EXJ7 "ModernLith" or: How I learned to stop worrying and love modern papers

NOTE: I’m considering formulating a simplified formula for ModernLith and selling an easy to mix and use kit that is suitable for most modern papers. If you’re interested in this, please complete this linked survey

I’d like to introduce the formula for EXJ7 or the better named “ModernLith”. This is the first lith developer formula that I’ve been happy with for every modern paper I’ve tried. It gives typical lith results, but in some ways can be even better, especially with further modification depending on the paper being used. The one downfall is that it’s actually rather boring for the few lithable papers I’ve tried. For instance Fomatone Classic 133 is definitely lithy, but not greatly noteworthy and without the snap that normal lith developers give with it. Older lith papers are also boring. Kodabrome II RC lacks the typical variety of color and tends to be lower contrast. However, with modern papers, it’s great. Typical variety of lith colors depending on paper type, fairly resistant to uneven development, true infectious blacks that come up in the tray, and a very nice split between highlights and shadows for higher contrast (ie, less exposure) prints. That all being said, this is designed for lith printing, NOT for “lith” super high contrast line development. The concepts could potentially be applied for that purpose, but that’s not what I’m aiming for.

Recommended Papers

This is not an exhaustive list of papers that will work, but these are the papers I recommend when starting out with this process. Just like normal lith printing, some papers will react poorly or with problems, and some with great results, and each paper is quite unique. A full descriptive list is further down below. These are just papers I’d recommend if you’re shopping for new paper for lithing.

Ilford MGV RC — This was the paper most used in testing the various formulations. It can give some pepper fogging, but is capable of a full range of contrast, infectious development occurs very obviously, and it can yield pink highlights and cooler blacks, or brown highlights and cool brown blacks depending on exact developer composition. Note that if using a hot developer it can produce some strange yellow border staining which can’t be prevented with additional bromide nor benzotriazole. Thus I recommend only slightly warmed developer, or room temperature for this paper
Fomaspeed 133 RC— Trends toward cooler tones and can go olive colored in some cases. Works best in MOD2 formula and can go extremely cold with benzotriazole.
Arista.EDU Ultra FB — Works especially well in the MOD2 formula and with benzotriazole substituted. Gives very cool blacks and somewhat warm highlights. The benzotriazole substitution seems to reduce grain levels to be more reasonable. In addition this is one of the cheapest FB papers on the market. The RC version behaves quite similarly. Best suited for high key subjects, as blacks tend to form a “wave” of development which can be ugly with low key subjects with large areas of blacks and shadows.

Working Solution Formula

10ml of hydroquinone 10% solution in propelyne glycol (1g of hydroquinone)
10ml ascorbic acid 8% solution in propelyne glycol (0.8g of ascorbic acid.. Can also be substituted most likely with ascorbic acid salts)
4ml of 20% sodium sulfite solution (0.8g sodium sulfite) — can be in the range of 3-6ml
60ml potassium oxalate 10% solution (6g potassium oxalate)
4ml potassium bromide 10% solution (0.4g potassium bromide)
Add to 940ml of water, rinsing the containers to ensure all glycol solutions are mixed in
60ml sodium carbonate 20% solution (12g sodium carbonate) — probably ~10 or 11g potassium carbonate is actually recommended here, significantly easier to dissolve. 20% for sodium carbonate is almost the solubility limit

UPDATE: In some limited tests, I’ve had similar tray life improvements, and better overall results by using a small amount of potassium oxate, such as just 10ml. This may be due to oxalate functioning as a chelating agent so that random metal ions such as iron and copper present in my tap water do not attack the ascorbic acid. If my theory is correct, then only a small amount us needed and the contaminates are responsible for the anti-fogging action, potentially iodide. However using much iodide requires very long fixing times and can cause strange border staining on some papers. Thus, I recommend at this point a less well tested solution that seems to work better. Instead only use 10ml of the oxalate solution and 10ml of benzotriazole. If warmer tones are desired though, try adding 1-3g of sodium chloride (uniodized table salt) instead of the benzotriazole. Note excess chloride can cause yellow staining on some papers, similar to iodide.

Use as a typical lith developer with exposure varying contrast and development time determining shadow depth/black level. All papers should be rinsed under running water before development!!

