New55 has just released a chemical called R3 Monobath. It is just that, a 1 chemical process for developing film. I wanted to see for myself how well this worked so I ordered a few bottles and developed some film.
Monobath developers have been around for a long time. The first evidence I could find was a 1967 thesis by William Quan for RIT in Rochester. In his paper he described a 1 bath process for use with Panotomic X film (no longer made).
Instant films all use monobath for their chemicals which makes sense why New55 would be experimenting with this.
Monobath is not the perfect developer, but its very good in the right situation.
The pros: 1 bath process, easy to use, beautiful contrast, nice grain
The cons: contains ammonia (fumes are strong), is designed for a specific film type, no control for pushing, pulling or manipulating the look of the process.
My Monobath Sample Images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tedforbes/sets/72157650008473213/
Buy R3 Monobath from New55: http://shop.new55.net/collections/frontpage/products/r3-monobath-developer
Make your own R3 Monobath: http://new55project.blogspot.com/2010/01/donal-qualls-successful-monobath.html
William Quan’s thesis: http://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses/5194/
Hi Liked your video and thanks for the shoutout!
BTW – it is NOT designed for Tri-X! Not sure where you got that idea. Also it is easily pushed. Just go to 90F for 1.5 stops increase.
Bob
Thanks Bob. I swore the formula was for Tr-X though from the old Donald Quals recipe. Care to elaborate?
Don happened to use Tri-X but we and many others used R3 on nearly every black and white film we could find over the past 5 years of teaching people about R3. It works unlike the Haist book assertion which suggests that monobaths have to be tailored. They do not. Also you can easily pull and push monobaths, with temperature. I’ve put a link to the R3 resource page in the website box. It explains a lot and with many non-Tri-X examples. I hope you continue to use R3 on other films too! Please check out our R3 image gallery on the new55.blogspot.com blog.
Thanks Bob! Its great stuff for sure – thanks!
it is OK for Tri-X. at least according to the NEW55 website:
“We have tested R3 MONOBATH DEVELOPER specifically with New55 Atomic-X, Ilford Pan F, HP5 Plus, Kodak TMax, Tri-X, Efke 25, and Shanghai 100.”
Richard
Yes, of course it is OK for Tri-X. My comment relates to the design of R3, which is not specifically designed for Tri-X. The video seems to say it is designed for one specific film, Tri-X, and I didn’t want people to think it only works with Tri-X. Look at the Pan-F examples at new55project.blogspot.com ! They are the best. T-Max too.
Bob
Love this site!! Thanks for so much info. I’m new to film processing and so far have processed 10 rolls of B&W and 4 rolls of color. I’ve been having great success, using a lot of the information provided from this site. Currently, I’m experimenting with different processes, so I’m definitely going to give this a try. thanks again.
Warren
I agree wholeheartedly. This is an incredibly informative site and the videos are excellent!
I was curious if any tests have been done tray processing 8×10? I’m sure I’m jumping the gun as I haven’t seen the video yet but curious if there was any experience?
JB – I’ve done trays with 4×5 and it works fine. Should be no difference for 8×10. As always, some test shots will give you the info you need.
They tray process 4×5 with it. 8×10 shouldn’t be much of an issue. You’ll just exhaust the solution faster.