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  #11  
Old 12th March 2020, 07:30 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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I presume that as the nearest commercial developer is Perceptol then the same aspect of its effect on film speed applies, namely at stock and certainly with 400 film you need to rate the film at half speed so one stop but at 1+3 you might get away with rating it at 320 in the case of HP5+. Looking at the Perceptol sheet and assuming D23 is essentially the same from a speed point of view, it looks as if the slower films such as Pan F, FP4+ can be developed at box speed

The only other possible concern with homebrew D23 is how long is the shelf life of 1 litre and can this be extended and if so by how much if the 1L is divided into full bottles of 250ml each for 1 use each or placed in a winebag

Mike
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  #12  
Old 12th March 2020, 10:27 PM
JakubV JakubV is offline
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Hm, never tried Perceptol, I'm more into the grain actually, having endless on-off thing with Rodinal from the moment I started doing my films

I have started using D-23 for three reasons - I wanted something similar to D-76 (which gave me good results, but I felt something was lacking) but slightly different; I really realy liked the look of photos A. Adams did with D-23 ; and to have cheap&simple developer that would work well with both fast films (that my wife usually uses) and slow films (for me).
I think it have succeeded at least in the last point, as it works pretty well (for me at least) from ASA 50 to 1600.
Most problematic is flat, diffuse lighting - really just meh (while I think zone system N+x development would help with this, I was never able to shoot whole roll in a same light, so no data on that as I had to settle for some reasonable middle ground).

I have never seen a formula for Perceptol before, interestingly not very much reliable about NaCl can be (quickly) found on internet other than it somehow gives finer grain. While I can't imagine that I would need anything finer than what 1+1 D-23 gives,maybe someday I'll try me some Peceptol (or Microdol-x for that matter). Looking at some photos on HP5 in Perceptol, they do look quite similar to D-23, indeed.

Nowadays I'm back to LC29 (and again looking at Rodinal) as amount of films I develop has shrunken to 1 or 2 a month recently - newborns are un-surprisingly incompatible with mixing toxic concotions in the bathroom too often (and having enough free time to shoot more film anyway) Therefore, long shelf life syringe operated developers are my way to go now

Jakub
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  #13  
Old 12th March 2020, 10:52 PM
JakubV JakubV is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
I presume that as the nearest commercial developer is Perceptol then the same aspect of its effect on film speed applies, namely at stock and certainly with 400 film you need to rate the film at half speed so one stop but at 1+3 you might get away with rating it at 320 in the case of HP5+. Looking at the Perceptol sheet and assuming D23 is essentially the same from a speed point of view, it looks as if the slower films such as Pan F, FP4+ can be developed at box speed

The only other possible concern with homebrew D23 is how long is the shelf life of 1 litre and can this be extended and if so by how much if the 1L is divided into full bottles of 250ml each for 1 use each or placed in a winebag

Mike
I don't know about the speed really, never done any tests, relying just on feeling. But in stock D-23,Tri-X (which should be quite faster than what's on the box, if forums are correct), Ilford PAN 400 (should be a real 400) and Foma 400 (which is 200 at best) looked good rated at 400...no empty shadows or whatnot. Granted, times in stock were 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 and Tri-X is denser than PAN and it is denser than Foma,yet they all printed on Grade 3 nicely. Metering can be a huge factor, by a strange coincidence the ones I have just looked at were shot one after another in the same camera by the same person.

As for the shelf life - I have used it regardless of age if it was still clear...once I think 1,5 months with no problems. Getting rid of air should definitely help, never tried that. Also I was thinking about making a smaller batch (300 or 600ml) so I would use it faster, never tried that either

Jakub
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  #14  
Old 12th March 2020, 11:52 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JakubV View Post
Hm, never tried Perceptol, I'm more into the grain actually, having endless on-off thing with Rodinal from the moment I started doing my films

I have started using D-23 for three reasons - I wanted something similar to D-76 (which gave me good results, but I felt something was lacking) but slightly different; I really realy liked the look of photos A. Adams did with D-23 ; and to have cheap&simple developer that would work well with both fast films (that my wife usually uses) and slow films (for me).
I think it have succeeded at least in the last point, as it works pretty well (for me at least) from ASA 50 to 1600.
Most problematic is flat, diffuse lighting - really just meh (while I think zone system N+x development would help with this, I was never able to shoot whole roll in a same light, so no data on that as I had to settle for some reasonable middle ground).

I have never seen a formula for Perceptol before, interestingly not very much reliable about NaCl can be (quickly) found on internet other than it somehow gives finer grain. While I can't imagine that I would need anything finer than what 1+1 D-23 gives,maybe someday I'll try me some Peceptol (or Microdol-x for that matter). Looking at some photos on HP5 in Perceptol, they do look quite similar to D-23, indeed.


Jakub
Interesting comment, and kind of what I expected. But still, until you try both and test more extensively it will be difficult to judge objectively. Maybe I will try it one day and compare the two.

HP5 in Perceptol @ 1+1 is really great. One of my favourite combinations. Works very well in harsh full sun conditions, and in indirect lighting too.
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Svend
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