Beginner HELP - what developer

Barney

Barney

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Wayne
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good evening,

first stab at developing, bought a tank off the bay and now need some chemicals to chuck in it

At the moment I have three B+W films

APX 100 - 35 - currently using which I have set at 400 in the camera (in error)
Fomapan 400 - 120
HP5+ - 120

Can anyone recommend a developer that would be suitable for all three films and where to get it. IF anything I can scrap the Pushed film if it causes to much conflict

I have read the user guide to develop first B+W film and found it helpful.
 
I use Kodak HC110 to develop all film types.

It might look as if it's not the cheapest because it costs £40-£50 per 1 litre bottle. However, by using Dilution H (1 unit of developer to 63 of water) I can develop 250 films from that bottle so the unit cost is around 16-20p per film. It never "goes off" so there is no wastage.

If you don't want to commit to a full litre, then there is an equivalent called "Bellini Euro HC" which is available in a 250ml bottle for £11.00. I have used it and found the results exactly the same as the Kodak version.

Eventually, you will get replies recommending every possible developer under the sun. To some extent this just shows it doesn't really matter what developer you use. Richard Pickup maintains a useful blog showing the effect of developing a standard scene in different developers. You can see results at https://www.richardpickup.com/pebble-project-galleries - to be honest I struggle to see any difference in these results between developers.

There are liquid developers (HC110 is liquid) and powder developers. For occasional use liquid developers are more convenient because the powder developers have to be made up with the full packet which may then produce more developer than you need.

You'll probably need to develop the three films separately as they will need different developing times. Use https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php to lookup the developing times.
 
Thanks Kevin,

Your right about one thing, the selection and array of chemicals is bewildering. One stop fits all is an attractive proposition.
 
I haven't offered advice because in this case I don't have any. I use Rodinal - the original Agfa one, as I stocked up before it ceased production. It suits me as a liquid, use once and discard, meaning no worries about usage, replenishers and what not. Before that, I used Unitol which disappeared half a century ago. Again, liquid, one shot. Rodinal does adversely affect grain, but I mainly use large format, and slow films when I don't (and not 35mm in any case).

On the whole, I think HC110 is a good choice. Ansel Adams liked it...

Back in the 1960s, I tried a lot of developers and the only one that made a noticeable difference to me was Acutol (not made now). So I have a built in skepticism about developer differences. As far as I'm concerned, they fall into four categories and that's about it. I go for ease of use and convenience.
 
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HC110 is a great choice. Ilford make a functionally identical developer called HC - if go with whatever you can find cheaper. I started with HC and it's very economical in the long term.

Another similar high concentration / good long term storage option is 510 Pyro - it oxidizes in no time at all when diluted in water but lasts longer than anything else I know of in its concentrated form - I found a hand used bottle open left for at least six months recently and it worked absolutely perfectly. Highly recommended for the occasional developer
 
I like Ilford ID-11. A 2 part powder that's mixed to make a 1 litre solution. Costs £8. Yes it only keeps for a recommended 8 months but you can develop a lot of film for not much money.
 
If you do plan on pushing the film then Ilfotec DD-X would be good. It's cheaper to buy as an initial outlay than HC-110 (although it's much more expensive per roll as you need to use a much higher dilution).

Otherwise I would say HC-110 or Rodinal / Adonal as already suggested by Kevin and Stephen. Rodinal / Adonal can also be bought in a small 100ml bottle, which is quite handy if you're not too sure about it and don't want to spend too much money.
 
Rodinal has (had?) a reputation for lasting for ever, but I gather that several of the modern versions are prone to sudden, no warning failure. I started out using Ilfosol 3, which is really nice until it isn't. I got fed up with getting carpy results every 6-8 months or so. On that basis, I'm now another big fan of HC-110. I do expect to finish my 2018 bottle this year. Even at dilution B (1+31... you'll get used to these weird names in time), it's still a heck of a lot of films! [*]

However, it's maybe worth a read of this article by Mike Johnston, The Online Photographer: https://theonlinephotographer.typep...grapher/2023/08/the-trouble-with-rodinal.html . Note, he is tongue in cheek!

Personally, I find dilution B works well for slower films, but for 400 and up, and for some others, dilution E (1+47) produces smoother tonal transitions at the expense of 50% longer dev times. Also works better than B for Acros 100 (original) AFAICS.

I'm quite likely to try the Bellini or Ilford versions when I want a new bottle.

* EDIT: I use a rotary tank that requires only 200 ml of chems per film, so dilution B comes out at 6.2 ml per film, so 160 films, and I paid £30 for my bottle. Since there's this general warning that you should always use at least 6ml of concentrate per film (a warning which has been disputed by some on here), if I used dilution E with 200 ml it would mean 4.something ml; for that reason I overfill my tank with 300 ml of mix and still use 6.2 ml of concentrate. Seems to work!
 
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I haven't shot film in years, so I'm not up on what's available. Back in my film days my favorites were ID11 (or D76) near enough the same stuff for normal developing, and Microphen for" pushing" films.
We also "pulled" films in really contrasty lighting, ID11 worked fine for that too.
 
Thank you for all the advice, not knowing how far I will go with this I have opted not get the get the 1000ml HC bottle, but rather have found a kit with a small bottle of the Bellini Euro, it has stopper and fixer with it for about £20 quid, not that price is an issue. I just want it too work out OK, if it turns out good that is even better.
Going by google research functions you have answered this very same question several times already, so thank you for your patience in answering it again. It reflects well on the film guys in particular and the forum in general.
My own searches led to me to select Acufine for a first go, but I could not find it for sale anywhere, and decided that you would know best.
 
Barney said:
Thank you for all the advice, not knowing how far I will go with this I have opted not get the get the 1000ml HC bottle, but rather have found a kit with a small bottle of the Bellini Euro, it has stopper and fixer with it for about £20 quid, not that price is an issue. I just want it too work out OK, if it turns out good that is even better.
Click to expand...

Good choice!

Barney said:
Going by google research functions you have answered this very same question several times already, so thank you for your patience in answering it again. It reflects well on the film guys in particular and the forum in general.
Click to expand...

It seems film photographers in general can be a pretty patient lot! And we really do like to get other people hooked, sorry I mean involved...
 
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