confused as to what developers/brews are available

[wiggy]

Having just come back to developing my own films after a lapse of over 20 years I'm rather confused as to what developers/brews are available now and what their individual characteristics are. I've looked through the forum and there is a lot of information but it is a bit difficult to get it all together from the various threads.

Does anyone know of a site/document which gives a definitive (or as close as one could reasonably hope for) guide to what is out there. Not looking for really exotic brews and processes (yet) but a good starting guid if you see what I mean.

 

[Steve Smith]

Ilford's website lists all of their developers with information about them:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/producttype.asp?n=6&t=Film+Developers

This is a good start for 'standard' developers.

Click on the 'more info' link for more details.



Steve.

 

[wiggy]

Now why didn't I think of that :rolleyes: - should have been the obvious place to start.

Many thanks, I'll check it out

Ian

 

[waynecrider]

I read an article not too long ago thru a link in one of the threads here. I thought it was interesting so am quoting it below. The link can be found at the end.

Quote: Diversions and obsessions

"In the early '90s, I'd been a professional photographer and a camera reviewer for the magazines, and I woke up one day and realized that my personal work had gone all to hell. So I set off to try to "recapture" my amateur status. (That's when I first bought a Leica, but that's another story.) I'd been writing for the enthusiast press for several years, and I'd also been off on an extended personal obsession about films and developers, trying to find the "best" one. This had gone on so long that I wondered if it was ever actually going to come to some result.

At about that time, I met Arthur Kramer, the former director of the Nikon account at J. Walter Thompson, and the optical columnist for the old Modern Photography magazine. Well, Arthur's obsessions absolutely put mine to shame. He printed 35mm with an 8x10 Durst bolted to a concrete wall, with the legendary Apo-El-Nikkor enlarging lens — his was serial no. 00007 (he had another one cast in lucite as a paperweight for his desk — nice $2,400 paperweight!). And Arthur had been experimenting with films and developers obsessively for thirty years. His advice to me was (somewhat paradoxically), it doesn't matter — pick one and get on with it. And at just about that time, I had come to the same conclusion — that I didn't just want "the best," whatever that is, I wanted "the look" — the classic b&w look.

Almost overnight, I settled on Tri-X in D-76 1+1. It's what I've been doing ever since. Is it the "best"? Who cares? It's the look I love."

Here's the link..
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-09-15.shtml

Personally you can get quite confused by the number of developers out there. Then add in the number of papers available to print on and the result seems to go exponential. My point is, what do you need in your print; Such as the Classic Look, The Glow, extreme detail, etc. Find one developer and use it for a year or so. The author found his, and after quite a bit of foolish fooling around with different formula's, I mine. It's Xtol. It's my D76 of developers; Well till next year.

 

[dancqu]

Having just come back to developing my own films after
a lapse of over 20 years I'm rather confused as to what
developers/brews are available now and what their
individual characteristics are.

Some developers are intended for one-shot usage. If you
intend to develop film with that method then consider those
more suited to the method. Many developers can be used
one-shot although more so intended for reuse with
increased developing time and/or replenishment.

Two classic examples: Rodinal and D-76. Rodinal at working
strength contains very little chemistry; tossed after a use.
D-76 can be used one shot but at usual working strength
carries much chemistry down the drain.

Then there are the two bath developers. The solutions
are reused much. The chemistry load per roll of film is
very low. Many swear by the long life and consistent
results of two bath developers. Off the shelf Diafine
is the most famous example.

Compounding fractional batches at home from a
few chemicals is a good way to test method and
type. Photographer's Formulary is a good source
for chemistry and they do supply small as well
as large amounts. They've also off-the-shelf
in quite a variety.

Make method and type of developer your guide
lines and see what you come up with. Dan