D-23 developer

[yaacovk]

Hi.
please your advices.
why not using D-23 over D-76?
it's more cheap and easy to make and the results i'v saw was wonderfull...

ragards.

Yaacov.

[Rob Archer]

I've used it in the past. Some say it's one of film photography's best-kept secrets! It does, indeed, give excellent results. It's also cheap and easy to make and keeps well. I found it gives better highlight definition than D76/ID11. The big downside was that you generally have to give a film at least a full stop more exposure than box speed. I usually rate HP5+ at 200 anyway so that's not a problem for me but it may be for some. The only reason I stopped using it was that I was given several unopened 5 litre packs of ID11 and 2.5l packs of Perceptol. When I've used these up I may well go back to D23.

It's also the first bath in some 2-bath developers such as Stoeckler's which works really well for high-contrast slow films like PanF+.

http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.or...ight=Stoeckler

[yaacovk]

Thank you Rob.
Yes, i asume that you know.
the two bath D-23 call DD-23 (Divided D-23) and it can give a solution for the full stop exposure.

Yaacov.

[Svend]

I have never used D23, but quite a few here use Perceptol regularly, including me. It is basically D23 with the addition of salt, so metol-only, no hydroquinone. It's a wonderful developer, and if my results with it are any indication of what D23 can do, then I would wholeheartedly recommend it to you. Compared to D76, Perceptol has: finer grain; better highlight control; softer contrast; smoother gradation. It's my preferred developer for HP5, TriX, and PanF, at least for nature and landscape scenes.

OTOH, as Rob says, you lose a stop of speed, but that's OK with me. And it gives less punchy contrast, so for some scenes it may not suit the desired "look" -- e.g. for urban scenes I prefer D76 because I want some sharper more visible grain and I like the gutsy negs it gives.

Let us know if you try it and how it worked out.

FYI -- there's a recipe here somewhere for homebrew Perceptol if you want to try it. Just as easy as D23 to mix up.