question on developer ratios

[derfel]

December 1, 2008 at 3:34 pm

Hi,
on my Ilfosol 3 datasheet it says I can use it one shot 1+9, or “with many films” at 1+14.
I would have naively thought that I’d need a stronger solution for multiple films.
Can anyone explain why the “weaker” solution works like that?

[thommac]

December 2, 2008 at 12:16 am

i think what they maean is that a lot of different types of film can be developed with the weaker solution,

rather than more then one use (if you have a large tank you can develop more than one roll at a time)

some films are sensitive to certain types of chemistry and certain dilutions.

ilfosol is a one shot developer and should not be used more than once.

if you do decide to use it at 1+14 dilution you will probably get larger grain then expected. you will also get a lower contrast negative(in my experience).

hope this is of use to you

:D :D

[derfel]

December 3, 2008 at 9:38 am

thanks, I’m still confused, though that’s normal for me :)

I guess that if I had two different types of film in the tank, the weaker
solution would allow more latitude in the dev process and make allowance for
the fact that they might both have different dev times.

I think I’ll just carry on with the 1+9 and the same films in the tank each time.

[thefizz]

December 3, 2008 at 1:01 pm

derfel wrote:

thanks, I’m still confused, though that’s normal for me :)

I guess that if I had two different types of film in the tank, the weaker
solution would allow more latitude in the dev process and make allowance for
the fact that they might both have different dev times.

I think I’ll just carry on with the 1+9 and the same films in the tank each time.

If the films had different development times then they shouldn’t really be developed together. If they did have the same development times then it wouldn’t matter which dilution you used.

Peter