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Nick · Joined: 16 Oct 2002 Posts: 494

A while ago there was a discussion on B&W reversal. I've managed to find this:

http://www.frii.com/~jkbl/reversal/pf.html

No sulfuric acid.

Also you might want to check out the main page:

http://www.frii.com/~jkbl/reversal/

Henry · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2003 9:49 pm Post subject:

Kodak used to have a kit for reversal processing of the late lamented Panatomic-X (a wonderfully sharp film that yielded terrific enlargements from 35mm). I actually did this once, with excellent results. It might be worth checking into whether such a kit is available for Pan-X successor Technical Pan. If memory serves, you can also reverse-process Plus-X. It sounds like a real chore to mix and store all those chemicals discussed on the link.

fschifano · Joined: 02 Sep 2001 Posts: 2 Location: New York, NY USA

Well, fact is that you can reverse process just about any B&W negative film and get slides. Some work better than others. If you do a Google search using the keywords "B&W reverse" you'll come up with lots of hits, some of which will point you to formulae for making your own chemistry. Some use sulfuric acid and some don't. Those that don't generally use potassium dichromate for a bleach. All should be handled with care. Ilford had a formula posted on their site, but I think it might have been removed.

Nick · Joined: 16 Oct 2002 Posts: 494

Actually the formulas in the link I posted aren't too complicated. First developer is D-76 with a few additives. The second is Dektol [D-72] diluted 1:2. The additives for the first developer are pretty common sorts of stuff. One of the other pages mentions you could just use Kodak premixed D-76 and add the additives if you don't want to go to the trouble of mixing up the whole thing. For those of us already mixing our own developers it's likely we'll have almost everything in these formulas.

The ilford info was still on thier site last I checked. These formulas seem generally easier.

Teetzelk · Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 3 Location: Michigan

Try this site: http://www.dr5.com

They can take any standard B&W negative film and develop it into a reversal. They even claim a better Scala outcome than the authorized Scala labs. It's a very informative site.

I've never tried Scala or DR5 with large format (I'm too new with it) I have used it with 35mm. The only problem I had was trying to get an acceptable print with Scala. But, shooting with Scala correctly will yield fantastic (and I mean fantastic) slides.

Teetzelk · Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 3 Location: Michigan

Okay, I finally found Kodak's Tech Pub on their B&W reversal kit.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j87/j87.jhtml

This kit will allow you to shoot TMax 100 (albeit at a speed of 50) and process it as a reversal.

Henry · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 4:01 pm Post subject:

That's it! Many thanks for ferreting this out. I find searching the Kodak site to be extremely frustrating, and didn't have the patience to pursue this.

Two-three years ago the local photo store had a pile of these Kodak reversal kits that they were trying to move at a rather low price. I was tempted, but had no immediate use for it so I passed. (Wish I had done the same on many previous occasions---I wouldn't have all that useless stuff cluttering up the darkroom.)

alecj · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 853 Location: Alabama

FOMA makes such a kit too. I don't know whether JandC will stock it or not.