Dog Day Development

[cmo]

Last night I checked the temperature in my darkroom: +25.7 °C = +78.3 °F

How do you develop during hot summer days? Do you cool down the chemistry and tanks, do you just adapt development time, or what else?

 

[Ian Grant]

Here in Turkey I work to the water temperature which rarely goes above 26° C, the room temperature may go into the 30's even low 40's but by that time the air conditioning goes on when my wifes around

So yes just adapt your times to suit. I have a Summer 26°C regime, there's not difference in quality etc.

Ian

 

[fotch]

The manufacturers post development time/temperature combination for a reason, why not use them.

 

[Wade D]

It is indeed summer and I develop at 80 F using the manufacturers chart. I use D-76 1:1 so the time is in the good range of 5+ minutes. The tap water is also the same temp so no variation in chemicals/washing.

 

[JPD]

The tap water here is cold.

If the darkroom temperature is 22ºC, I mix fresh fix and stop to be 19,5ºC. If the stock solution of Agfa 17 is 22ºC I just mix it to my standard 1+1 dilution with 18ºC water - Voià! 20ºC developer ready for use! When it's time for the stop and fix, they are 20ºC within thenths of a degree.

The summer temperature here in the northernmost Sweden goes very seldom over 20ºC at night, so I prefer to develop films late in the evening or early in the morning.

It's 10:45 am, only 11ºC and rain. We have midnight sun, so free hand photography is possible at night.

 

[kraker]

Mostly water cooling:

I usually try to cool the developer in cold(er) water. It's easy when using Rodinal or Ilfotec HC: because of the high dilution, mixing it with cold enough water makes it ready-to-use. When using 1+0 or 1+1 developer which is already at high room temperature, it is a bit harder to cool it down.

Especially in the latter case, I combine it with "Change development time according to a chart". Cooling developer of 26 C down to 20 C with a water bath that's at best 18 C takes ages, so I try to cool it to anything below 24 C, then develop according to chart or best-guess.

Developing film in the summer is one thing. Printing has to wait until things cool down a bit.

 

[rst]

I adjust the time. I think that is the easiest to do if temperature does not go too high and development time does not go too low.

Cheers
Ruediger

 

[eddym]

Living in a tropical rainforest, I use both an air conditioner and a dehumidifier in my darkroom to keep my film and camera equipment cool and dry. Still, in the summer, it can get up to about 78F, even with the air on. Most of my developing times are based on a temperature of about 73F, using ID11 1:1 or HC110. So in the summer I may have to add a little cold water when mixing the diluted developer, but it's not a real problem. The stop, fix, and wash may be a little warmer, but not so much that the negatives are damaged.

 

[bdial]

My well water is between 50 and 60F year round, so controlling temps to 68 with a water bath isn't difficult. However, I've lived in places where the cold tap water was warm enough for a shower, in those situations it's much easier to just adjust the timing as needed.

 

[Sirius Glass]

While I have to work in the Washington DC area because of this wonder George W. Bush Depression, I have to deal with both high humidity and high temperatures around 100 degrees F [ 38 degrees C]. Ice baths in the kitchen sink were not getting the chemicals cold enough. My girlfriend suggested that I put the chemicals in the refrigerator for a hour or hour and a half. That works! I can develop film at 70 degress F [~ 21 degrees C].

Steve

 

[Anon Ymous]

Hmmm, where's the "I develop at above 20°C and use tempering baths" choice?

Developing film at 30°C ambient is somewhat tricky, but certainly doable. First of all, a developing temperature like 24°C is a good choice. Development times will be shortish, but usually manageable. Of course, solutions will tend to get warmer, but it's a slow process. I've done tests with plain water, which prove it. Of course, it's good to have a tempering bath for the tank at the same temperature, and/or do a prewet. Since I always prewet film, it's one more thing that keeps the process as accurate as possible for me.

The tricky part could be having stock solutions at the desired temperature. Refrigerating works, but you can also use plastic 135 film cans. Put some water in them, put them in the freezer and you have ice cubes that won't thin your solutions. Beakers are usually wider than graduates, so they're more convenient when using plastic cans to cool your solutions, but stir periodically, so that you'll have uniform temperature in the solution.

Don't skimp on the volume of chemicals. Yes, you may be able to develop film with just 250ml, but the larger the volume of the solution, the more time it will take to change it's temperature. And needless to say, cool water from the fridge is useful, have lots of it.

 

[Rick A]

Wheres the choice for "doesnt matter" (hang diafine). Where I live there isnt much change in temp year round with or without A/C (heat in winter is another story). Our water temps dont vary much and summers are fairly mild here in the "land of the endless mountains" I draw 70f tap water in summer, and 66-68f in winter. I suppose the first choice is closest to what I do, no matter the time of year. Of course, theres always that batch of panthermic developer I have stashed.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

None of your options.

