Since Ethol UFG is now discontinued I am looking for a replacement that might reasonably be expected to produce similar developing results. That is what this post is about and all further ramblings by me beyond this point provides further information but need not necessarily be read.
I've been using Ethol UFG to process my film for about 6 years now and usually spend my spring-summer-autumn months shooting and binge process in the winter. Consequently I recently went to order some cans of UFG and discovered it has been discontinued. Since some of the film I shot this year is a continuation of an ongoing project that I would like to maintain the look of, my primary question is if anyone has any suggestions for a developer that will yield similar results? Obviously I intend to do some testing before settling.
Additional and potentially irrelevant info:
The only film I shoot is Fomapan 400/Arista Edu 400 and I had my system dialed. Once I took a roll to a local lab who does not do hand processing and uses Xtol but I was unhappy with the results. Negs came out too contrasty. That was a while ago before everything was dialed for me though and my home small hand tank processing may yield better results so I'm not opposed to trying Xtol, though chemistry wise it seems vastly different from UFG. I've seen some good looking Foma/Xtol results from forum users. I tried D76 years ago and was unhappy. The results seemed boring and even some of the images of Foma I've seen posted where D76 is listed as developer lack a certain punch to me. Fine negatives but perhaps not exhibiting any unique qualities of the film. Oddly Images I've seen from Ilford ID11 feel better though my understanding is they are essentially identical developers. As I say, this info is probably not relevant since my question is more specific to finding a replacement (as close as possible) for Ethol UFG to match an existing look.
I've seen an image on another forum of Foma developed in Rollei Supergrain that feels similar to what I would expect from the way I shoot my film. The poster mentions Foma's LQN as being equivalent to the Rollei but I don't see either available at any of the big suppliers here in the US. (Freestyle, adorama, bh) so perhaps there is a chemical in them that is restricted for import or there is just a lack of interest in importing. In that vain it would be somewhat great to settle on a developer that is reliable to exist for a while so I don't have to spend the time, energy, and finances testing replacements again. I've even considered ordering similar chemical components from photographers formulary and attempting to mix my own larkey UFG but that seems exceedingly intensive, however, if someone knows the chemical make-up of Ethol UFG (perhaps one of the factory chemists is reading this...)...
Anyway, I'm new to the forum, and would greatly appreciate any knowledge that might be helpful in finding a replacement. Since Ethol UFG was only recently discontinued I suspect there must be others going through, or about to go through, the same transition.
I've been using Ethol UFG to process my film for about 6 years now and usually spend my spring-summer-autumn months shooting and binge process in the winter. Consequently I recently went to order some cans of UFG and discovered it has been discontinued. Since some of the film I shot this year is a continuation of an ongoing project that I would like to maintain the look of, my primary question is if anyone has any suggestions for a developer that will yield similar results? Obviously I intend to do some testing before settling.
Additional and potentially irrelevant info:
The only film I shoot is Fomapan 400/Arista Edu 400 and I had my system dialed. Once I took a roll to a local lab who does not do hand processing and uses Xtol but I was unhappy with the results. Negs came out too contrasty. That was a while ago before everything was dialed for me though and my home small hand tank processing may yield better results so I'm not opposed to trying Xtol, though chemistry wise it seems vastly different from UFG. I've seen some good looking Foma/Xtol results from forum users. I tried D76 years ago and was unhappy. The results seemed boring and even some of the images of Foma I've seen posted where D76 is listed as developer lack a certain punch to me. Fine negatives but perhaps not exhibiting any unique qualities of the film. Oddly Images I've seen from Ilford ID11 feel better though my understanding is they are essentially identical developers. As I say, this info is probably not relevant since my question is more specific to finding a replacement (as close as possible) for Ethol UFG to match an existing look.
I've seen an image on another forum of Foma developed in Rollei Supergrain that feels similar to what I would expect from the way I shoot my film. The poster mentions Foma's LQN as being equivalent to the Rollei but I don't see either available at any of the big suppliers here in the US. (Freestyle, adorama, bh) so perhaps there is a chemical in them that is restricted for import or there is just a lack of interest in importing. In that vain it would be somewhat great to settle on a developer that is reliable to exist for a while so I don't have to spend the time, energy, and finances testing replacements again. I've even considered ordering similar chemical components from photographers formulary and attempting to mix my own larkey UFG but that seems exceedingly intensive, however, if someone knows the chemical make-up of Ethol UFG (perhaps one of the factory chemists is reading this...)...
Anyway, I'm new to the forum, and would greatly appreciate any knowledge that might be helpful in finding a replacement. Since Ethol UFG was only recently discontinued I suspect there must be others going through, or about to go through, the same transition.
