State of the ART of 2007
After 20 years of experience with the creation of developers
it is time to break new grounds.
Modesty and self-effacement
are inappropriate. While others beat the drums and blow the horns,
a flute would be too silent to be heard:
ECO 4812 original “eau
de Hürth” is my best positive developer and thus probably the
best developer on the planet.
The normal dilution is 1+14.
Development
time: 2½ - 3 minutes
If you use the same exposure times in a
dilution of 1+10 and develop for only 2 minutes, the contrast will
increase.
The density of the base fog and Dmax on glossy
fibre base and RC papers: 0.00 – 0.02 / 2.00 – 2.30 depending
on the paper used. You can find the highest Dmax and with it the
highest contrast range with full separation of the shadows, if you
use one of the usual suspects: Ilford MGW and Galery, MCC, but also
cheaper alternatives such as Adox Fine Print Classic.
In its
standard dilution of 1+14 this developer is unsuitable for Kentmere
Fineprint. For this paper I recommend a dilution of 1+9 or the use
of one of the classic developers such as HP Universal, SE1, SE4 or
SE6. For these developers as well, use a dilution of 1+9 and develop
for 3 minutes!
The stock solution has a shelf life of
4 years. When opened and depending on the filling level in the bottle
this reduces to approximately 2 years. The working solution has a
shelf life of 8 months.
The capacity per litre of stock solution
is around 400 sheets of 24x30cm paper.