Re: Using Baking Soda in Dektol?

Hi:

I fiddled with this a few months ago.

Use Baking Powder, not baking soda. - baking powder contains a mild acid
which lowers the pH of the developer.

I think around 1 tablespoon per 500mls of developer may work.

But PLEASE experiment with some non critical stuff first. Depends on what
your baking powder consists of.

Baking soda will work to some extent - but it doesn't lower the pH as much
as baking powder.

There are other softer working developers available. Selectol would
likely give a lower contrast.

Gord

On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, Beau Schwarz wrote:

> I finished my first of pinhole paper negatives last night. For developer, I
> used 1 oz. Dektol and 20 oz. water as a one shot developer; each neg. was
> processed for 90 sec. in a tray using constant agitation. They look pretty
> contrasty. Someone in the group mensioned Baking Soda, I think, to adjust
> the Ph (and hopefully lower the contrast). Does anyone have an idea on how
> much Baking Soda (or a possable range, like 1(one)teaspoon to 1/2 cup)to add
> to a gallon of Dektol. Any other suggestions on taming the contrast via
> development the would be appriciated.
>
> Thanks in advance for the help.
>
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---------------------------------------------------------
Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology
holtsg@duke.usask.ca 112 Science Place
http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg University of Saskatchewan
Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada S7N 5E2
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Received on Sun Apr 28 10:39:11 2002