I have started using HC-110 developer, but every time i use the negs come out dark, detailes missing. some one told me that it might be the dilution problem. could someone tell me how to go about dilution-B please.

Regards to all.

-- John Paul (afaq_2001@yahoo.com), December 30, 2001

Answers

What I use is 1oz. of concentrate to 31oz. of water, works very well for me, good shadow detail, nice contrast. Agitate every 30 sec. maintain contant temp. Hope this helps.

-- Greg Klabouch (greg@epud.net), December 30, 2001.

Check here for more info. http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

-- Alec (alecj@bellsouth.net), December 31, 2001.

What you are describing seems to be an exposure problem rather than a dilution problem. What is the rating of the film? Different developer and film types may call for a different exposure index. I have been using HC110 for over 30 years and it is the main developer for all my students. Even when my advance people use other combos they keep coming back to this developer.

-- Ann C lancy (clancya@mediaone.net), December 31, 2001.

It could be exposure or it could be the old problem with HC-110 dilutions - not reading the instructions correctly. Quite a few people mix up dilution from concentrate with dilution from stock. If you dilute STOCK (i.e. the concentrate mixed with the specified amount of water) 1:7, you're OK. If you dilute CONCENTRATE (i.e. the stuff straight out of the bottle) 1:7 you overdevelop everything.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), December 31, 2001.

John!

HC-110 stock solution is 1 part HC-110 and 3 parts of water. To make dilution B take 1 part of stock slution and 7 parts of water. This means that dilution B is 1 part of HC-110 and 31 parts of water! I think that, but I'm not sure, that 5-7 minutes will give you good starting points for T-MAX and TRI-X for example. I use HC-110 1+50 and have a couple of more minutes. 20 degrees C. /Lars

-- Lars Kristensen (krislars@algonet.se), January 01, 2002.

You can also use a one-ounce graduate cylinder to measure out 1/4 oz. of concentrate to make 8 oz. of working strength solution; or 1/2 oz.of concentrate to make 16 oz. working strength. If you do this, then after pouring the concentrate from the graduate into an 8 oz. or 16 oz. container, you should put some water into the graduate and shake it to dissolve the remaining syrup into solution, which is then added to the working-strength container. Do this several times, until you have gotten all the syrup from the graduate. This will ensure that you have the proper working strength. Just fill the container to the 8 oz. or 16 oz. mark to finish the brew, and mix well.

The advantage of this method is that you don't need to keep a stock solution. This helps to maximize the shelf life of the developer. It's easy, too.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), January 03, 2002.

As HC is a very thick, viscous liqued, I suggest you do your diluations at the highest volumns possible, ie: rather than taking 33 ml to make up one litre of developer use, say, 100 ml to make up 3.2l

with such a high ratio (1:31) a slight mistake in measurement (especially if you don't dissolve all of the HC in your measuring device) it is easy to make a weak solution.

-- mark blackman (mark.blackman1@btinternet.com), January 11, 2002.