Ifosol S

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Trying to find out some opinions on this developer. How does it compare to D-76 or ID-11?

Use Hp5+ and a JOBO processor.

THanks for any input.

-- Jeff (jtr@bwphoto.itgo.com), January 30, 2002

Answers

At 1:14 it'll put a bit of a shoulder into HP5+ way up on the high end, perhaps too far up there to be printably useful or maybe not. Overall not a whole lot different than D-76.

With only one film, Fuji Acros, the curve shape went flat (d-max)at just above a Zone VIII exposure; this may have been an incompatibility between Ilfosol-S and that film or it may have been insufficient developer capacity for that particular film. Others were normal.

-- John Hicks (jhicks31@bellsouth.net), January 30, 2002.


I pretty much agree with John. Grain and sharpness are about equal to D-76 on FP4+, PanF, Tri-x and HP5+ at the 1+9 dilution too.
I find that Ilfosol works very well with T-max 100 though. It tames the highlight density far more than D-76 with this film, and gets a bit more shadow separation out of it. If you're looking for an economical one-shot version of D-76, then this has got to be it.
I'd recommend using a stop bath with this developer, since it tends to carry on working quite strongly in a plain water rinse. Maybe this isn't quite so noticeable at 1+14 dilution.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), January 31, 2002.

"I'd recommend using a stop bath with this developer, since it tends to carry on working quite strongly in a plain water rinse. Maybe this isn't quite so noticeable at 1+14 dilution." (Pete Andrews)

What about stopping the development half a minute or maybe a minute earlier?

I tend to avoid acid stop bath unless I fear undesirable staining (unlikely with Ilfosol-S). Ilfosol-S uses carbonate, another reason I shy away from acid stop.

-- Ryuji Suzuki (rsuzuki@rs.cncdsl.com), January 31, 2002.


Speaking as someone currently playing in the centre of the tonal scale, I find Ilfosol offers a lot more control when pulling film than D76.

-- Rebecca (rebecca@antart.com.au), January 31, 2002.

Hi Ryuji:
I take it your aversion to an acid stop bath is based on a fear of pinholes? Don't worry. I think this is only a problem if you process at high temperatures (above 75 deg F) or make up too strong a stop bath. 5ml of Glacial Acetic acid in 500ml of water is quite strong enough to arrest development.
The only time I've ever had trouble with pinholes, was when using lith film, developed in a Hydroquinone-caustic developer.
If you still think it's too risky, then yes, why not pull the development by 30sec or a minute?

Consider this though: All C41 films are commercially developed at 100 deg F (38.7 celcius), and in most processing machines the film passes straight from the alkaline developer into an acid fix, or blix, bath. Yet I've never seen a single complaint about pinholed color negatives!

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 01, 2002.



About stop bath (to Pete and others):

The major reason I use water rinse is really a passive one; I don't want to mix a stop bath unless I have to. If there is any benefit of water rinse over stop bath, it is a bit of what's claimed for water-bath development, and of course less stress to gelatine (how much less, important or not, etc., are different matter, though). That is, if I have to minimize water usage or if the developer is stain-prone, I will use stop bath.

If I want a safe and effective stop bath, I would buffer the pH about 5.5 and reuse it until it dies. Even with small concentration, pH of the fresh acetic acid bath can be far lower than I want. If I have only a tiny (much less than you suggested) acid, even if the pH is low the stop bath won't work. You know all these stuff. A textbook way is to throw in some acetate but straight boric acid works well also. (Citric acid is stronger than acetic acid)

With some exceptions, non-hardening fixers should work fine even if some film developer is carried over. Usually, sulfite is in fixers to prevent sulfrization but this also prevents possible staining. I wonder why people don't suggest to formulate highly buffered b&w fixer to omit stop bath altogether. Mildly buffered stop bath can last longer than fixers in terms of processing capacity, so there seems to be negligible chemical waste. Any idea?

-- Ryuji Suzuki (rsuzuki@rs.cncdsl.com), February 01, 2002.


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