HC110 - Effects of Higher Dilutions?

[William D. Lester]

Having just suffered another Xtol failure, I am considering going back to HC110

which I used routinely before the introduction of Xtol. Because of the

relatively short development times with some films using dilution B (1:31 from

concentrate), I have begun to use it at 1:50 from concentrate. I have seen it

used at higher dilutions as well. With developers such as Xtol, D76, etc., the

higher dilutions have less solvent action on the grain with resulting better

perception of sharpness. Is this the same with HC110? It seems I read

somewhere - I think the 'Film Developing Cookbook' that HC110 was a non solvent

type developer. If that is the case, then dilution should have no effect other

that extending the deveoping time? Can anyone offer an opinion on this? Also,

how 'similar' is this developer to D76 as Kodak states. Are the results so

similar that the differences can't be seen in a normal 8x10 to 11x14 print? Are

there good reasons for choosing one over the other? Thanks.

[ellis_vener_photography]

AsIrecall JohnSexton discover ed that workign with a very dilute HC-110 mixandextendign

the development resulted in really excelelnt highlight and midtone separation in extremely

contrasty lightign situations

 

try this oldthreadfor more information: http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-

fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=005Avq

 

Yo umight find more information at:

 

http://www.johnsexton.com/newsletterarchive.html

 

As his schedule allows, John in the past has been willing to answer questions when you

write him.

[jim_appleyard]

HC-110 is considered a solvent developer, although the amounts of each chemical are known only to Kodak.

 

Yes, diluting developers cause the solvent effect to decrease and the compensating effect to increase.

 

Results are similar to D-76; HC-110 is often called "liquid D-76".

 

As with most devs, you can't tell the difference between prints from the same family of devs.

 

Why choose HC-110? The concentrate lasts forever, it's easy to mix, it's used "one-shot" and you can easily vary the concentrations.

[jim_appleyard]

More info here:http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

[big toys are better]

The more I use Rodinal for my fine grained stocks, and the more I hear about HC-110 for other things like the 200 speed films, Tri-X and HP-5+, the more I think these two liquids are just about all the film developers I'll ever need in my darkroom!

[paul_hoyt]

Bill,

 

Many of us use HC-110 at the unoffical dilution 1+63. The developing time is very close to twice the 1+31 dilution. My developing times for 4X5 TXP (Tri-X) are 7 minutes (N-1), 9 minutes (Normal) and 12 minutes (N+1).

 

Paul

[big toys are better]

One thought on the highest dilutions of HC-110 to help reduce grain would be to add just a bit of sodium sulfite, much like the Cookbook suggests testing for diluted Rodinal. This would help preserve the developers, dissolve the silver grains a bit more and boost the film speed just a touch without destroying all of the good compensatory effects of high dilution.

[dave_s]

An older reference which you may have on your bookshelf is Ansel Adams's <i>The Negative</i>. Adams was using highly dilute HC-110 to tame extreme contrast, as an alternative to waterbath development. As I recall, he argued that waterbath development was not very effective with modern thin-emulsion films.

[kelly_flanigan1]

With a "super dilute" ratio experiments one should figure out the developer volume to film developed surface area. If the ratio is too low the developer will exhaust; ie peter out while you are developing the film in question. Imagine using a pint of your thin brew with a 120 roll of film, versus using a quart with a roll of 110 film. The experiment will have different results sometimes because the smaller surface area 110 roll; piece of 35mm test strip might not "see" the developer exhaust; the big roll might. Sometimes one PURPOSELY does this gambit of having the developer exhaust, for a different tonal response. Just be aware of these ratios so one is not chasing ones tail; or using anothers thin dilution ratio.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Thus if one has 1 pint of a super dilute developer in a 16 oz tank with one 35mm 24 exp roll; the same test with two 36 exp rolls in a 16 oz tank could be different. Thus when you use somebodies super dilute recipes; unless you know the developer volume to film area ratio; you might get totally different results. Imagine washing clothes in a 5 gallon bucket with x ounces of bluppers soap; and comparing data to another, not knowing if the bucket had one T-shirt or 2 pairs of bluejeans.