how many times can i reuse the same developer?

[Dikaiosune01]

Im still fairly new to the darkroom. I have about two dozen rolls of 135 film developed under my belt. Each developed one at a time.

I recently purchased a paterson 3 reel tank that i will use for developing 4x5 film in. I plan to develop 4-6 sheets at a time. Also after my vacation, i have a lot of film i need to develop, about 50 sheets.

My question is, after developing and hanging 4 sheets of film, can i immediately reuse the developer for a second set? Will i need to increase the development time? Will i need to test this myaelf?

Additional information
film, hp5 400
developer, lc29. i plan on switching to ddx when the current developer is all gone

thanks

 

[hpulley]

LC29 I don't use but it is based on HC which can be reused. Check the data sheet to see if it can be used replenished or non-replenished. DD-X has a non-replenish schedule for using 1L of stock up to 10 times by increasing dev time with each roll for example. The fact sheets are on Ilford's web page.

 

[Dikaiosune01]

Thanks. Im looking at the data sheets now.

However my thinking is a little different. And possibly quite wrong. What im thinking is that, if the developer can develop 6 sheets or 4 sheets, can the developer be reused after 4 sheets have been developed?

I suppose it is the same situtation with tray processing. How many sheets can be processed before the developer needs to be changed?

 

[hpulley]

4 sheets of 4x5" film (or 1 sheet of 8x10" film) are the same as 1 roll of 120 or 135-36 so the same rules for re-use will apply. It is simply a matter of film to chemical capacity and doesn't really matter if you use a tank or tray. From the Ilford data sheet:

1 litre films/litre
ILFOTEC DD-X 1+4 10
ILFOTEC LC29 1+9 10
ILFOTEC LC29 1+19 5

So a 1L bottle of DD-X will make 5L with the 1+4 dilution and this will do 200 sheets of 4x5" film total. 1.25L will do your 50 sheets from your vacation.

If a series of individual films is being developed in
a spiral tank using either 1 litre of ILFOTEC DD-X
1+4 or ILFOTEC LC29 1+9 and 1+19,
compensate for the loss of developer activity after
developing the first film by increasing the
development time 10% for each successive film...

More details are in the sheets.