Going to Silverprint, What chemicals to buy?

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sidxms

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Hello,


I recently purchased the patterson film developing kit from silverprint. I was wondering what is a good general purpose film developer, stop bath and fixer to use.

I wont be shooting lots of film so single use stuff would be ideal (apart from stop + fix of course)

I am likely to use fomapan film with this would prefer something which goes nicely with that.

Thanks a lot
sid
 
sidxms said:
Hello,

I recently purchased the patterson film developing kit from silverprint. I was wondering what is a good general purpose film developer, stop bath and fixer to use.

I wont be shooting lots of film so single use stuff would be ideal (apart from stop + fix of course)

I am likely to use fomapan film with this would prefer something which goes nicely with that.

Thanks a lot
sid
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Not rodinal then! Get a sachet of d76. It lasts forever in the sachet so if you have a long space between developments it won't go off. It's a fairly sympathetic developer so should be fine with fomapan.
 
Developer?

Powder - XTOL (superior to D76 in many ways, and has superb results across many film emulsions)
Liquid - HC110, T-Max Dev

Fixer - Ilford Rapid Fixer is a standard, although I know there are a few other rapid fixers which are all based on the same recipe and will do the same thing (similar to stop baths and other standard chemicals in film developing).

Just a note - your location is London so you probably aren't making a special trip to go to Silverprint, but just in case you are, it isn't open on weekends (in case you planned on going tomorrow).
 
I guess powder developers would be easy to measure to the nearest gram compared to liquid ones. I had lots of trouble with Ilfotech HC and measuring 9ml for 1 roll of 35 mm film.

I will make the trip on the weekday I think :D

edit / Stupid question but ... How long will the unmixed powders lasts? I will only be mixing small amounts together at a time I think.

Edit / I don't fancy using a changing bag, Any tips to get around using one?
 
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sidxms said:
I guess powder developers would be easy to measure to the nearest gram compared to liquid ones. I had lots of trouble with Ilfotech HC and measuring 9ml for 1 roll of 35 mm film.
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Just for info : I know that Silverpoint do sell syringes marked up in small volumes. I bought a 5 ml one quite recently.
 
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sidxms said:
I will make the trip on the weekday I think :D

edit / Stupid question but ... How long will the unmixed powders lasts? I will only be mixing small amounts together at a time I think.

Edit / I don't fancy using a changing bag, Any tips to get around using one?
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Either mix up the whole lot or none at all, don't try and be clever and just use 'half or so' of the powder, their designed to be mixed up into one stock solution which is used over time.
 
Essentially yes it will oxidise so its designed so that you make up say a 1L stock solution from all of the powder and then use that as necessary as it will last (depending on the developer) several months when mixed.

If your only doing a film occassionally then a liquid one shot developer would probably suit you better, I only do one or two every few months and use Patterson Aculux 3, its quite a nice liquid developer I find as it gives quite sharp but fine grained negatives and 1L is actually only very slightly more than 500ml of the similar Ilford Ilfosol 3 (it'll do about 30 films assuming using the standard 1+9 dilution). I've had my bottle for about 14 months now and its still fine as I did a film a couple of weeks ago with great results.
 
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Unless you've got a completely dark room I'd buy a bag. You can get them a little cheaper from china via ebay if you can wait.
 
sidxms said:
Ok thanks :D

Any thoughts on being a cheapskate with the changing bag?
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steveo_mcg said:
Unless you've got a completely dark room I'd buy a bag. You can get them a little cheaper from china via ebay if you can wait.
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freecom2 said:
A one-off purchase, and cheaping out on it could potential waste costly film, chemicals and time. Your choice really.
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As said if you cheapskate too much you're likely to induce problems such as fogged film.

If money really is so tight that you're looking at saving every penny possible then I would still find the funds for a bag but drop the stop bath and use water instead...in fact iirc fomapan isn't keen on an acid stop bath anyway.
 
Asha said:
in fact iirc fomapan isn't keen on an acid stop bath anyway.
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I think that's Adox films, could be wrong though.
 
sidxms said:
Ok thanks :D

Any thoughts on being a cheapskate with the changing bag?
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I squeeze myself into the cupboard under the stairs, it's ok as long as the flashbacks aren't too bad :lol:

Or ask Santa for changing bag from SDS
 
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Flashbacks might be dangerous, don't you risk fogging the film? :D
 
robhooley167 said:
I think that's Adox films, could be wrong though.
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Perhaps so Rob ...tbh I can't remember as I use a water stop 99% of the time anyway

Come to think of it, it may be the EFKE brand...that's another very fragile emulsion and one that I don't like.

@ the OP.....there will always be a debate over acid stop bath, plain water, vinegar solution etc but be assured I can honestly say that I've had no probs using water....doesn't mean my method is correct but it works for me and it may help you.

