A few newb questions on dilution strength and agitation

[Ljusdahl]

Hi everyone! Haven't been on here in 3 years, but I'm hoping to get into photography again.

I'm pretty green on the chemical part, but I had a thought the other week that I'd like to get some info and opinions on.

With kodak T-max developer you get 33-48 rolls of 120-film per gallon (3.8l) developer solution, which is 10-11 rolls per 1 litre.
Say I need 0.5 litres to fill my tank, that's 5 rolls worth of developer.
What if I want a single use solution and make it 5 times weaker(1:5x5 = 1:25), and just develop for a very long time, until the solution is completely spent?
Will this method affect contrast and stuff? If so, could you balance it with increased agitation?

I want this to work because:
1) I wouldn't need to keep track of compensation times.
2) More economic, efficient, and enviornmental.
3) I wouldn't have to worry about the solution getting old, because I'd make a new one for each roll.

Say I have a developer solution that can only develop 1 roll. Would a big increase in agitation speed up the process without any ill effects? I'm thinking about experimenting with magnetic stirrers to do the agitation(have read a few threads on it, so I know the problems).

That's about it. Thank you for your time, and merry consumerism!

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Dilution generally give a sharper image with more grain.

If you want to fight every print in the darkroom, just keep screwing around with different times and agitation.

The key is to do everything the very same way every time. Then every print in #2 paper, 20 sec at F8. You can make a contact page and use the same time as last time and every exposure will be correct.

Try to save on chemicals is really false economy.

 

[Neal]

Dear Ljusdahl,

Consider using Rodinal or HC-110. There is a lot of information available for using both at high dilutions.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

 

[MattKing]

Consider replenishment as an option.

T-Max RS is specifically designed for replenishment. Andrew Moxom here on APUG indicates that he has had lots of success replenishing plain T-Max in this thread (post #36 and following): (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Just mix up a one liter or so bottle of working solution, and go. Based on the 45ml per roll replenishment recommendation from Kodak (for T-Max RS), you should get more than 75 rolls per bottle.