I shot some 120 size Delta 100 and developed it in D76 (1:1) at 68 deg. for 11 mins and thought the negatives lacked contrast. Someone suggested trying Acutol. Tried it 1:9, at 68 deg, for 11 mins in my JOBO unit (constant rotation). Got great contrasty negatives, but at the expense of huge grain increase. Anyone have experience with Acutol? Could the JOBO have caused overdevelopment because of the constant agitation? (The D76 run was not done in a JOBO, just inversion to agitate.) I like the contrasty look from the Acutol, but not the grain. Any suggestions on working with Acutol, or developers that work well with Delta 100? Also how does D76 undiluted compare with the 1:1 dilution? Tha

-- Arnie Milowsky (arniemly@earthlink.net), August 12, 2000

Answers

Arnie,

I'm not sure I can be a total help here. I use Delta 100 for studio portraits and develop in Ifosol S 1:8 @ 68F for 8 minutes. I use nikkor tanks and a one time inversion every 30 seconds. I enlarge from 6X4.5 negs to 8x10 prints and everything is clear and smooth. Skin tone is excellent and contrast is good enough for the commercial head shots.

good luck.

chuck k

-- chuck k (kleesattel@msn.com), August 12, 2000.

Contrast when using a given developer is controlled by both development time and whether agitation is intermittent or continuous.

So if continuous agitation gives too much contrast reduce development time. If intermittent agitation gives too little contrast either increase development time or use continuous agitation.

D-76 1:1 works very well with Delta 100; you'll just need to adjust development time to get the contrast you want.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), August 12, 2000.

Arnie ; I have found that PMK Pyro is a very good partner for Delta 100 - very high acutance, and good contrast control.

-- fw (finneganswake@altavista.net), August 13, 2000.

As John stated, contrast differences are the result of aggitation and time. Go back to the D76 and process longer and the same way you did the first batch... say 13 min. It might be wise to do small clip tests. Cheers

-- Scott Walton (scotlynn@shore.net), August 15, 2000.