EXG3, A special use expanded range film developer

I recently wrote about EXG3 prototypes, this is what I’ll finally consider the final version. It is rather special and not intended to be a good developer choice for all cases, but for the cases where it works it’s a great developer giving a unique tonal range on modern films. Specifically this is an “expanded range” developer, meaning that it will tend to have minimal highlight compensation and so highlights tend to be fairly high contrast and rather far away from softer shadows. It is full speed, but is likely not very good for pushing. It also has oddly fine grain for a higher contrast developer.

The mixing instructions are somewhat complex:

Add 100ml of warm distilled water
Add 50g potassium carbonate (solution will heat up, stir until dissolved)
Add 10g of sodium sulfite (doesn’t need to completely dissolve)
Add 10g of potassium oxalate (doesn’t need to completely dissolve)
Top to 200ml with hot distilled water
Add 6g of glycin (solution will fizz)
Add 12g of ascorbic acid (solution will fizz again)
Add 2g of salacylic acid (solution will fizz one more time)
Solution should now be a deep orange color with everything dissolved
Top to 400ml with triethanolamine
Top to 500ml with propylene glycol
Add 1ml of 0.1% iodide, or 0.2ml of 0.5% iodide
Stir. Solution will look like a strange sludge that is a very pale brown opaque color. When poured out, tiny bits of powder will be seen, but these will instantly dissolve when adding to water

Appearance: Developer when freshly mixed will appear a sludgy pale brown that is completely opaque. On standing the developer will separate into a yellow top layer and white powder below. When shaken vigorously and added to water the powder will instantly dissolve and the solution should be almost colorless with a very slight yellow “sheen” and pearly effervescence.

Usage: Shake vigorously before usage, as solution tends to separate with a powder at the bottom, similar to TF-4 fixer. Add 50ml to 950ml of water to make 1L of developer. Note if using a clip of film to judge activity, you should use a clip which is exposed, but not been left in daylight for too long. A clip of extremely fogged film may take very long to develop to a proper black, whereas an unexposed clip taken from darkness to developer under room lights will develop much faster.

Shelf life: Expected to be long lived (6+ months), but currently unknown. Will update as time goes by. Until shelf life is more accurately measured, you should use the appearance notes to detect when the solution goes off, especially the mixed developer appearance. If the final working solution developer appears a deeper orange, brown, or yellow, the developer is very likely to have decreased activity, though it will likely still work to some extent. Unlike XTOL and other PQ developers, this developer is expected to decrease in activity as it ages, rather than to simply stop developing film completely.

Caution: It appears that this will sometimes leave behind watermarks, specifically calcium oxalate, which does not properly get washed away even with distilled water + photo-flo. If using an all alkaline process like I do (ie, water stop bath, TF-4 fixer) then this is probably more likely to happen. A quick dip into an acid (stop bath, dilute citric acid, dilute metabisulfite, etc) before the final rinsing should help to prevent this

6x4.5 Kodak Plus-X (expiration 1964), over exposed 1 stop, EXG3 11m

Developing times (all at ~70F, 21C)

Arista.EDU Ultra 100 — 11m
Kodak Plus-X (1960s vintage) — 13m (mine has some slight fogging so this is variable. Looks better shot at ISO 50 and processed 11m)
FP4+ — 13m
Will add more films as tested

Characteristics:

Works best on traditional grain films, gives a more linear and “normal” contrast curve using cubic grain films such as Delta or T-Max
Two separate “bands” of development. Highlights are higher in contrast and shadows are lower in contrast. Mid tones are fairly “narrow” in terms of exposure range, but large in terms of overall density range. Ideal results should involve careful metering to get your primary subject to fit within this narrow midtone range. Highlight and shadow density can be adjusted to some extent by varying the amount of ascorbic acid and glycin used in the formula, respectively. The two different contrasts can also be controlled by agitation.
Moderately fine grain, moderate sharpness
Can be used to cure the ugly blob of grays typical in a very low contrast scene, especially with some over exposure
Must be used carefully to avoid unprintable negatives that occupy too much density range to get onto paper
Can be used to exploit the extreme amount of contrast control available in lith printing in order to capture a delicate range of colorful tones.
Works especially well with over exposure and slight under development
Does not work well for pushing

Gallery of 6x4.5 Kodak Plus-X (expiration 1964), processed in EXG3 for 13m: