Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/09/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 09:58 AM 9/3/97 +1000, you wrote: > > Microdol is neither a compensating developer nor will it produce >edge > > effect. > >Jim and Kari, > >Thanks for your replies - now to build on my limited photographic >education . . . what is a compensating developer? > >Regards, >Rob. As I described earlier, a developer that will not overdevelop the highlights, blowing them to oblivion, making them unprintable, is classed as a compensating developer. While not overdeveloping the highlights, it continues to develop the shadows thus making this area printable with some detail. Originally it was use to "compensate" for exposure errors but a good photographer/lab technician will use a compensating developer to compress the brightness range of a scene, making it printable, with a full range of tones, on normal grade paper. The zone system basically is a method used to compress or expand a brightness range, but not using a specific compensating developer. Many fine grain developers have compensating effects. For instance D-76 or ID-11. Basically it's the ability of the developers reaction products to slow development in highlight areas and continue development in shadow areas. Agitation plays a role. Too much agitation will nullify compensating action. Jim