Samarin’s lith developer

Description

A four-part lith developer to its author’s formula: more controls than the classic two-part solutions offer. For anyone already at home in lith.

Why four parts

Separate bottles let you change the balance of developing agent, alkali, sulphite and starter independently. In practice that means tuning the developer to a particular paper rather than choosing a paper to suit the developer.

What to expect

The same infectious mechanism as D-9: coarse shadow grain, delicate tinted highlights, and the moment of pulling the print under your control. A wider tuning range, and correspondingly more test prints at the start.

Questions and answers

Where should a first lith developer start?

With D-9 — fewer variables. Samarin’s makes sense once you know what you want from the paper.