HC-110; love it or hate it?

[jim appleyard]

I never liked the stuff. Too thick. Odd dilutions. Tends to blow out highlights. Why use a liquid if you have to mix it twice? Nope. Rodinal or Ilford DD-X for me.

Mix it twice? Rusty, old man, I'm afraid I don't follow.

 

[JHannon]

Mix it twice? Rusty, old man, I'm afraid I don't follow.

I think he is referring to mixing the stock solution, and then the working solutions from the stock solution. Like some of the others, I just measure out direct from the bottle (Dil E 1+47) as a one shot.

 

[jim appleyard]

Ahhh, of course.

 

[JG Motamedi]

In the 1980s I used it with 5x7 Tri-X, and it worked fine. Twenty years later I find those negs without much sharpness, edge, or local contrast. I don't know if I should blame it on the developer or my poor processing skills.

I did use it in an interesting way: Rather than vary the time I changed dilution to affect contrast. I can't recall any of the details other than that N was 1:31. Anybody ever heard of this? Stephen Shore suggested it, and as I recall it worked pretty well.

 

[smieglitz]

Yes Jason. Apparently they did this at Maine Photographic Workshops in some courses. I picked up their method from workshop handbooks they sold and I used it in that fashion for many years to the exclusion of all other developers.

My development time is 6 minutes at 68F for everything though dilutions may run from 1+9 to 1+39. Normal with TMAX 400 happens around 1+24 for me.

The stock solution is mixed 1+9 and extra water gives the working dilutions. I used to break them down into additions of 5 parts (i.e., 1+9, 1+14, 1+19, 1+24, 1+29, etc.)

Works for me and I enjoy the shorter times and increased flexibility with that developer.

Joe

 

[JG Motamedi]

Thanks Joe. It is nice to know where the method came from. I was actually thinking about it yesterday, wondering where those notebooks were. Perhaps some day I will try it again, but for the moment I am happy with Mytol.

jason

... Apparently they did this at Maine Photographic Workshops in some courses ...

 

[Timothy]

I use mostly HC110 mixed 1:200 with a pinch of Sodium Ascorbate and a little Borax added. I think that the results are exquisite. I work only with 4x5 and do all of my proccessing in trays with a slosher. Nominal times are 20 mins and there is almost no agitation at all. The highlights are great and there is almost no grain, and shadow detail is amazing.

 

[cao]

This finds me curious about the formats shot by those enthusiastic about HC-110. It was the first developer I used, and I generally hate it for 35mm. I use XTOL as my general purpose developer for small and medium format, but perhaps with large format negatives, the grain isn't an issue. My first 35mm 400TX in HC-110 more or less put me off the stuff, but I've used it when there was no other choice. Assuming one wants assertive grain, what is the benefit of HC-110 over say Rodinal.

 

[Wilcoxson David L.]

I usually use it in dil B, but depending on how I feel at the moment, will use dil H. I always mix for one shot, direct from the bottle use. I like the convienence and I dislike mixing powders. It works well for me, so, I'm in the love it camp.

 

[Wilcoxson David L.]

I failed to mention, I use it mostly on 4x5 HP5+. I've used it on Tri-x and HP5+ on other formats, but I really like it best with 4x5.