Mixing my own D-23 — worth it?

It's softer and lovely for portraits. Two-bath D-23 is the real magic though — incredible highlight control on high-contrast scenes.

Worth it just for how cheap and simple it is. Two ingredients and it keeps forever as a stock.

Six months in on home-mixed D-23 here. Two ingredients (metol and sulphite), mixes in ten minutes, and honestly at 1+1 I can’t tell it from D-76 on HP5 except the highlights are a touch gentler. Just wear a mask weighing the metol — sensitisation is real and permanent.

Worth it purely for the divided version — D-23 followed by a borax bath tames contrasty negatives like nothing else. Chapel interiors with bright windows print themselves.