Experiences with Dixactol

[philip_glass]

Does anyone have any experience with this developer? I have found a website for its inventor, Barry Thornton, but the site is out of order. I would like to know how people use it and what kind of results they have achieved. Is it similar to Pyro?

 

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Thanks,

 

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Phil

[pete_caluori]

Greetings,

 

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I have used DiXactol, but not extensively. In case you didn't know,

you can get Barry Thornton's DiXactol from Photographer's Formulary

in Montana (http://www.photoformulary.com/ or (800) 922-5255.)

 

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Dixactol is a staining developer, but different than the ABC+ Pyro

I'm use to. It produces a tawny brown stain unlike the yellow green

stain of Pyro. For that reason, it will not have the same effect as

a Pyro neg. on VC paper. The results I got were good, but not as

good as ABC+ Pyro - my few trials were in a rotary processor. To be

fair, I'd need to test it in trays or drums, not a rotary processor

with continuous agitation.

 

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I wish I could give you more specific info, but I haven't used it

enough. I suggest getting some from Photographer's Formulary and

giving it a try; they do provide a good reference sheet. Good luck!

 

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Regards,

[fw1]

You can use DiXactol as either a single bath or a two bath developer.

I would not recommend its use as a two bath developer, as I would

regularly get uneven development, and in a discussion on the B&W film

and developing Lusenet forum a few months ago, Barry Thornton seemed

to be backing off two bath usage. As a single bath staining

developer, it is OK, but there is a high base fog level. I personally

think that either Delta 100 / PMK Pyro <i>or</i> TMax100 / Rodinal

offer a better and more consistent result, and also more N+/N-

flexibility.

[linas_kudzma]

Phil,

 

Dixactol is probably a catechol based developer. I use a different

catechol developer called Pyrocat-HD (see unblinkingeye.com for the

formula) which also gives a brownish stain and gives me absolutely no

problems with uneven staining and base fog I would sometimes get with

some films and PMK or ABC+ pyro. Pyrocat-HD can be used in a tray or

rotary (I use both methods depending on format). The negatives

are "pyro like" as far as print qualities, but print times are

shorter. You might want to give Pyrocat-HD a try as an economical

alternative.

 

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I print Pd/Pt and lately Azo, and my experience is with these UV/blue

sensitive materials only. I don't have any experience with

conventional VC paper and Pyrocat-HD.

[dhananjay_n]

Dixactol is a catechol-glycin developer - to the best of my

knowledge, the formula has never been published. As stated above,

catechol based developers are staining developers like pyro but they

tend to produce a brownish stain rather than the yellow green stain

associated with pyro. This means that it will produce similar results

with graded and VC papers (unlike pyro negs, where the greenish stain

acts as a variable mask with VC papers - VC papers are sensitive to

the green light passed by the green stain).

 

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The Pyrocat-HD formula referred to above is an excellent developer.

Cheers, DJ.

[paul_owen]

Phil, I've been using Dixactol, in place of Pyro, for a while now and

I'm very pleased with the results. I use it single bath with FP4+ and

find the negs print easily. Worth a try!!

[trevor_crone]

Phil, While I like DiXactol, which I've used exclusively with Delta 100 in both 54 sheet and 120 roll. I prefer Pyro developers simply because I find they produce finer grained negs. especially in the smaller formats.

 

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Regards,

[david_tolcher]

I have used Dixactol (from Silverprint in the UK) with good success

as a single bath developer for 120 and 35mm (FP4+, Tech Pan, HP5+)

but it just is too expensive to contemplate for 5X4 tank development.

You need a minimum of 300ml(according to instructions) so that rules

out my orbital processor.

I wouldnt recommend use with Tri-X as I have had inconsistent results

from both 1 and particularly 2 bath development.

Summary - I like it, the negatives print easily and the grain is a

non issue on 120 film certainly up to 16x12. I havent tried pyro and

use perceptol for all my 5X4 negatives.