Neutol WA Dilutions

[david_hall6]

I am doing some contact printing on Agfa FB VC paper (although

I wish I had the old Insignia or Portriga) while I wait for my Azo to

arrive. I am using Neutol WA, and I have two questions for those

who use it:

 

1) What is your standard dilution, and do you dilute differently for

contact printing versus enlarging?

 

2) How much can you dilute the stuff (or strengthen it) to control

contrast before it starts to get mushy?

 

Thanks!

[tom_perkins]

David

I have used this under similar circumstances to yours, so my comments are not based on year in and year out use. A dilution of 1:10 works good. Two minutes or 3 times the time it takes for the image to start to appear, to vary on your experience. No difference whether contact printing versus enlarging, as the reaction of the chemicals on the paper is the same. I don't think you would get contrast control from the developer within standard dilutions of 1:10 to 1:15, although I have done that with full strength dektol for half the time, and you could try it. Good luck.

[geoffrey_james]

I read somewhere, and it has been proven by experience, that with Agfa classic and Neutol WA, it is important not to let the temperature of the developer go under 68. It is better at 70. For contact prints, I use one-to-7 and, if necessary, a water bath. BTW, I find Forte warmtone paper far better for contact prints. It is about half the speed, thus allowing you to throw a little light on the subject, has a very heavy stock, and absorbs selenium like crazy.I stopped using AZO when the range of available grades shrunk dramatically. It is also a pain to order. In Toronto, there is a Forte supplier. Never like Insignia -- used it for a few years and found it differed wildly from batch to batch. The earlier Record Rapid was a much nicer paper.