Please help me to choose a new B&W developer.

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Dave
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My reusable Bellini Duo Step is pretty well exhausted.
There's a little left in the original bottles which I will add to the diluted working solution to dev my many very short rolls/test strips (so that I don't have to waste any one shot developers).

I will find a new developer to play with. I have some Rodinal (the Bellini version) which works well, but as I need to replenish my other chems, I'll add a developer to try out.
What are my choices for a general mono developer for Fomapan 100/200/400 & 517 film at box speed (maybe Fomapan 400 at less than box speed)?

I'd like a liquid one shot developer that has a good shelf life (one year), it can be a general dev, giving reasonable contrast etc.
 
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What size film Dave? What kind of look are you going for?

HC110 ticks all the boxes as a general purpose long lived developer.

But, on a couple of occasions with HC110 in MF on Fomapan I wished that I had used Rodinal. I wont be caught out again.
 
It will be for 35mm film with the occasional 120 roll. I'm looking for a general developer but, as Rodinal might give good contrast with larger grain than some, maybe a fine grain dev.
It might be that Rodinal would make a good choice. I'll get to use it more now.
 
Most of my recent experience has been with HC110. I have used it to develop FP4 Type 517, and Fomapan films in 120 and large format. But I have only shot very little of Fomapan in 35mm. It does seem to me that achieving fine grain and box speed with 35mm Foma films might be optimistic.
 
The only film developer I've use for over 20 years is Pyrocat HD. It's like Rodinal on steroids, fine grain, exceptional sharpness, great tonality, and negatives that print and scan easily. No blown out highlights.

If Part A is made up in water shelf life is 4+ years, in Glycol a lot longer but why waste money.

Ian
 
As it's reasonably priced, I've ordered some HC110 (Bellini version) to play with. Thanks for your comments.
 
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