Substitution: Potassium Oxalate can be substituted with ~10-20ml of 0.1% benzotriazole. However, tray life will be measurably worse (~1 hour in my case) and tones will be significantly colder and 0.5-2 stops of exposure will need to be added to match the same contrast level, and development will be maybe 50% longer. It also has a less “organic” midtone contrast, but can actually be a quite desirable look if cold tones are what you’re after. I’m unsure if ascorbic acid is even required with benzotriazole. Regardless, if midtones develop too quickly despite varying exposure levels, a small addition of benzotriazole may cure it, though you may also lose some highlight detail

Note that a 1/4 teaspoon of very fine powdered ascorbic acid weighs ~1.3g in my testing (1.1g according to manufacturer). If you do not want to deal with the long process of dissolving ascorbic acid in glycol, simply add a 1/4 teaspoon to 130ml of water to make a short lived 10% solution and then throw it out when you’re done with your printing session.

5x7 Fomaspeed 133 RC in ModernLith (borderless print)

Proposed (untested) A+B+C+D style formulation

Part A: 10g of hydroquinone into 80ml of propelyne glycol. Top to 100ml. Requires heating to at least 140F

Part B: 8g of ascorbic acid into 80ml of propelyne glycol. Top to 100ml. Requires heating to at least 140F and a significant amount of time and stirring

Part C:

340ml of cold water
Add 200g potassium carbonate (Sodium carbonate can not be used due to solubility differences) — solution will warm up significantly. Add half at a time and wait if solution is too hot
Add 32g sodium sulfite
Add 16g potassium bromide
Top to 400ml of water

Part D:

400ml of hot water
Add 200g of potassium oxalate (sodium oxalate can not be used due to solubility limits)
Top to 500ml with water

For 1L of working solution, use 10ml + 10ml + 40ml + 30ml + 900ml water. The individual stock solutions should be very shelf-stable, but the part C solution may change over 6 months or so with the sulfite decaying into sulfate and part D is well tested to last several weeks, but can very slowly oxidize in theory so may decay over a year or so. The developing agents should be extremely stable in the glycol solutions.

5x7 Ilford Warmtone RC in previous version of ModernLith, split exposed (left side is over exposed by an additional stop). Results may vary slightly from the final version of ModernLith

ModernLith-MOD1

I’ve tried some modifications, this is MOD1. Make normal 1L of ModernLith working solution, and add

10ml additional ascorbic acid 8% solution
1ml additional sodium sulfite 20% solution
3ml additional potassium bromide 10% solution

Results are significantly warmer and with more resistance to snowballing, but some papers (especially FB) will have premature darkening of midtones. Especially nice results with Ilford MGV RC.

ModernLith-MOD2

I tried this both with oxalate and benzotriazole separately. Seemed to work significantly better with non-Ilford papers and I especially liked the results on Arista Ultra EDU fB (which turned a lot less grainy) and Fomaspeed 133 RC

Make 1L of standard ModernLith with only 5ml of ascorbic acid
Add 2ml of potassium bromide
Alternatively: Completely skip adding potassium oxalate and add 20ml of benzotriazole 0.1% solution instead. note, I’d actually recommend starting with just 10ml. 20 was a bit much). Exposure should be increased by at least 1/2 stop and contrast will be quite a bit higher with cold tones on most papers.

8x10 Ilford Warmtone FB in ModernLith-MOD2, showing minor edge staining. Was developed in warm developer

Ingredient Explanations

Now, this is a complicated formula, but via a series of control tests where I remove a component etc, I’ve discovered each component is absolutely essential. Here is my breakdown of how each component can be adjusted etc. All considerations are based on modern paper tests.

