Stand Development

I have read several articles and forum posts related to stand

development. However, they almost always use Pyro developers. My

question is; What makes Pyro a preference for stand development? Can

you use Xtol or D76 and achieve significant results (I shoot 4x5 by

the way) versus standard recommended tray development agitation/times?

Rodinal works pretty good, but you must dilute a lot more than you are used to -- 1:150 to 1:400, instead of 1:50 or 1:75. Chemically, I suppose, some rapid active developers might not work, as they exhaust as they go. Some of the two bath developers would be here, and some like X-tol takes a certain developer volume per sheet and do not do too well at large dilutions. Time and dilution are the practical keys, and search and you will various recommendations.

 

I am not sure why pyro users are the main talkers about this -- maybe they are more experimental/forever dissatisfied, but maybe the stand process generates some of those features they use pyro for in the first place -- more visible edge/separation effects, better hilight/lowlight details, etc. Probably both reasons.

I had a question related to stand development recently, and got quite a number of answers which might also be useful to you. Here is the URL:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BN0C

Jay,

 

pyro developers are staining/tanning developers especially well suited to dilution because pyro is a very active reducer. The stain is formed in proportion to the silver density as the pyro oxidises and exhausts first in the highlights, or densest parts of the negative. The tanning of the gelatin reduces swelling and development migration, which can lead to enhanced adjacency effects and greater apparent sharpness. Stand development is rarely used due to the very great danger of uneven stainng and development. Reduced agitation is often employed, but careful testing is required to find the minimum necessary amount of agitation, which can vary according to subject matter. Reduced agitation is a very risky technique, regardless of developer, and stand development rarely produces defect-free negatives, but the potential rewards of compensated development and increased adjacency efects/apparent sharpness are great enough to inspire the bold to throw caution to the wind. Good luck.

 

Jay

I've have always used D-76 1:3 for about an hour,and have never had any problems with uneven development,streaking,bromide drag or any other problems often reported with stand development.I don't know why,

but I usually expose at the box speed if I'm going to stand develop it.I think some might say that I'm under exposing it,but I'm not really sure.

I've used high dilution HC-110 (Dilution G, 1:119 from syrup or 1:29 from stock solution) for stand development of 35 minutes with micofilm and (as I recall) 45 minutes with TMY. I found the TMY on the flat side, but the microfilm looked great (except that the edge effects were distracting, working from a 10x14 mm negative).

There are several threads on stand development in the archives. I always use an extremely dilute solution of Rodinal, usually 1+200, sometimes 1+300, for two hours.

Thank you all for your responses. That is exactly the information that I was looking for.