Has anyone tried using film developer (ID-11/Ilfosol/TMax etc) to develop prints? Any experiences to share? Does it work?

-- Ronald W (krakatoa@888.nu), March 01, 2000

Answers

Don't even bother going there!

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), March 01, 2000.

Well, I'll go there, at least partway. First, you must remember that papers are generally developed to completion, i.e. as developed as they can get. Films, on the other hand, are developed only to the extent needed to achieve the desired contrast and then stopped (further development is possible, but undesirable). Film developers are a lot "weaker" than paper developers. When working with modern negatives and papers, using film developers at normal dilutions for paper would result in severe underdevelopment and lack of density. That said, I have used film developers and extremely dilute paper developers to reduce paper contrast when printing very old and extremely contrasty negatives and plates. In effect treating the paper as if it were film and pulling it before development is complete. This, however is an extremely specialized instance and requires "overexposing" the paper by quite a bit. For general use, film developer should be reserved for film. If you need less contrast for a special case, try Selectol Soft in diferent dilutions first. Hope this helps, ;^D)

-- Doremus Scudder (ScudderLandreth@compuserve.com), March 01, 2000.

Scudder, how's the grain on the prints when you used film developers, compared to the grain when using regular paper dev?

-- R Sriram (r_sriram@bigfoot.com), March 01, 2000.

Paper grain? Is this a joke? You can't see paper grain unless you look at your prints with a microscope.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), March 02, 2000.

I think it was meant as a joke. Well, it made me smile anyway! }:^)

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), March 03, 2000.