Hydroquinone — I found with too little hydroquinone infectious blacks will not properly happen, even with very low sulfite levels. Too much hydroquinone and the developer will decay quite quickly and have changes in activity.
Ascorbic Acid — This has 3 jobs in theory. The most important job is that this reacts as a strange type of restrainer. Without ascorbic acid the midtones of many modern papers tend to undergo infectious development too soon, thus leading to subpar highlight/shadow split. This will slow down infectious development though as well, and too much in some limited tests did completely prevent it with a significant surplus. Ascorbic acid is also a developing agent very similar to hydroquinone but without the infectious development property. I believe this allows for more bromide to be added (to change print color primarily) without overly slow development times and without the poor stability that would come from a surplus of hydroquinone. Finally the last aspect is that in theory (according to one research paper) it also keeps the sulfite alive in solution as a substitute for formaldehyde. Tray life with/without has not been tested thoroughly enough to confirm that though
Sodium Sulfite — Like most lith developers, this is quite sensitive to sulfite amounts. Too much prevents infectious development, too little leads to problems like pepper fogging and an extremely short tray life. I’ve found a good range is 0.4-1.2g of sulfite
Potassium oxalate — I don’t completely understand the action of this, but somehow it functions as an anti-foggant and I believe will preserve ascorbic acid in the solution and thus potentially further preserve sulfite. Without adding enough of it, there will be significant yellow staining and sometimes less black intensity and midtones will tend to intensify before shadows are complete. Seems to slightly slow development. There seems to be no risk from adding too much (I’ve used as much as 25g and got results), but it isn’t a greatly inexpensive component.
Potassium bromide — This should be treated with as much caution as sulfite. Too much will completely prevent infectious development, but of course too little will producing fogging and poor contrast from premature darkening of highlights. This should not be used as a “loose” component like is common in old-style lith developers. Precision matters. 0.4g is what gave the best results for me. but as low 0.2g can be used on some papers for significantly faster development times. Too little bromide can also lead to edges developing significantly faster than the center of the print.
Potassium/sodium carbonate — Typical alkali. I’m basically using enough to keep a stable pH level. Note that ascorbic acid will decrease pH level, so significant additions should be matched by an addition of carbonate.

Note I personally enjoy the flexibility of being capable of mixing the developer completely from scratch chemical solutions. In order to do this, just make a series of 10% and 20% solutions in water, and dissolve each developing agent in propelyne glycol. If using the A+B+C+D method, I recommend also keeping a 10% (or even 1% for easier measuring) solution of potassium bromide for modifying tonality and combating any fogging that can occur on some papers.

Adox MC112 FB in ModernLith-MOD2, warmed. Best image I got in all attempts, others have significantly more snowballing

Further notes on the developer formula:

It can be heated to significantly speed up development, HOWEVER, this will not give good results on all papers. On some papers, especially Ilford RC papers, heating causes staining on the borders that seems to be untouched by restrainers. On other papers, such as some Foma RC papers, it will cause infectious development to proceed in a “wave” starting from the outer edges and spreading to the center, thus by the time blacks are developed in the center, the outer edges are already over developed. It can be slow, but I personally recommend only gentle heating or no heating at all for RC papers. For Ilford FB papers heating is absolutely required or else snowballing will result
In general, this developer and MOD1 is best optimized at this point for modern RC emulsions, and has been the most tested with Ilford RC papers. It will still work with modern FB papers and non-Ilford RC papers, but may give some problems such as premature darkening of midtones, snowballing, fogging, etc. I plan to release a different formula eventually that is optimized for FB and non-Ilford papers. I recommend trying modifications like more ascorbic acid, bromide, or dilution if your desired paper gives poor results.
Most papers will develop from 5-15m at room temp and less than 5 minutes when heated to ~100F
Some FB papers will develop significant snowballing if the developer is used at room temperature.
Typical tray life is 2-3 hours at room temp. The developer will progress from a very pale yellow to deep yellow to orange and finally to a continually more brown solution. There will be a small amount of “red film” that seems to float on top of the developer after a few prints. If there is a lot of red film, there is probably too much hydroquinone, too little sulfite, or too little ascorbic acid. When the developer is brown it is near the end of life
Near the end of life problems will begin to occur as well as somewhat slower development times. Some papers will give pepper fogging and decreased contrast. Also there will be a strange “trails” around blacks that match the agitation method used. If a fairly random agitation method is used blacks will seem to “bloom” the nearby area.
Usage of old brown (dead developer) is completely untested. Due to risks of pepper fogging and such I wouldn’t recommend it.
Most papers will trend toward a cooler spectrum. I’ve modified the tones to significantly warmer (with some papers) by doubling the amount of ascorbic acid and adding 50% more bromide. I’m unsure if the additional ascorbic acid was responsible for this, but I do believe that the additional ascorbic acid allows certain papers to retain lith properties despite what would normally be too much bromide.

