Soemarko LC-1 Developer
(low contrast developer for lith film)
Copyright 1999 by David Soemarko
"I ... found your LC-1 development, for lith film, formula.... wish i had had this formula a long time ago as it beats
the hell out of manipulating Dektol, HC-110 and D-76...."
Christopher James, Department Chair / Photography, The Art Institute of Boston
Introduction
LC-1 is a developer that I created to be used with Arista APH (Arista Premium Halftone) or APHS (Arista Premium Halftone Supreme) film. Both APH and APHS are high-contrast lith films, but LC-1 is formulated to develop them for continuous tone in a controllable and predictable way. If you are making continous-tone positives or negatives with lith film, APH actually works better yet costs less.
With different combination of the stocks, however, you should be able to use it with other lith films.
I include my name for the developer. Some people dislike that, so I would like to explain that my main purpose for using the name is for identification only especially since some people have had trouble looking for the formula thinking that it might be some Ilford's developer.
Basic Principles
There are several reasons for using lith film to make continous-tone enlarged negatives including low cost and availability in large sizes. The main difficulty, however, is that lith films are inherently contrasty, so contrast control is difficult. The common way of reducing contrast is by using diluted paper developer (which is less contrasty that lith developer).
However, dilution has its limitation in contrast control, especially in extreme contrast reduction as we are trying to do with lith film. Dilution does not affect pH much, so the diluted developer is still about as active as the undiluted one, but contrast is reduced because the availability of the developing agents is reduced. In order to lower the contrast of lith films to a usable range, the developer must be greatly diluted, but this also greatly reduces the amount of the developing agent and the preservative, so the developing agents get exhausted very quickly both by aeration and by reduction of silver halide. This exhaustion results in problems with mottling, streaking, unevenness, and inconsistency.
The other problem with lith film is that exposure range is short (in practical terms, it means that if your original negative is contrasty, you will not be able to capture both the highlights and the shadows). Even if the contrast of your original is low, exposure is still difficult to control because it must be exactly right as a slight underexposure or overexposure will cause the tones to be placed on the toe or shoulder region. It also means that if you are making interpositives for enlarged negatives, the contrast of the interpositives must also be low. This limited exposure range cannot be altered by dilution alone.
A better way of controlling contrast in this situation is to make the developing truly slow working. This can be achieved by lowering the alkaline of the developer. I have found that sulfite alone (as in the classic D-23 developer) is already too strong for lith film, so I added bisulfite to the developer to lower the pH. It works very well in lowering the contrast as well as increasing the exposure range of lith films. One can now achieve an exposure range (not density range) of 3.0 with lith film (or for those familiar with Stouffer step tablets, the film can separate 21 steps linearly)!
For more information and details including tests on lith film with Dektol, D-76, different curves from differnt development, and different dilutions of LC-1 developers, please see issue #2 of The World Journal of Post Factory Photography. To get a back issue, please contact Judy Seigel at editor@post-factory.org.
Formula
| water | 750 ml | |
| metol | 3.0 gr. | |
| sodium sulfite | 60.0 gr | |
| hydroquinone | 3.0 gr | |
| cold water to make | 1.0 liter |
| sodium bisulfite | 10.0 gr | |
| water to make | 1.0 liter |
Dilution
You can use a standard dilution of 2:3:5 (stock A : stock B : water) and developed for 5 to 7 minutes at 75F. Agitate continously and vigorously. Do not fill your tray too full as agitation will be difficult. Lift one side of the tray as high as you can before the chemical spills. Put the tray down, and repeat for each side of the tray. Do this continuously.
To develop longer or shorter or to develop at a different temperature, you can increase or decrease the amount of water (too much dilution, however, will give capacity problem and you might see mottling, streaking, or unevenness). To do your own test with lith films other than APH or APHS, you can try different combination of stock A and stock B. Keeping the total amount at 10, you can try 2:1:7, 2:2:6, 2:3:5, etc. The total amount does not have to be 10, of course, but this amount affects the capacity of the chemical more than it affects contrast, so for a starting point, keep the total amount to 10 and only adjust it after you have reached the combination the works for your film.
Update
I will have an update and continued article on the The World Journal of Post Factory Photography soon (currently planned for issue #5). The article will describe fine contrast control with lith film which will include the procedure for making test strips and the use of exposure, flashing and development to control contrast. It will cover the whole procedure for obtaining perfect enlarged negatives. I do not have any direct connection with the journal , but I do think it is a very fine journal and that anyone who is doing alternative processes should subscribe to it.
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