I mix practically all my own from scratch. I prefer dry chemicals, because they "last forever" (well, sorta). I mostly do not buy "branded" chemicals; I buy the raw chemicals from chemical suppliers. For Black and White film: Developers: I generally use Windisch/Muir, Pyrocat, or D76. Others as needed/desired. I also have a couple of low-contrast developers for developing unshap masks I m ake up. Stop: I use water. Fix: I use Formulary TF4. For Black and White paper: I generally mix up MQ (or Ansco 125, or ...), or use Formulary BW65. If I'm feeling ambitious, I'll mix up some Ansco 130, but the BW65 is a *very* good developer indeed and mixes in 10 milliseconds ... Stop: water Fix: TF4. Toners for paper: I mix up a real formulary of toners as needed, from thiocarbamide and prussian blue though the standard selenium (KRST) and the sodium sulfide toners. I can do the copper toners as well as iron. I also keep on hand all the ingredients for the old Defender toner set and mix them as needed. I don't do any gold or palladium toning, and I don't tone negatives. I mix up all the usual reducers, intensifiers, bleaches, etc., etc., as (not very usually) needed. For C41 film: I mix up the formulas from scratch. It's not much cheaper than using the Kodak concentrates, and it is much less convenient. However, I get to mix up just what I need, and nothing goes bad "in the bottle" when I'm not doing any darkroom work for a few months. That said, I have found the Kodak concentrates to be the most consistent / best overall of the ready-to-go color chemicals. For RA4 paper: Same as for C41 -- I mix up solutions as needed / when needed. I have made a couple of variations to the "standard" RA4 chemistry which allows me additional saturation control when needed. For stop, I use glacial acetic 50g/l with Kodak paper; boric acid 30g/l with Fuji paper. I don't do any reversal processing at all. For other processes: I also do the chemistry for van dyke, for cyanotypes, and for gum. Don Feinberg ducque@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Marilyn > To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students > Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 8:48 AM > Subject: darkroom chemicals > > > For those of you who still use a darkroom - can you please give me your > input as to what form of chemicals you use (powder, liquid or condensed > liquid) and why you choose that particular form. > > If you would like to mention what brand of chemicals you use and why, that > would be helpful, too. > > I would appreciate your input. > > Thank You, > > Marilyn > ________________________________ > > Leave gentle fingerprints on the > soul of another for the angels to read. > > Proverb > ____________________________________ >