Even though summers can get moderately hot, the tap water supply here in Minnesota stays below 68*F all season. So I do exactly the same thing the whole year around.

I use a water bath for all my chemicals that is first warmed to 80*F for a few minutes and then gradually lowered to 70*F which is my standard processing temperature. It's not high tech. I just use a big tub and a thermometer and pitch in hot or cold water in small amounts as needed to keep the temperature stable.

I also place the tank in the water bath as I go through the processing steps to make sure the temperature is always stable, right at 70*F.

- Thomas

 

[Dave Martiny]

At 5:30 this morning, the outdoor temperature here in Phoenix is 95 degrees F, no lie. The high today will be 113F, tomorrow 115. My tap water at this moment is coming out at 93F, and the ambient temp in my darkroom is 82F.

In spite of all this, I still develop my film at 68F, even in the summer, I suppose out of a dogged desire to maintain consistency. I pre-chill my dev and stop in the fridge, and I use a tub of water chilled down to 68 with ice to maintain temperature during development. I chill my first fixing bath to the mid/low 70's, and use the second fix bath at room temp, about 80F, to avoid any abrubt temp changes. Then I use the Ilford wash method, using water from a jug at room temp. No problems that I can detect.

I print in the summer using LPD at room temperature as well. An open tray of developer is actually a few degrees cooler than ambient due to the slight ongoing evaporation.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Worker 11811]

I use a bucket of ice water to bring chemistry to the temperature I want.

Dip the container in the bucket and stir until the thermometer reads about a degree above what you want it to be. The cold container will cause the temperature to coast a bit.

 

[removed account4]

"water cooling" i take as a water jacket ...

i use a water jacket when i have to ...
i used to live in a brick factory building, under a
black rubber roof, with the skylight in my space
(so all the heat travelled to my studio ) it was about 110ºF for weeks
.... the water was about 80ºF or so it seemed - -- it was a kiln.

i had a little cube fridge i would keep a jug of water, and my
developing stuff ( ss for 120 / 135, or ss box for sheet film ) in the cube
to get them cold enough to and it was cold enough to bring my temp down,
so i mixed my developer and had a water and fix at 70ºf-ish,
and had a 3, 3+quart tupper ware containers at the right temp to have
my developing tanks sit in between agitations ( if it was roll film )
or that i stuck the ss metal tank in ... and the water jacket kept it there.

 

[removed-user-1]

My tap water comes out at 78 F during the summer. I use both a water jacket AND modified temperature according to Ilford's chart to get to some combination of time and temp that I like.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

THe problem with cooling chemicals down lower than the tap water temp is that your wash water will be HOT compared to your developer and fixer, causing reticulation. My water here is 77 degrees with only the cold running, so i am developing at 77 degrees. I tested for times for the films I am using at that temp in the developers I use, since the manufacturers didn't give times for higher than 75 degrees.

 

[Shawn Dougherty]

I've been getting up at 4 and 5 am.... that and I put my water in the freezer to get down to 70. I love summer but I hate that part....

 

[Sully75]

I think I figured out (for me) a better solution than the cooling bath. I fill up a stainless mixing tumbler with ice and a water to fill and put that into a plastic beaker filled with chemicals with the thermometer in it.

Advantages, as I see them:
1) I found putting stainless containers in a cooling bath, the stainless would end up quite cold, and it would continue to cool the chemicals after I took them out of the cooling bath.
2) likewise, the plastic containers (I used yogurt containers most recently) insulate the chemicals once they get to their desired temp.
3) I think it's faster to put the cold thing into the chemicals than to put the cold things container into the chemicals.

 

[w9cae]

Or you can do B&W in winter & color in summer. Temps would be just about spot on for most non AC homes.

 

[BradS]

1) for moderately high ambients, I use D-23. D23 just is not very sensitive to temp.

2) If I feel ambitious, I'll haul out the deep line tank with the nice water jacket to hold temps very steady.

I'll do almost anything to avoid adjusting the time.

 

[JPD]

Aren't tropical film developers used anymore?

 

[Anon Ymous]

Aren't tropical film developers used anymore?

Should they?

 

[Ian Grant]

Aren't tropical film developers used anymore?

Should they?

Modern films are very well hardened with one or two exceptions, and can be process at temperatures where a Tropical developer would have once been needed.

Then choice of developer can help, PMK or Pyrocat are tanning/staining developers which garden the emulsion during development.

Even the Adox/EFKE films are fine in Pyrocat at higher temperatures

Ian