All tested papers

Ilford MGV RC — Works very well. Gives very warm yellowish highlights and slightly cool deep blacks and shadows. Some grain. Can develop pepper fogging easily with significant developer aging or less sulfite. Can give a small amount of yellow staining around the very edges of the prints, especially when going borderless.
Ilford Warmtone RC — Tested in a previous similar formula. Works well with cool deep browns and yellow highlights. Quite grainy. Not tested well enough to say much else.
Fomaspeed 133 RC — Limited tested, works very well with lower contrast and cool brown tones and a subtle amount of grain. Faster to develop than most papers. Can be coerced into warm pinkish highlights with developer modifications.
Fomatone Classic 133 FB — Not particularly noteworthy. Gives poor contrast and brown tones
Ilford ART 300 — Limited testing in a previous similar formula. Very grainy and fairly neutral tones with warm highlights, quite high contrast. Requires heating to avoid snowballing. Works well for graphic-art style pictures that goes with the texture of the paper.
Adox MCC112 — Limited testing. Very grainy, can be easy to develop unevenly. Extremely deep blacks. Requires heating to avoid snowballing, no successful prints made yet without snowballing
Ilford MG FB — Somewhat similar to MGV RC. Warm pinkish yellow highlights and brown shadows. Gave poor blacks in limited testing. Requires heating to avoid snowballing.
Ilford Warmtone FB — Will darken slightly when fixing, but blacks will obviously come up in the tray unlike with traditional lith developers. Gives cool brown tones and a visible amount of grain. Requires heating to avoid snowballing. More resistant to snowballing than MG FB and MCC112
Arista EDU Ultra FB — Extremely grainy with cool brown tones. Decent contrast otherwise, but highlights as well as shadows will be visibly grainy, and midtones have a tendency to develop quickly.
Ilford MGIV RC — Limited testing. Very slow to develop, but similar results to MGV without the as much risk of pepper fogging. Tends to be more toward yellow tones than MGV

There has been no modern paper tested thus far that had a failure to produce infectious development. I believe it will work with pretty much all papers, though may not be ideal for all papers. Also the Arista EDU Ultra FB is mildly fogged on one corner, but this fog did not develop, so this developer can probably be used to rescue age fogged modern papers.

5x7 Ilford MGIV RC in ModernLith (borderless crop print). Note that the stains are really there, and is not due to under fixing or anything, the fixer was mixed at the beginning of this session.

Sourcing Ingredients

Most chemicals can be ordered from Photographer’s Formulary in good quality. The ascorbic acid can be ordered on Amazon etc as Vitamin C powder for significantly cheaper. Propelyne glycol can be ordered by the gallon on Amazon etc in high purity (food grade). Potassium Oxalate is the hardest to find chemical. I’ve ordered from Amazon and eBay. I’m unsure if the impurities in 98% vs 99% matters. A magnetic stirrer/hot plate combo and some basic glassware makes mixing the propelyne glycol solutions very easy and is in general really useful for any homemade developer mixing. Otherwise try to heat the solution using a hot water bath. Note propelyne glycol is flammable and will give off (non-toxic, but flammable) vapors at high temperatures and I wouldn’t recommend mixing over an open flame. Definitely stop if the glycol begins to boil. For papers to first test it out, I recommend just trying it with whatever you have in stock in your darkroom. Ilford MGV is a great paper outside of this process though and is what I’d recommend if you for some reason have no paper. I use a water stop bath and TF-4 alkaline fixer, ordered from Photographer’s Formulary. For initial testing, I’d recommend using any RC paper or Foma FB papers, excluding classic 133.

5x7 Ilford ART 300 in previous version of ModernLith, with some minor snowballing due to room temp development. Results may vary slightly from the final version of ModernLith

Copyrights

This formula/recipe can be republished, modified, and even packaged etc by anyone with a desire to, though modifications should use a different name to avoid confusion. I don’t intend to make any money from the formula itself, though a link back here would be nice. The other text and pictures on this page are copyright reserved.

EXJ7 "ModernLith" or: How I learned to stop worrying and love modern papers

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