Film Development temp...smart or lazy

[Schokker]

Hi all,

I am almost ready to develop my first film....but I am dealing with the temperature issue, hopefully you can help me. My room temp is 23.5 degrees C most of the time. I want to use Amaloco 74 diluted at 1+15.

I tought (think;-) to be smart and bought big bottles of 2 liters where I just store my water in. I keep them next to the chemicals so everything has got the same room temperature of 23.5 or any other temp.

Then instead of developping my fp4 film for 4.8 minutes I reduce it by 25% and want to try it at 3.6 minutes.

Can this be a consistent way of working and is the quality still good if I develop at a higher temperature?

Thanks!

Jeroen

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Jeroen,

Temperature is not the major issue here: time is.

That short a development time is likely to lead to uneven processing except perhaps with constant agitation -- which of course still further shortens dev time.

You'll also need to fill and drain the tank VERY swiftly: you might do well to have the tank filled, lid off, in the darkroom; drop the film into the tank; put the lid on and start agitating.

Consider a greater dilution, or another dev.

Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com)

 

[juan]

I regularly develop my film at temperatures higher than 20C. I've found adjusting development time to match temperature a better, more consistent way than trying to adjust the temperature to match time. I've found that subtracting 4% per degree works for me. I have a friend who develops FP4 at 23.8 in a Phototherm machine - he's very happy with the results.

I'd say give it a try - make some tests or simply try some unimportant negatives.
juan

 

[Fotohuis]

Keep track on this AM74 information:
http://www.fotohuisrovo.nl/documentatie/am74_nl.pdf

Due to the fact AM74 is a hydroquinon - phenidone developer best preformance will be close to 20 degrees C. as also clearly suggested in their technical documentation. (Under temperature).

Developing times far under 5:00Min. will have problems with reproducibility so the 1+15 dilution option valid for FP4+ at 20 degrees C. is already a minimum requirement.

Best regards,

Robert

 

[Schokker]

thanks for the usefull information. So maybe using another developer like Ilfosol s would be suitable for my setup? Is this developer working better with higher temperatures?

 

[Fotohuis]

Ilfosol-S is an ascorbic acid developer which is very short (1-2 months) in lifetime.
AM74 will indicate very clearly on the color how far the oxidation process is on.
Very light yellow when new to light brown still usable.
AM74 can be stored over 2 years and depending how far a used bottle is empty, 6-10 months.

If you're going to the 1+19 dilution you must be also sure to use the minimum concentrate requirement of 20ml for one 135-36 or 120 rollfilm.
You can cool down your chemicals with ice cubes.

AM74 and FP4+ is a nice combination. This (semi-compensating) developer has a quite high optimum developing point so with the latitude of the FP4+ you can hardly miss succesfull negatives.

 

[ann]

just keep a gallon of water in the fridge and mix with the current water.

takes about 1 minute to mix the two to bring it to 68 degrees

 

[timeUnit]

During the hot summers I fill one of the sinks with water and some ice to get the temp down. I usually keep it at around 18°C to cool down the developing tank when submerged, as it quickly rises during agitation. Btw, I use Paterson system 4 tanks.

 

[Dave Krueger]

The closer to the floor you keep your chemicals, the cooler they will be.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The closer to the floor you keep your chemicals, the cooler they will be.

Dear Dave,

So simple, so obvious -- and such a piece of welcome common sense!

Cheers,

Roger

 

[gainer]

IIRC, color negative film is to be developed at 104 F. The two concerns with high temperature are the short times and the possibility of reticulation. It's been a long tima since I have seen reticulation, due I'm sure to the prehardening and the thinness of modern emulsions. nevertheless, I don't like hot developing. My home water supply comes from a well about 110 feet down, and the storage tank is under my darkroom table. Putting my developer bottles around the base of the water tank keeps them at 68 to 70 F.

The addition of sodium sulfate (not sulfite) to developers used to be common for tropical development. It is inactive but tends to slow development rates by its physical presence. I have a War Department Technical Manual of Basic Photography that has this recipe for a tropical developer:
Water.....................................750 ml
p-aminophenol hydrochloride.......7 grams
sodium sulfite (des.)..................50 grams
sodium carbonate(des.)..............50 grams
Water to make 1 liter
I translated these from Avoirdupois units.

Develop 7 to 9 minutes at 65 F. If the developer temperature is above 80 F. add 50 grams of desicated sodium sulfate per liter.

I think thie developer was much like the standard ASA formula of the time.

We have to take into account that emulsions were much thicker then. For example, the time for D-76 was 20 munites at 65 F.