Which Dev. for least base fog ???

[Steve Karr]

Hi everyone,

Ok so I bought 1000' of Plus X (09/2003) from evil-bay a while back and shot a roll & souped it in Diafine. (quick & dirty) BASE FOG from heck! So I tried some in D-76 & Rodinal 1:25.

My question is... Which developer is most UN-likely to develop the fog that's already in the film?

There's not much, but Diafine really brought it out. The others not so much.

A camera store guy sold me some paper chemical he said would lessen the fog...

Any wisdom from the tank shakers out there?

Steve

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The chemical he sold you is probably Benzotriazole. Its an anti-fogging agent that is used in some obscure developer formulations from the past, but not so much anymore. It cuts your effective film speed. I wouldn't use it in a two bath developer like diafine, would try it as an additive to a standard developer like D76 and give a stop more exposure to begin with.

[Freakscene]

The solution you've been sold is probably benzotriazole, a restrainer. In normal developer it works to lower fog but you need to increase your development times.

Of the commercially available developers, HC110 is probably best for your purposes, but if the film is fogged due to age and poor storage, base fog will still be high. If you can manage it to a point where you can scan or print through the fog, it won't matter anymore.

Marty

[Jaans]

Second Freakscene's suggestion with HC110. I have found and read that it greatly reduces fog and apparently there is some guy over there on photo.net who helps people develop found film from 30 or more years ago and he always recommends HC110 to do that. I wouldn't use Rodinal as it would not help with that fog.