 1+1?

Tom Stanworth
14th December 2011, 02:06 PM
I'm a fan of its cousin, Eukobrom, which definitely cools a lot of warm tone papers to neutral and gets rid of any olive brown-black hues. I have never tried Dokumol, but now I will.

GeorgeGiralt
14th December 2011, 05:20 PM
Hello !
If you want really cool tones, try an undiluted paper dev. I've discovered this by accident. Using Bromophen stock instead of the 1+3 MM Ilford and Harman ask for.
Icy.

dsallen
15th December 2011, 10:44 AM
Hi Domingo,

I personally mix 1 litre for a printing session and dilute Dokumol at 1 + 6 for it's contrast - I am not bothered by colour. After 20+ 16" x 12" prints it will look a bit dirty and can stain the processing tray but it will keep working for much longer.

With the Adox MCC 110, try tests of processing for 2, 2.5 and 3 minutes. I personally found that the best results were a 2 minutes (strange because all other papers I have used have benefited from extended development). I found MCC to be a good paper but still prefer Adox Fine Print Vario Contrast which suits my negatives and printing style better although it is harder to work with than MCC110. I have kept some sheets for any negatives that are 80%+ shadow area as the MC110 holds the detail way down into the blacks.

Hope this helps,

Domingo
15th December 2011, 11:14 AM
Sure it will help, David. Thanks.

And thanks to Tom and George for their opinion too.