B&W film development

I apologise in advance if this is a dumb question but I have a question regarding B&W negative development. I'll be trying trying this for the first time this weekend.

I bought a starter kit with all Tetenal chemicals, I also bought some ilfotec DDX developer as this is specified on the ilford instructions, and I wanted to make my first time as simple as possible. Tetenal doesn't really have any instructions at all.

On the development time table it refers to the ASA with a temperature next to it ie EI 50/18, EI 125/22, EI 200/24 etc. It then specifies the development time at 20 degrees.

Do i have the chemicals at the temperature listed with the ISO or just 20 degrees?

Many thanks

Tom

The "18" and such is the old German DIN value, a slightly different system to the ASA/ISO film speeds, and not a temperature. There was a reason for the degree symbol in those values, but it was later dropped from the specification for a few reasons, but it is a thing from 'before my time' and I forget what the details were.

Luckless said:

The "18" and such is the old German DIN value, a slightly different system to the ASA/ISO film speeds, and not a temperature. There was a reason for the degree symbol in those values, but it was later dropped from the specification for a few reasons, but it is a thing from 'before my time' and I forget what the details were.

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Thank you, so I'll just go with 20 degrees chemical temperature?

Tom Cross said:

I apologise in advance if this is a dumb question but I have a question regarding B&W negative development. I'll be trying trying this for the first time this weekend.

I bought a starter kit with all Tetenal chemicals, I also bought some ilfotec DDX developer as this is specified on the ilford instructions, and I wanted to make my first time as simple as possible. Tetenal doesn't really have any instructions at all.

On the development time table it refers to the ASA with a temperature next to it ie EI 50/18, EI 125/22, EI 200/24 etc. It then specifies the development time at 20 degrees.

Do i have the chemicals at the temperature listed with the ISO or just 20 degrees?

Many thanks

Tom

Click to expand...

The small circle often used to represent "degrees" is often also used to describe the DIN standard of film speed ( technically it represents the log format of ISO). All development should take place at 20 degrees Celcius.

This article may help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed

Thank you both for your replies!

You don't have to stress out about the temperature. When a few degrees over or under, you adjust the time. Here is a time/temp compensation chart from the Ilford website:

I routinely develop b& at 24, 27 and 29 degrees celsius depending on the temperature. So you don't have to stick to 20 if you end up wanting shorter times.

Tom,

Before ISO became the norm and used only the ASA number part, most films used the ASA/DIN combination.
It was always referred as 100/21, 200/24, etc.
ISO takes its value from ASA.

If you look at older exposure meters and many cameras up to the 80s, many will have the ASA/DIN pair.
As I grew up and was educated by 50s, 60s and 70s books, that's what I know.

Thanks everyone! The chart is very useful too. Has anyone any tips of maintaining chemical temperature? I'm planning on using a roasting tray (she doesn't know yet) with water and then some old gin bottles to keep the mixed chemicals in. Not ideal I know but it will hopefully do for now!

Only the developer really has to be at an accurate temperature. Stop and fix don't matter so much but developer temp and time govern development. I have a 5 litre water container that I fill and adjust to 20 degrees using an aquarium thermometer. Use this to mix up the developer and tip it in to the tank. Unless your neat developer is at a vastly different temp then it won't affect it much. Maybe if developer was really cold I would really check temp before putting in tank and make a time adjustment particularly with ddx which is 1:4

Once in the tank just agitate as directed empty add stop , empty add fix, empty rinse as directed. Don't forget stop and fix can be reused. You can reuse developer but most people use it one shot.

Temp is important as is time and developer strength, but they aren't critical to the extent you won't get a result. Just keep consistent and as accurate as you can for best results.

Maintaining chemical temperature is a chore and it's not needed. Adjust your developing time instead:http://www.ilfordphoto.com/aboutus/download.asp?n=430

Th

mr rusty said:

Only the developer really has to be at an accurate temperature. Stop and fix don't matter so much but developer temp and time govern development. I have a 5 litre water container that I fill and adjust to 20 degrees using an aquarium thermometer. Use this to mix up the developer and tip it in to the tank. Unless your neat developer is at a vastly different temp then it won't affect it much. Maybe if developer was really cold I would really check temp before putting in tank and make a time adjustment particularly with ddx which is 1:4

Once in the tank just agitate as directed empty add stop , empty add fix, empty rinse as directed. Don't forget stop and fix can be reused. You can reuse developer but most people use it one shot.

Temp is important as is time and developer strength, but they aren't critical to the extent you won't get a result. Just keep consistent and as accurate as you can for best results.

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Thank you that's really helpful. I think for my first attempt I will probably chuck everything afterwards. I need to get some proper chemical containers and find a child-safe place to keep them.

Do you have a room that has an ambient temperature reasonably close to 68F/20C? If so, just let the chemicals come to room temperature, adjust the developing time to that temperature and go.

Its fine to discard stop bath, but its not good to discard fixer until necessary.

If you have a child safe place, soda pop containers (Club Soda is a good choice) work well.

I don't have little ones running around so I've never felt overly concerned about storing my chemicals in jars, plastic PET bottles and re-using the empty fix bottles with clearly labelled working solution. A little while ago, though, I started buying chemicals to scratch mix my own toners and bleaches and thought something a little more secure than a plastic lined box beneath my enlarger might be a good idea. So, I bought a 50 litre tub from the $2 shop and a luggage strap with a combination lock et voila, safety on wheels! (If you have young children, you might want avoid a container which looks as though it's chock full of Lego and Jelly Beans as mine does!)

It is better to ask first!

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/aboutus/page.asp?n=31

Thank you all for your help. Despite a very successful practice run loading the spiral i did struggle to load the live negative, however I believe I have had success!! Many thanks.

One of the negs...

Congratulations! Even years later, I still have a feeling of relief when I pull the negatives off the reel and, lo and behold, there are images on it

Tom Cross said:

Has anyone any tips of maintaining chemical temperature?

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Pro Tip : Don't use her roasting tray!

My darkroom ranges in temp from cool (I need to warm my developer) to hot (I need to cool me and my developer)

For film development I have found that tempering (adding cold and hot to get to the desired temp) a std bucket of water gives me enough to mix my developer, rinse the developer out (I don't use a stop bath), rinse the fixer after that step and either fill the tank ready for the hose from the tap to be run, or perform an Ilford wash (several rinses/changes of water as described somewhere on their website). As the bucket is about 9L (I think) it holds it temp well for the duration of the film developing process.

Some things I do to add to this process. I ensure my developer is the temp I want. This can mean adding cold water from the fridge or hot water from the tank. I say 'I want' because if it's real hot I'll make it 1 or 2 degrees cooler so that once poured into a warm tank, the final temp is about what I want. No science to this, I just measure the temp with one agitation left and decide if I pour the developer out then (temp is a bit over) or agitate and leave it for the full time. Since my rinses are all going to be within a degree of the developer, I usually make sure the fix is also withing a few degrees. Generally it will be but during summer it will be hot, so I cool it down buy standing the bottle in some cold water.

If the water coming out of the tap is really cold, say 12-14C, I'll do a Ilford rinse. If it's a bit warmer then I'll most likely run water through the tank. If it's hotish (gets up to about 26-28C in summer, I'll probably still just run it through the tank, but in all cases I start with the water in my tempered bucket, so that as the water changes in the tank, the temp changes slowly.

P.S. Congrats on a successful develop!