educate me on different developers

[titrisol]

Sudden death was an initial problem of Xtol, that was corrected early (i think 99) but the rumor and the urban legend persist.

I thought there's an issue of "sudden death" with Xtol. Do you have any bad experience on that todd?

D76 is a very good all around developer, after Rodinal it was the one I used most during my learning. Sharpness could be increased by diluting it 1+1 or 1+3, could help in pushing.
- Very robust
- Tried and true
- Highly publicized and spread

The downsides IMHO:
- IT is a powder, so mixing is inconveninet
- New developers such as Xtol, DDX, PC-TEA, etc are far superior in both sharpness and graininess. From the old crop FG7 and D23 gave superior tonality.

 

[solane]

- New developers such as Xtol, DDX, PC-TEA, etc are far superior in both sharpness and graininess. From the old crop FG7 and D23 gave superior tonality.

who manufactures these developers?

 

[mkyy]

Xtol by Kodak, comes in powder.
DD-X by Ilford, comes in liquid.
FG-7 by Edwal, comes in liquid.
Not sure about PC-Tea & D23

 

[titrisol]

PC-TEA is one of patrick Gainer's super formulas, published in Photo-Techniques a couple of years back.
It consists of Phenidone and Vitamin C dissolved in TEA (TriEthanolAmine)
Ryuji Suzuki's formulas are also much better

D23 is an old Kodak formulation, 7.5 g of Metol and 100 g of Na-Sulphite per liter.

 

[solane]

you boys bandy about those chemical formulas like baseball card stats! i'm duly impressed!

and thanks for the info! 😀

 

[titrisol]

No problemo!

For me the most fun in photography is chemistry/darkroom itself!

LONG LIFE CAFFENOL!!!