GVK1 is a new film developer formulation of a type I’ve never tried before. It was designed with the principles of a high definition developer for high sharpness, while also incorporating enough silver solvent that the grain will not be ugly and outright coarse. It has grain of comparable smoothness to D-76 stock, but to my eye behaves as a speed increasing developer, potentially even providing a speed increase of 1 to 1/2 stop for medium and slow speed films. Contrast is fairly normal with rich shadow detail and slightly compensated highlight detail. Overall shadow and midtone separation is great, but highlights are sometimes at risk of running away, especially if darkroom printing. This developer is especially great for exposure latitude on traditional grain films, with reasonable results coming from box speed processing and between +2 or -2 exposure, though of course more ideal printing density and grain will come with proper pull/push processing. The overall appearance of the developer is extremely sharp, but without the ugly grain that sometimes comes with this, IFF properly developed. Grain specifically here is a very gentle and smooth type where it tends to still be visible but works very well to stay out of the way or even enhance the image. Skies on high speed films can sometimes be a bit much in grain, but that’s pretty par for the coarse. I’d say it can be comparable to the distinct grain that EXG1 gives but quite a bit smoother. It is formulated as a two part recipe for very long shelf life and stability. The significant amount of TEA in solution makes sulfite less soluble so I doubt that this would be suitable as a single part developer.