The Darkroom Cookbook Forum

Decades ago I experimented with "divided developers". Mr. Farber was publishing formulas for it, Divided D-76 and a phenidone version of it.
Unfortunately, for me, the Phenidone D-76 I tried simply did not work. The films have changed so much in 50 years.
I tried FX-37 single solution which works, but is grainy.
So far the most successful developer I have found is E-76, phenidone/ascorbate. It even leaves a slightly "brown" appearance by reflected light on the emulsion, just like Microdol-X used to. And the grain is less than FX-37 development.
At this time I do not have any metol to try, once I have, I will try some of the more modern divided developer formulas.
What experience has everyone else had with the "divided developer" formulas from years ago???
I am certain the Diafine formulas have changed considerably over the last 50 years. They know what changes had to be made to their formulas, and of course are not talking.

Thank you for this post. It's good information to have. We'll be looking forward to hearing your results using "more modern divided developer formulas."

Question: Has anyone else had similar results with divided developers and modern emulsion film?

It's not quite the same application, but I'm using a homebrew divided MQ developer with paper negatives and litho film. I started dividing the developer looking for a way to limit the paper neg contrast and get some compensating action. Modern developer-incorporated paper emulsions make that tricky -- they're just dying to get to dmax.

The second bath gives me a bit of streaking or mottling if I'm not careful. Sometimes I'm not careful on purpose because I like the effect. Here are a pair of paper neg examples:
https://hellothisistim.com/photographs/myers-grocery
https://hellothisistim.com/photographs/ ... n-run-lane

Nicely done, Tim. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you! The Darkroom Cookbook has been an amazing reference. Thanks for all the work you do to make the book happen.