Chemistry for beginner home film development

For various reasons I have narrowed my choices down to Ilfosol 3 and DD-X. I have seen a lot of nice results around the web with Ilfosol 3, but it seems to have a bad reputation on APUG. Anyone care to comment on these two specific developers?

Archimedes the Dog said:

For various reasons I have narrowed my choices down to Ilfosol 3 and DD-X. I have seen a lot of nice results around the web with Ilfosol 3, but it seems to have a bad reputation on APUG. Anyone care to comment on these two specific developers?

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DD-X is as good as it gets. If cost is not an issue, there's no reason not to use DD-X.

I think you are on the right track. Choosing a developer is mostly about personal taste, unless there is a specific technical requirement.

Personally, I use XTOL as my standard developer because it has a very good balance between grain, contrast, sharpness and tonality. If I want a particular look, I can usually achieve it in LR after scanning.

Although, DD-X isn't the most toxic developer, it's still worse for people and the environment than XTOL. So by using it, I don't have to worry about allergies, poisoning or killing frog spawn.

RattyMouse said:

DD-X is as good as it gets. If cost is not an issue, there's no reason not to use DD-X.

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That probably sums up the general conclusion that most of us on APUG would agree with and such a summation on developers on APUG in two short sentences is no easy feat.

Well said, Rattymouse.

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