Two Bath Developing?

Two Bath Developing?

  • never used two bath development

    Votes: 47 48.5%

  • used two bath development and swear by it

    Votes: 32 33.0%

  • used two bath development but remain sceptical

    Votes: 18 18.6%
  • Total voters
    97
You could try Tmax400 (new). That would buy you two stops; therefore f5.6 at 1\125. I use Rodinal 1+50 for 10 minutes, 68 degrees, 30 seconds to start and then 3 inversions per minute (maybe that is meaningless with 4x5), and then (second bath) 500ml plus 5.5ml Borax and stand for five minutes. You could then do the mix up versions and see if there is a difference. That boy looks pretty calm to me though.
 
I use Diafine with Fuji Neopan Acros 100 and Neopan 400 and love the results. I took the time to test everything by making densitometer measurements to determine the right EI for the films I use. For me, this put things in perspective regarding the "shoot at any EI you like" myth.
 
I've developed thousands of rolls of film, using everything from D76 and Rodinal to Xtol, DD-X and who knows what else and nothing has ever given me better and more consistant negatives than 2-Bath developers.

With 2-bath it is next to impossible to blow out highlights and shadow detail is excellent. Because 2-bath developers are less affected by temperature and need little or no aggitation, the results are extremely repeatable and stable.

I highly recommend Barry Thornton's 2-Bath for anything up to and including 400 asa. Divided D76 and Tri-X @ 400 are a perfect match. I use Diafine for push processing. The only time I still use a single shot developer, is if I need to push Tmax P3200 to 1600 or 3200 and then I go for Tmax developer. Otherwise I shoot P3200 @ 1250 and develop in Diafine.
 
I've been pondering giving two-bath development a try ever since I read Barry Thornton's Edge of Darkness. But I read that just before I started to do my own development. When I did, I started with D76 for a while, then switched to Pyrocat-HD and haven't looked back.
 
Harry Lime said:
I've developed thousands of rolls of film, using everything from D76 and Rodinal to Xtol, DD-X and who knows what else and nothing has ever given me better and more consistant negatives than 2-Bath developers.

With 2-bath it is next to impossible to blow out highlights and shadow detail is excellent. Because 2-bath developers are less affected by temperature and need little or no aggitation, the results are extremely repeatable and stable.

I highly recommend Barry Thornton's 2-Bath for anything up to and including 400 asa. Divided D76 and Tri-X @ 400 are a perfect match. I use Diafine for push processing. The only time I still use a single shot developer, is if I need to push Tmax P3200 to 1600 or 3200 and then I go for Tmax developer. Otherwise I shoot P3200 @ 1250 and develop in Diafine.
Click to expand...

I read your thread on this on APUG.
You use barry's with tri-x 400, but I don't think that's available to me in 4x5 film. Near as I can tell, my only faster film options are HP5, Tri-X (320) and T-Max.
Have you tried any of those?

FWIW, I've done efke 25, 50 and 100, PanF, FP4 and now that I think of it, 1 roll of tri-x (400) in barry's and I am very pleased.
 
Ok, I've finally hit on the easy way of settling the matter for myself.
I've bought a roll of Tmax in 35mm. I'll fire that off pretty quick and develop it in barry's.
 
I've used it. Don't know if I necessarily "swear by it," to the point that it's my standard developer. It's the old H4C (horses for courses) drill. I used to use a divided D-type (e.g. D76) a lot when I shot in the summer during the extended-range light period (that dreaded 10 Am - 2 PM). It helps to hold or compress the highlights.

.
 
I'm not sure that I swear by it, but HC-110h and then a second bath of Borax for 3-6 minutes: stand; gave me this, 8 plus maybe 9 stops and as per Barry Thornton the rest of the negatives on this roll were fine:

2978140323_ba2b9a1a43.jpg
 
Compressing the mid-tones...

Compressing the mid-tones...

I have read somewhere the main problem with two bath processing is compressing the midtones and am surprised that no-one has mention this. I will try and dig out the source of this information.
 
Here is what Dave Karp (and Barry Thornton) wrote about compressed midtones, Carl. Although, I'm not sold on two bath 100% with roll film I don't get muddy midtones like I can with compensating development when developing roll film:

You must remember that higher standards are in the eyes of the beholder, and may even vary by conditions or the subject being photographed. For example, compensating development with dilute developers has its own effect. As Thornton wrote: "The effect is not the same as the well known technique of compensating development by diluting developers, which does work in holding back dense highlights, but can give muddy mid tones and does not have the same automatic contrast equalisation as the two bath." If you want to avoid compression of midtones while still retaining detail in the highlights, a two bath might be superior for your purposes.
 
Thanks for the info, I have Barry's books and will need to reread parts of them. I want to settle on one or two devs for HP5+ and FP4+ for use with 35mm that will give full speed or thereabouts. Mytol is a possible as is pyrocat hd that I already use pretty much exclusively but have not tried it at full speed!
 
Carl, full speed is a problem for me. I just like separate tones all the way down the scale. Both Rodinal and HC-110 do not give me full speed. Kaiyen on this forum knows a lot about different developers, but I have seen him on here lately. He, I think, recommended Microdol (or maybe it's Microphen??) for full speed. You could wade though his posts. I also read that Tmax developer gives close to full speed. I don't think Rodinal would be a good choice. I use it regularly and have found that I lose at least a stop with it.

I looked up Kaiyen's developer page, Carl here it is:

http://photos.kaiyen.com/pages/dev_chart.html
 
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dazedgonebye said:
I read your thread on this on APUG.
You use barry's with tri-x 400, but I don't think that's available to me in 4x5 film. Near as I can tell, my only faster film options are HP5, Tri-X (320) and T-Max.
Have you tried any of those?
Click to expand...


Tri-X 400 should be available in 4x5 and 8x10.

I've also developed the new Tmax-2 400 in Thornton's 2-bath and it works very well. Tmax is a little more prone to blowing highlights than Tri-X, but 2-bath really helps prevent that.
 
The only Tri-X available in sheets is the ISO 320 TXP, which is also available in 120 and 220. Tri-X 400 (TX) is only available in 135 or 120.

Marty
 
Diafine user for quite a few years and also used D76, DDX and Rodinal successfully. Rodinal is always on stand by when schedule permits. Since I'm now based in the tropics with no dedicated darkroom aside from a changing bag, I can swear by Diafine as practical and consistent for my purpose...just have to choose what film to use.

Have to qualify though, that I'm not trying to be a perfectionist, just aiming for consistency....:)
 
It hold highlights in check at the expense of low contrast in the highlights.

Works poorly with modern films even if I juice up the active ingredents in A bath.

I put it away for history to ponder. Leica developer, not unlike D23 split, was a favorite for 20 years.
 
Hm - this thread is an interesting read for sure. I must admit I haven't yet tried two-bath development.

When I did my research to get me restarted with film last year, I read a lot about compensating developers and finally decided to standardize my neg dev workflow to tanning & staining developers. These seem to work on a similar principle by inhibiting local highlight development while allowing prolonged development in shadow areas.

Most of my bw photography I am showing on RFF has been shot on Tri-X and developed in Prescysol EF, and I like the way how this process provides nice tonality and good tonal latitude. There's a similar developer - Moersch Tanol - that might be available more easily in continental Europe, which should work analogously.

Has anyone of you compared 2-bath development with tanning & staining (pyro) development?
 
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I'd be interested in hearing that as well as I've been seriously thinking about adding Pyrocat-HD for my LF development along with the Diafine I've been using.

William
 
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