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Old 13th May 2015, 12:32 AM
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Default 2 bath developers what do you use?

I have quite a collection of 35mm compact cameras I intend to use with B&W film. Most of the cameras are point and shoot with no exposure compensation and DX film reading (so no chance of altering the film speed for individual shots).What two bath developer is best suited to give me a good chance of being able to print all my exposures taken in a wide variety of light from low to high contrast including indoor flash. I will be printing on Ilford variable contrast paper. I am looking for a lazy approach that will cover all situations with a good chance of success. Am I asking too much of a film/developer/basic camera combination to cover all bases? I had Diafine in mind but it seems to be expensive and hard to obtain here in the UK. A home brew two bath formula accompanied with a brief description of your experiences would be most appreciated, thanks in advance, Norm.
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Old 13th May 2015, 10:06 AM
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Since you excluded Diafine, the Barry Thornton approach might be interesting
http://www.awh-imaging.co.uk/barrythornton/2bath.htm
and speciially for an easy first step the second page, last paragraph, is interesting:
Quote:
As far as I know nobody has mentioned another technique which I have evolved and which works really well to give different tonal characteristics and very similar automatic contrast control, and to avoid having to mix anything but an approximate Bath B – two heaped teaspoons of sodium metaborate in 1 litre of water. It dissolves almost instantly and is cheap enough to use once then throw away, though it would handle 15 roll films if re-used. Simply use your normal standard developer (T-Max, ID11, llfotech, HC110, Econotol, Perceptol etc.) for half to two thirds of the maker’s stated time as Bath A, drain it off, and use the teaspoon-measured Bath B for 3 minutes at the same temperature as Bath A. You may have to fine tune Bath A time by experience. For all 2 baths stop and fix afterwards in the usual way after Bath B, but not between the two baths
BTW, Diafine has risen in price, still it can be inexpensive compared to other developers. I get from one gallon between 200 and 300 rolls of 135 film, hence it can beat even HC-110 in cost per roll. And the working life of the solution is surprisingly good, the 300 rolls peak came from a Diafine-batch surviving 30 months. Would have kept longer, I guess.
Supply is bad in Europe, Fotoimpex is one of the few reliable sources I know of and they already warned of possible import-problems in the future in their forum
http://forum.fotoimpex.de/index.php?...325#entry18320
This reply made me not only switch to ID-11, reading the last paragraph made me also switch the supplier for most of my photographic materials, by the way.

A rather strange offering is this
http://shop.fotohuisrovo.nl/product_...roducts_id=161
a Diafine-like product, don't know which recipe they are using, who 'they' are in the end (cyrillic and all...), but it's a comfy 2x1 litre version. The price is high as well, compared to the original 5 litre version and cost/roll and especially for a clone product.
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Old 13th May 2015, 02:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Erdner View Post
[...] compared to the original 5 litre version and cost/roll and especially for a clone product.
should have been:
compared to the original 1 gallon (3.8 litre) version...
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Old 13th May 2015, 03:52 PM
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Why do you need a two bath developer?

I use the same development with point and shoot as I would with my pro kit.
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Old 13th May 2015, 06:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by photomi7ch View Post
Why do you need a two bath developer?

I use the same development with point and shoot as I would with my pro kit.
See Martins link to Barry Thornton's 2 bath. The 35mm roll film will be exposed at box speed to a variety of different lighting from very low contrast to very high contrast and anything in between. I wish to have a compensating developer that will not blow out the highlights but also give a printable neg made in low contrast lighting. I want to find a way of developing roll film that produces negatives that are not too dense or too thin to get a reasonable print from when using variable contrast paper. What is the most forgiving developer/ 35mm 400 asa film/vc paper combination that will cover the widest subject brightness/contrast range? Is there a foolproof combination, am I expecting too much?
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Old 13th May 2015, 07:15 PM
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Norm, you might try searching dsallen's posts or threads. He is a big fan of two bath developers.

Obsidia Aqua is another thread worth searching if you are happy to use a staining developer.

Mike
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Old 13th May 2015, 07:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
Norm, you might try searching dsallen's posts or threads. He is a big fan of two bath developers.

Obsidia Aqua is another thread worth searching if you are happy to use a staining developer.

Mike
Thank you Mike I will take a look at your suggestions. Searching the net for the B&W film with the best exposure latitude, the developer with the most contrast latitude and the VC paper that can produce the greatest range of contrast should keep me busy for a while. Ilford XP2+ C41 process keeps popping up in my searches maybe that is the way to go for a good all round point and shoot film. I have "man flu" so I am killing time surfing the net.
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Old 13th May 2015, 09:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodOldNorm View Post
. Ilford XP2+ C41 process keeps popping up in my searches maybe that is the way to go for a good all round point and shoot film.
A lot of evidence would support that view. I have used the above combo on only a couple of occasions and while the negs look fine i have yet to print from any of those negs

Your post reminds me that it is high time I did

Mike
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Old 14th May 2015, 10:52 PM
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For our family's use of such non-adjustable cameras I used HP5+ and Microphen. Barry Thornton mentioned in his article on his 2 bath developer a simple approach to using just about any developer as a two bath (maybe excepting ultra dilute developers?):

<quote>
The Teaspoonful Two Bath
As far as I know nobody has mentioned another technique which I have evolved and which works really well to give different tonal characteristics and very similar automatic contrast control, and to avoid having to mix anything but an approximate Bath B – two heaped teaspoons of sodium metaborate in 1 litre of water. It dissolves almost instantly and is cheap enough to use once then throw away, though it would handle 15 roll films if re-used. Simply use your normal standard developer (T-Max, ID11, llfotech, HC110, Econotol, Perceptol etc.) for half to two thirds of the maker’s stated time as Bath A, drain it off, and use the teaspoon-measured Bath B for 3 minutes at the same temperature as Bath A. You may have to fine tune Bath A time by experience. For all 2 baths stop and fix afterwards in the usual way after Bath B, but not between the two baths
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Old 17th May 2015, 01:53 PM
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https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...7,333265&hl=en
Another 2 bath magic bullet.
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