Has anyone tried using the Windisch Compensating formula as a two part developer? I'm imagining a few minutes in the Catechol/ sodium sulfite/Part A, followed by a few in the dilute Sodium Hydroxide/PartB. What I'd hope for is even more compensation for some Aerial copy film I'm working with, and maybe gaining a little speed. Any thoughts?

Gene Johnson (New Guy)

-- Gene Johnson (genej2@home.com), February 14, 2002

Answers

Gene, I use a developer with some of the same components (catechol and NaOH), and I would imagine what you're proposing should work. I've never tried mine as a 2 part developer, however. Barry Thornton, who created DiXactol, which also uses catechol and NaOH, originally suggested it be used either as a two part or combined developer. (He has since stopped recommending the two part option, however. I don't know why.)

As an alternative, for additional compensation with the Windisch formula, try diluting it further. I would suggest combining A & B, but use 1/2 of solution B and reducing agitation to 10-15'' every 3 minutes. This will likely reduce contrast by N-2 without significant loss of film speed.

My only caveat is sodium hydroxide losses steam fairly quickly, which is what makes it so valuable in compensating formulas. So it might exhaust too fully before you reach your desired density. Therefore, if you find you loose too much speed or contrast, you might have to increase A by +/- 25% with the reduction of B.

As an alternative, you can halve A with full B for much the same compensating result. However, generally I've found better midrange separation with the first method.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), February 14, 2002.

Thanks. Your idea of diluting the Sodium hydroxide makes sense, and I guess is a lot like the "Ansel Adams Dilution" instructions that came in my Windisch kit from Photographer's Formulary. I'm hoping that by Dividing the developer and maybe even increasing the concentration of the Part A while going down with part B, I can get good shadow detail. I'm rating this film at ASA 2. An extra stop of speed would be wonderful. I got a ton of it in a 5 inch roll, and it's pretty amazing stuff. If I limit myself to low contrast scenes, the effect can be really beautiful, amazingly detailed, and completely grainless. I'm trying hard to finish a 4x5 view camera I'm building so it will be easier to experiment with this film. For the time being, I'm cutting and rolling onto 120 spools for my old Rolleiflex.

Gene

-- Gene Johnson (genej2@home.com), February 14, 2002.

You're an ambitious guy, Gene!

I was thinking, you might be disappointed with the images from your 4x5 unless you're planning on using TechPan or Gigabit.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), February 14, 2002.

One more thought: I forgot that you were looking for extra speed. As I recall, the Windisch formula does not have any metol or phenidone. If you add a small amount of metol, say, 0.1g/working L, you'll pick up some useful speed without disrupting the tonality too much. You could also try phenidone. I'd recommend you make a 1% solution (1g/100ml) of phenidone in 91% alcohol; then, for every 10ml you will add 0.01g / working solution. As a starting point I'd figure on 1g metol = 0.1g phenidone.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), February 14, 2002.

Let's see .1g/liter of Metol, or .01g/liter Phenidone? Did I get that right? And the Phenidone would be used as a solution of 1g/100ml in 91%alcohol. Would that be Methanol or Ethanol? Good stuff! I'm really close to getting this film to be truly useful. I appreciate the tips.

Gene

-- Gene Johnson (genej2@home.com), February 14, 2002.

Definitely not methanol! What you want is 91% isopropyl alcohol (essentially ethyl alcohol with the fun removed) from your local pharmacy. Good luck with it.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), February 14, 2002.

Gene, a friend pointed out a mistake in what I wrote about adding phenidone. For your stock solution dissolved in alcohol, you want to use 0.1g/100ml, which is a 0.1% solution. Then, when you add it to your developer, use 10ml / 1L of *working* solution, or 0.01g phenidone / working liter. Sorry for the confusion.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), February 15, 2002.

Can I use the Phenidone in the part A of a divided developer as well? Part of my logic here is that the more I can restrain the highlights by limiting the activator, the higher the developer concentration I can use. More time maybe too. I'm theorizing that I can find some optimum concentration of part A that gets enough developer into the emulsion to really develop the shadows, but runs out of gas before the highlights go over the top. It just seems like a very tuneable setup. All theory; have to try it out to see how it goes in practice. Copy film and microfilm are not for everything , but they are really nice in certain applications. We might be on to some kind of ultimate copy film developer. By the way, it was Patric Dahlen that got me onto the Windisch formula in the first place. Before that I had real doubts this film could be good for anything.

Gene

-- Gene Johnson (genej2@home.com), February 15, 2002.

Yes, I don't see why you couldn't use phenidone in the "A" solution. That's where it belongs. It is, I believe, superadditive with catechol, so a little goes a long way.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), February 15, 2002.