Can one use Ilford PQ Universal with film?

[Rhodes]

Can one use Ilford PQ Universal to develop film? :confused:

 

[keithwms]

Yes. I use it for ortho film.

 

[DolganoFF]

It is called Universal for a reason.

 

[Ian Grant]

Yes dilute it 1+19, or even 1+29 and more. The guide times given for Olford Ortho Plus should get you started. We used to use it for IldordcOrtho film & FP4 at work back in the 70's/80's. At higher dilutions it gives very clean, sharp, fine grain negatives with an excellent tonal scale.

The May & Baker equivalent Suprol was used by many commercial B&W D&P companies.

Ian

 

[Rhodes]

Yes, It's universal but the sheet only have the info about film in the ending... I will use for several ilford films (and not, if possible), hp5+, mainly fp4+ (since I have a bulk of 30m) etc. All pan, no ortho, is that a big problem or just a small one since it's call universal.

 

[steven_e007]

I've read in the Ilford literature somewhere that whilst it was intended years ago to be a universal developer, Ilford now consider it to be a paper developer as there are better film developers in their range...

But I think the reason is that it isn't very fine grain and so doesn't suite 35mm - unless of course you don't mind a bit of grain, in which case it is great.
Many print developers work well with film, giving gritty, high contrast results. You can control this by diluting. I haven't used Ilford Universal but many years ago my Father used to use Johnsons Universal developer for ALL of his films and papers (all Ilford) and got great results. I've tried diluted D163 print developer with HP5+ and FP4+ and it gives 'squeeky clean' negatives with very low base fog levels and punchy contrast, which means in effect a bit of extra film speed. The downside is that the results are a little more grainy, but I use 120 mostly, so it was acceptible for me.

I'm sure Ilford Universal will also work well on FP4+ and HP5+ too, as long as you don't want very fine grain. Can't help you with dilution or times, though.

 

[Vaughn]

I use it with FP4+ for negs for platinum and for carbon printing. I just used some with T-Max400, looks good so far. Somewhere around 1:19, 68F, 6 minutes for punchy negs. of scenes that have an average to slightly large range of light. I change the dilution temp and time depending on the range of light in the original scene.

Vaughn

 

[Peter Schrager]

Like Vaughn I use it at 1:24 in the florida bright light with trix...for about 5 minutes...do not forget to use it at 68 degrees as it builds contrast way fast!!
Best, Peter

 

[ooze]

My very first few rolls of home-developed BW film were souped in PQ Universal. The film was Delta400 (old/first version) and the results were pretty contrasty and grainy. Thinking about it, I should print a few frames from those days again.

 

[Ian Grant]

I've read in the Ilford literature somewhere that whilst it was intended years ago to be a universal developer, Ilford now consider it to be a paper developer as there are better film developers in their range...

But I think the reason is that it isn't very fine grain and so doesn't suite 35mm - unless of course you don't mind a bit of grain, in which case it is great.
Many print developers work well with film, giving gritty, high contrast results. You can control this by diluting. I haven't used Ilford Universal but many years ago my Father used to use Johnsons Universal developer for ALL of his films and papers (all Ilford) and got great results. I've tried diluted D163 print developer with HP5+ and FP4+ and it gives 'squeeky clean' negatives with very low base fog levels and punchy contrast, which means in effect a bit of extra film speed. The downside is that the results are a little more grainy, but I use 120 mostly, so it was acceptible for me.

I'm sure Ilford Universal will also work well on FP4+ and HP5+ too, as long as you don't want very fine grain. Can't help you with dilution or times, though.

PQ Universal gives very good fine grain with 35mm films, unlike developers like D163 which Kodak marketed as a Universal Developer in the 60's. This was why it and it's competitors where used in Commercial D&P work for both Negatives & Prints.

The reason it's not recommended is more because of the high dilutions needed and/or often very short development times for normal contrast ranges, being which made it suited to machine processing. But Ilford had a number ofalternatives like Autophen so didn't particularly push PQ Universal as a film Developer unlike May & Baker who sold Suprol in large quantities as developer for Commercial D&P work and Motion picture processing as a neg & print dev.

