An alternative to using a retardant in the developer is to process normally, and then skim off the fog with some Farmer's reducer. If you're brave and confident you can use single bath Farmer's, but for more control you can keep the bleach and the fixer separate, bleach first a little less than needed , leaving just a trace of fog, then fix, the reduction continues a little in the fixer.
Farmer's reducer is a 1:1 solution of potassium ferricyanide and plain non-hardening fixer. The concentration of the ferricyanide isn't critical, just makes it slower or faster so suit yourself. The simple source of this very nasty stuff is part A of a sepia toning kit. HANDLE CAREFULLY (shouting intentional). Regards, Anthony Farr -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Scott Loveless Sent: Sunday, 11 March 2007 4:37 AM To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: Tri-X in Dektol Do any of you recall how a newspaper darkroom might have developed Tri-X in Dektol? From what I've read it would have been used 1+1 or 1+2 for a very short amount of time, 1.5 or 2 minutes, and then immediately fixed (skipping the stop). I recently acquired a bulk roll of Tri-X that's well past its process-by date (thanks, Godders!) and need work around a slightly higher than normal base fog. The first test roll, shot at 400 and souped in D-76 1+1, resulted in good acutance, but not enough exposure to overcome the fog in the shadows. So I'm looking at over-exposing (IE 200 or so) and developing for a bit more contrast. Plus, I have this Dektol taking up space..... Thanks, folks! -- Scott Loveless http://www.twosixteen.com Shoot more film! -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