Regardles of that, I still stand firm with the belief that a changing back is a necessary part of home developing kit ( unless of course you have access to a darkroom)
 
Hi guys,

Sorry to bump this thread again but I've had the changing bag delivered and not being funny but it doesn't appear foolproof to me, surely light can leak through the hand holes??

Am I being stupid?

Also for film developing, I'm going to try Rodinal as it appears to last ages hehe

Cheers chaps

sid
 
sidxms said:
Hi guys,

Sorry to bump this thread again but I've had the changing bag delivered and not being funny but it doesn't appear foolproof to me, surely light can leak through the hand holes??

Am I being stupid?

Also for film developing, I'm going to try Rodinal as it appears to last ages hehe

Cheers chaps

sid
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The arm sections should have elasticated cuffs that make them light tight.
 
My changing bag has two elasticated parts - the outer one, a middle internal one and then the inside of the bag itself. That seems like the minimum sensible amount.
 
Asha said:
Perhaps so Rob ...tbh I can't remember as I use a water stop 99% of the time anyway

Come to think of it, it may be the EFKE brand...that's another very fragile emulsion and one that I don't like.

@ the OP.....there will always be a debate over acid stop bath, plain water, vinegar solution etc but be assured I can honestly say that I've had no probs using water....doesn't mean my method is correct but it works for me and it may help you.

Regardles of that, I still stand firm with the belief that a changing back is a necessary part of home developing kit ( unless of course you have access to a darkroom)
Click to expand...

I just use water too as stop bath without any problems.
 
freecom2 said:
My changing bag has two elasticated parts - the outer one, a middle internal one and then the inside of the bag itself. That seems like the minimum sensible amount.
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I have one like this ^^^^ and another where just the outer edges of the cuffs of the sleeves are elasticated....never had a light leakage problem with either bag.
 
I will attempt my first roll tonight using rodinal developer

To make up 300 ml in developer solution, I want to use concentration of 1:26

Therefore I need to use 11.5ml of rodinal + rest of water to make it up to 300 ml?
 
1+26? What are you developing? Seems like an odd ration for rodinal to me, do you mean 1+25? This would equal 26 and give you 11.5mls of rodinal. If so, you are correct! ;)
 
menthel said:
1+26? What are you developing? Seems like an odd ration for rodinal to me, do you mean 1+25? This would equal 26 and give you 11.5mls of rodinal. If so, you are correct! ;)
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Yeah thats what I meant hehe

Thanks for checking the maths,

I understand its critical to get developer concentration correct but for the stop bath and the fixer, it shouldnt matter right?
 
Concentration vs time is fairly critical. I've never bothered with a stop but I doubt its worth worrying about. Fixer make a good strong concentration but it doesn't really matter what the exact proportions are.
 
sidxms said:
Yeah thats what I meant hehe

Thanks for checking the maths,

I understand its critical to get developer concentration correct but for the stop bath and the fixer, it shouldnt matter right?
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I usually round up (or down as appropraite) to the nearest whole number but then I use syringes to measure out, so will be more accurate than a beaker anyway. I usually keep to the manufacturer recommendations for stop and fix. Wetting is done by a splash here and there!
 
menthel said:
I usually round up (or down as appropraite) to the nearest whole number but then I use syringes to measure out, so will be more accurate than a beaker anyway. I usually keep to the manufacturer recommendations for stop and fix. Wetting is done by a splash here and there!
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I got a syringe so should be able to measure developer accurately,

Cheers
sid
 
menthel said:
Best way for the low volume ones if you ask me. HC-110 is a little thick though!
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Mmm I'm wondering if the HC 110 that I recently purchased ( to try something different!) is going to prove a challenge then with a measuring beaker as I intend to mix just whatever concentrate I require for each film.

Could pick up a syringe easy enough but doesn't sound like it will make life much easier?!!

Appologies Sid if I'm coming across as hyjacking your thread ....no offence intended!
 
Asha said:
Mmm I'm wondering if the HC 110 that I recently purchased ( to try something different!) is going to prove a challenge then with a measuring beaker as I intend to mix just whatever concentrate I require for each film.

Could pick up a syringe easy enough but doesn't sound like it will make life much easier?!!

Appologies Sid if I'm coming across as hyjacking your thread ....no offence intended!
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Syringe actually works fine, just needs a little more strength employed. I usually squirt it into the measuring cylinder, make it up to 500mls and then stir with a glass rod (actually a glass cocktail stirrer with an elephant on top) and it all works out quite well!
 
menthel said:
Syringe actually works fine, just needs a little more strength employed. I usually squirt it into the measuring cylinder, make it up to 500mls and then stir with a glass rod (actually a glass cocktail stirrer with an elephant on top) and it all works out quite well!
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OK Jim thanks.....I'll get myself a syringe sorted :thumbs:
 
menthel said:
Ain't I just. I mix us the rodinal in a high ball glass and garnish it with a glacé cherry! ;)
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Will have to dig out one of them little paper parasols for the HC 110 then! lol
 
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