Developer recommendations please :)

[benneh]

Well, I'm new to developing. I'll be shooting ilford HP5 400 plus (35mm), most likely at 800, and then pushing in dev. I shoot for a medium/high contrast so I'd really like a developer that reflects that, and I'm not afraid of a bit of noise, although the smoother the better.

So, film gurus, thee of times gone by. What's a boy to buy?.

 

[benneh]

Seems that I might go for the following (as an intro to developing B+W);

RODINAL 125ml.
SYRINGE
ILFORD RAPID FIXER 1 litr
ILFOSTOP 500ml.
FotoSpeed RA50 Rinse Aid 500ml

How's that sound?. Any opinions appreciated (before I order).

 

[Colin_S]

Rodinal is the developer I use most as it lasts forever as concentrate and gives a look I like, but if you're going to be pushing your hp5 to 800 then I'd recommend Ilford's Microphen instead, it's designed to get as much speed from your film as possible. The rest of your stuff looks good, but don't forget a thermometer, measuring cylinder (100 ml, and 500ml).

 

[benneh]

Rodinal is the developer I use most as it lasts forever as concentrate and gives a look I like, but if you're going to be pushing your hp5 to 800 then I'd recommend Ilford's Microphen instead, it's designed to get as much speed from your film as possible. The rest of your stuff looks good, but don't forget a thermometer, measuring cylinder (100 ml, and 500ml).

Cheers for the reply Dfhaii. I have a thermostat etc coming too .
With regards to MIcrophen, I read that it it might be a bit excessive for anything below a 400>1600 push?, and that it's not as smooth as Rodinal in terms of grain?. Again, I'm a total noob , so any info is good info .

 

[Gandhi]

Wouldnt bother with the stop bath or the rinse aid really. Drop of Ecover does ther trick for rinse aid and just use plain water for stop bath. It's kinder to the film too.

why are you going to use HP5 pushed? Why not just use a Higher speed film?

Rodinal is great but it will highlight all the grain in the image and with 35mm film pushed a stop or two its going to be very, very prevalent.

Fundamentally, its not the developer itself that will add or remove contrast but the dilution and length of time you dev for, but again, this is also tied to the type of dev it is.

Are you going to be wet-printing or Scanning?

So many variables to consider it can take a lifetime to work it all out is seems to me sometimes.

Best advice I have been given was to find one type of film and one type of dev, use it at box speed and reccomended dev times to start off with so you have some repeatable results as a base to work from. Then you can start playing around with altering dev times and dilutions to get the contrast etc that you want.

If you are scanning the negs and never going to print in a darkroom its all a bit of a moot point anyway as you just need to make sure you expose enough to get the shadow detail and dev short enough so the highligts dont get blocked up. You can then add or deduct all the contrast you want afterwards in photoshop.

hth?

 

[benneh]

I'll be scanning. The reason I'm going with HP5 pushed is that I have 5 rolls of HP5 400 , and I intend to shoot in dusk/reasonably dim light. I quite like what I've seen of HP5. I might, as you suggest, shoot the first few rolls at box speed and see if I can get a bit of hands on, but tbh there seems to be so much information with regards to dev times that I thought it would be fairly simple to jump in and start push processing straight away, it seems like something that I'll have to get to grips with quickly, but as you say, going by the book so that I have something solid to reflect on is never a bad idea.

Very true r.e your last sentence, but I don't really want to maul the images too much in photoshop. I'd like to learn how to create the look that I like with as little interference as possible (obviously not possible with a scanner, but you know, as close to the neg as possible).