Ian

 

[Rhodes]

Thank you for the answers! My next question was about the dilutions and times, but I forgot to post it. I’ll use Vaughn advice and se if I can find out more, since digitaltruth doesn’t have any info with this type of dev.
I do not mind a bit of grain…eheheh. I will try with my bulk fp4+ old film and see what I kind get!

 

[Vaughn]

Better re-read my post then! I am developing sheet film -- going for negatives that print platinum with no contrast agents, and for carbon printing. Negatives that have too much contrast for platinum prints often make for good negatives for the way I make carbon prints. So you may not want that amount of contrast.

The Massive Development Chart does have times for some conventional films. On the same page where you enter your film and select a developer, look directly below the Search button, is a list -- click on "Unlisted Data". Then go to the bottom of the next list -- click on "Universal". That will take you to recommended times and dilutions for a bunch of films.

Here at: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=&Developer=Universal&mdc=Search

It recommends FP4+ in Universal 1:29 for 5.25 minutes, or at 1:19 for 3.5 minutes.

Vaughn

PS...I developed 5 8x10 negs a couple nights ago, some HP5+, recent TMax-400, and even a sheet of Acros. Souped them up all together in a 3005 drum, Universal PQ 1:16, 70F for 8 minutes. The TMax 400 negs were the only ones that were critical, the others were older and second copies of negs I already developed. The TMax 400 came out real nice and I will use similar time/temp/concentration for the rest of that day's photographing, and for yesterday's -- all shot on the TMax 400. The HP5+ were not bad, but I'll wait to develop the rest with some D-19. The Acros did not need that much development...nice to know since I have a few unexposed sheets to play with!

 

[Ian Grant]

You can try using a higher dilutions than 1+29. The data sheet with Suprol was 20+ pages and gave far higher dilutions and recommended times, which I also tried with PQ Universal & FP4, unfortunately I don't seem to have my notes from 30 years ago
You could try 1+39 but you'd need to test, it's going to be around twice the time for 1+19.

Ian

 

[Rhodes]

Thanks Vaughn!

 

[Cepoon]

I use Ilford PQ Universal as my main developer for some films, such as Fomapan 100, Ilford pan 100 as my main developer in 35 mm. I tested Agfa APX 400 (new) too with good results. Reason? This developer has a fantastic tonal range, very fine grain and it is absolute perfect alternative to Rodinal. Tonal gradation, grain, midtones, tonal scale are far far better than in Rodinal. I use (mainly) dilution 1+29, but I developed some film with 1+50 too, I didn´t see difference. Sometimes I use it for stand or semi-stand with fantastic results with dilution 1+150, when light conditions are very contrasting. I start always with 18°C, agitate first 30 seconds and than only one slowly agitation in first minute. It is active developer, dont like too much agitation. I developed with this developer more than 50 pieces of films in small 35 mm format, scanned with dedicated film scanner, I enlarged 30x40 without absolute any problem that this is a "paper developer". No - not only. Some examples.

 

[Cepoon]

And another examples here.

 

[Vaughn]

It works well for you!

 

[Olympus17]

And another examples here.

View attachment 219252 View attachment 219253 View attachment 219254 View attachment 219255 View attachment 219256 View attachment 219257 View attachment 219258 View attachment 219260

Hello there. I want to use PQ universal in developing 35mm film. What should the duration and application be in 1/29 for HP5 + 400? thanks.

 

[Olympus17]

Hello there. Can you give full time and measure for HP5 + 400?

 

[Vaughn]

Here is the chart for you, it has all the info you need!

https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=&Developer=Universal&mdc=Search&obs=Y

 

[Olympus17]

Çok teşekkür ederim. Fotoğrafçılıkta çok acemiyim. Sürekli yardım isteyebilirim.
[QUOTE = "Vaughn, posta: 2285214, üye: 17558"] İşte sizin için grafik, ihtiyacınız olan tüm bilgilere sahip!

https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=&Developer=Universal&mdc=Search&obs=Y [/ QUOTE]

 

[Olympus17]

Ajitasyon formunun nasıl olması gerektiğini düşünüyorsunuz?

 

[Olympus17]

Hangi aralıklarda ne kadar çalkalamalıyım?

 

[Vaughn]

You can use your normal agitation methods with this developer. I agitate for the first 30 seconds, then for 5 seconds every 30 seconds.

 

[Olympus17]

Çok teşekkür ederim.