How would I use the posted times for Ilford developers and D-76 to infer a good developing time for Rodinal or PC-TEA? (the developers I have on hand).
For those of us who are new.... How would I do that? Let's take Kentmere 200 as a concrete example that I care about. How would I use the posted times for Ilford developers and D-76 to infer a good developing time for Rodinal or PC-TEA? (the developers I have on hand).
What @koraks said. Users are not going to get identical results for all films from this...but may well get *acceptable* results. We've previously discussed how a lot of the younger people coming to film photography do not process their own films, even B&W. This might be seen as less intimidating than charts with different times, concentrations and so on. "One size fits all" is perhaps a good starting place. Additionally these newbies will mostly be scanning negatives and not printing in a darkroom which might mean that variations in properties different films are less worrisome.
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Not something I am interested in but I can see it has a place.
If I leave the film in the bath for 4 minutes instead of 3 minutes, my understanding is that nothing's going to change.
Since it purports to be full speed, NOT pushed speed I suspect it is much like any divided developer, for example the Thornton Divided MQ developer, or any number of other divided D-76 or D-23 concoctions. I suspect that the "one time for all films" statement might be a bit inaccurate, when I use the Thornton brew, I give slow films 3 minutes in each bath, medium speed (100-125) films 4 minutes, and 400 speed films 5 minutes, per bath and am perfectly happy with the results. Try it and see, then report back. Something new is always good and supporting newer companies also good.
So your development time only depends on the film ISO and not the particulars of the film?
Look, there's no need to complicate things. Buy any often-used developer, like D76. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations when processing your film. This will get good negatives provided you expose the film right (i.e. you know how to meter). There's really nothing more to it than this.
Thanks.
For the "you know how to meter" part: I'm just going to rely on the camera's light meter. I figure that's enough to get acceptable results for a hobbyist.
I'm just going to rely on the camera's light meter.
It is - as long as you are careful where you are pointing the camera when you take the reading. In most cases, you can basically point and shoot. When there are big areas of extra shadows or highlights in view, a bit of adjustment is in order.
So "expose for the shadows" translates to "when you see big areas of extra shadows, overexpose a little".
Often given advice: don't waste your time; there is no silver bullet.Earlier I said I wasn't planning to buy it, but I've been going back and forth on that. Even though I already have other B&W developers, I am quite tempted to grab Flic Film's Diafine and give it a try.
After 20 years of experience in "developer construction", it is time to break new ground.
Modesty and noble restraint are not appropriate, when others bang on the drum and blow the horn, the flute is not heard: *******, my best positive developer and thus probably the best warm tone developer in the world.
For those of us who are new.... How would I do that? Let's take Kentmere 200 as a concrete example that I care about. How would I use the posted times for Ilford developers and D-76 to infer a good developing time for Rodinal or PC-TEA? (the developers I have on hand).
I don't want to lose a roll. Photography is a hobby for me, but that doesn't mean that I'm ok losing a week's worth of pictures because a roll was over or under developed.
Keep in mind that the meter is also aiming to average the light to a middle grey of 18% reflectance. That's an "average" scene. If your subject is snow for example, you don't want that rendered grey and the meter will typically underexpose by about 2 stops. The opposite happens if you scene is mainly dark to black.Thanks.
For the "you know how to meter" part: I'm just going to rely on the camera's light meter. I figure that's enough to get acceptable results for a hobbyist.
Yup. in THEORY all emulsions will take up all the developer A that they can in 3 minutes and will use the activator in developer B as it is required. In THEORY. In PRACTICE, and with the type of scenes I shoot on a roll, it probably averages out, but might be a total mess sensitometrically. I don't shoot Sensitometry or Control Strips all the time, in fact only rarely, but that is a lot higher number than never. And in reality, all (almost all) divided developers do a lot of their developing in the first, Part A bath, and continue to process the higher exposure values in the Part B bath, but only until the Part A in the highlight areas is "used up" at which point the lower values are still processing. Farber and Vestal both experimented with divided processing using straight D-76 for their Part A and a simple Part B bath that could be a borax, metaborate, or a carbonate solution of 8-10%. As I said earlier, kudos to any relatively new company that takes another swing at a divided developer (or anything else darkroom chemistry related). The Thorton MQ divided developer, which I like, does something similar but his Part A is much closer to D-23 than D-76.No. As always, it depends on physical emulsion structure, degree of hardening of the gelatin, aspect ratio and overall geometry of the grain etc - all parameters that as a user you generally don't know. There are no hard & fast rules.
Look, there's no need to complicate things. Buy any often-used developer, like D76. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations when processing your film. This will get good negatives provided you expose the film right (i.e. you know how to meter). There's really nothing more to it than this.
Thanks.
For the "you know how to meter" part: I'm just going to rely on the camera's light meter. I figure that's enough to get acceptable results for a hobbyist.
Look at developing times for other films in both D-76/ID-11 and your Rodinal or PC-TEA. If Rodinal 1:50 is pretty consistently, say, 50% longer than D-76 stock, then take whatever time Ilford gives for K200 in ID-11 or D-76 stock and add 50%. That may not be perfect, but you'll get printable/scannable negatives and you can adjust your time for the next roll if you want a little more or less contrast (10% more or less makes a visible difference, 20% is about a one stop push or pull).
If you want to waste a couple frames use the camera's built in meter take a few photos of an "all white" subject, and an all dark subject shoot these sequentially. Painted building will work well. When you look at the negatives the dark and the light building will look alike.
First rule of film photography is relax and go shoot.
I'm happy to waste a few frames to experiment. But I'm confused. How can an all-white subject look the same as an all-black subject?
It's well-known that PC-TEA 1:50 is equivalent to D-76 1:1
However, for a responsible brand, reliable results shouldn't require testing. Harman/Ilford provides parameters for all their major developers in documentation. Purchasing a well-known developer from a major brand, such as Kodak D-76 powder or HC110 or their Ilford equivalent, follow the documentation, you won't have to worry about these issues anymore......
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