My choice of film, to begin, is Arista EDU 200ISO 5x7 sheet film. One of the things I liked about that film was the ISO rating. I have used FP-4, and HP-5, both very good film in all formats. But then again most modern films are high quality, with most having certain characteristics that make it someone's choice. There was also the plug on the listing, saying 'if you liked Kodak's Super XX 250, then you will love this film'. I'm game. I loved Super XX film. I have two sheets already loaded into a cut film holder, awaiting the final acid, (Boric acid) for mixing the acid hardening fixer for negatives; F15.
I will be developing using compensating developers, thereby shooting a stop over the rating. That puts my metering at 100 ISO. The only two avenues I'll either be using the original negative for contact printing a portfolio in palladium, or scanning it for enlargement to an 8x10 digital negative, scaled for whatever printing medium desired.
I have written on compensating developers in the past, but it is worth refreshing the concept for anyone not familiar with compensating developers. Simply put, compensating developers use only one reducing agent, never two, which would create the superadditivity that compensating developers do not want. D-76 is one such two reducing agent developers (Metol & Hydroquinone) with plenty of superadditivity. If it is used straight, with but two minutes over recommended time, there would be precious little left of any textural quality after Z6, with densities above that "blown out" as they say.
A single reducing agent developer won't do that, by its very nature. I'm not saying one can't blow out a negative with a compensating developer if they tried hard enough. The point of a compensating developer is that it is far more gentle on the upper densities during normal development. There are two such developers I have used extensively and found them to be superlative developers. The first is a very old formula, going back just about the time Alfred Stieglitz was finding his way around a camera. Beutler 105. It is easy enough to find if you google it. There are several variations upon the theme, some cutting everything in half to make half as much. Not sure what that was about, but he seemed to really like it.
Beutler is a semi-compensating developer. The contribution it affords is holding back the densities above Zone 6. The standard use is 1:10 for 8 minutes for ISO 125. It is a very simple formula that is easily memorized. You don't need a formula mixing book to dig out, although my book does have all the formulas listed at the end for easy reach. Beutler uses Metol as the reducing agent. No hydroquinone. There is no need for a restrainer. The formula has a wide range of developing abilities, from the standard 1:10 to 1:7 or even 1:5, and I can say from experience that is a very energetic developer at those undiluted strengths. Another excellent characteristic of this developer is that it keeps quite well, and at 1:10 a quart of that develops a lot of negatives.
Beutler 105:
Water ~ 115 degs 750ml
Metol 5 g
Sodium Sulfite 25 g
Sodium Carbonate (anhydrous) 25 g
Water ~ Cold to make 1000 ml
Standard dilution; 1:10
Developing Time; ISO 125 ~ 8 minutes; ISO 320/400 ~ 10 minutes
Thirty years ago, I marched my two kids out into the back yard for portraits whenever I was trying out a new formula. Family legends have grown of that. What made me choose Beutler was the portrait I took of my daughter, in bright sunlight with her very light blonde hair. I was looking for a formula that would hold in the highlights, even in direct sunlight. This formula did that, and more. There was a time when I had to compensate for a negative two stops under. A metering oops. I used the 1:5 mixture and it worked like DK-50. What I will be working on now, is the developing time needed for densities to reach Log 1.2 to 1.5. Knowing Beutler as I do, I believe that combination will be a mixture of 1:7 for 14-15 minutes. At 1:7, the contrast index curve of Beutler will begin to approach that of what a D-76 curve might look like. I made many, many portraits commercially using this formula.
Beutler Portrait
FP-4 rated (80 ISO) developed Beutler 105 ~ 8 minutes
Thanks for the bold entry. I too use Beutler 105 both as a single and two bath. Excellent developer delivering sharp, fine grained negatives. In some ways it reminds me of Rodinal without such grain.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Pictorial Planet
That should read Thanks for the _blog_ entry!
ReplyDeleteThose who have used this developer, tend to stay with it as a primary developer, as you know. Good energy to your work.
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