ID II development times

[Bobby Brewster]

Hi folks,

I have a basic question here. I have developed 4 films in IDII and as instructed by Ilford I made the stock, decanted to a bottle and used the suggested amount in my developing tank and used the stock to develop each one. After each film I returned the used developer to the stock bottle. Next time I increased the development time. It seemed to me that Ilford suggest increasing by 10% each time you re-use this solution and so I increased film no 2 ( HP5 ) by 10% of the recommended time. So far so good, films 3 and 4 I increased their recommended development time by 20% and 30% respectively. I found that films 3 was overexposed and film 4 was even more overexposed and I have a horrible feeling I've misunderstood Ilford's recommendations. The last film should have had a development time of 9.30 mins and I gave it 12.20.

Please could you explain to me what I should have done?

Thank you for your help.

 

[MattKing]

I doubt you mean over-exposed.
Do you mean over-developed?
Show us a digital photo of the negatives themselves, backlit and framed so that the entire negative is visible including the edge printing and space between the frames.
Even better, show us a digital photo with examples of each roll - identified appropriately - all in the same backlit shot.
We can then compare your results.

 

[Bobby Brewster]

I doubt you mean over-exposed.
Do you mean over-developed?
Show us a digital photo of the negatives themselves, backlit and framed so that the entire negative is visible including the edge printing and space between the frames.
Even better, show us a digital photo with examples of each roll - identified appropriately - all in the same backlit shot.
We can then compare your results.

It is more likely that they are over-developed, yes although it might not be that.

First two rolls are on an ancient TLR and I was just taking a couple of rolls to see if it was leaking light or anything and they seem to be all right; well all right-ish given that I was guesstimating some of the exposures and also using an actual light meter for others.

The next two rolls, are on 35mm film and on an old SLR camera I had bought on auction to get the (Mamiya) lens. I'm keeping an eye out for a 35mm SLR but in the meantime I was trying some film to get my hand in at developing and these are the first 35mm rolls I've processed.They both seem either overexposed or at least too bright to my untrained eye. It might be the meter I suppose and they might be overexposed? On the other hand it is likely to be.

I will sort out some pics shortly but I admit I haven't been too methodical in my approach so it might help or not. In any case, it would be a help to me if someone could confirm or refute that have understood the development times that Ilford suggest in my outline above. Can anyone maybe just tell me if I've timed development the correct way or not?

 

[MattKing]

I expect you are asking about this part of the datasheet:

Yes, you seem to have interpreted it right.
If your first film has a development time of 10 minutes.
2nd = 11 minutes (+10%)
3rd = 12 minutes (+20%)
4th = 13 minutes (+30%)
etc.
HOWEVER:
The scenario you describe means that you really can't come to any particular conclusion about your results so far.
You may very well be seeing issues with erratic exposure, not development.

 

[Bobby Brewster]

I expect you are asking about this part of the datasheet:
View attachment 384599

Yes, you seem to have interpreted it right.
If your first film has a development time of 10 minutes.
2nd = 11 minutes (+10%)
3rd = 12 minutes (+20%)
4th = 13 minutes (+30%)
etc.
HOWEVER:
The scenario you describe means that you really can't come to any particular conclusion about your results so far.
You may very well be seeing issues with erratic exposure, not development.

Thank you. There’s the bit. At least that part of the puzzle is solved. I know that I should be more disciplined in my approach. Another lesson learned. I will see how my next roll turns out and keep some notes. If I have any issues I will post images with details of my methodology.

I will post a couple of samples of the two rolls above for comments as to if they are overdeveloped or not.

 

[MattKing]

I know that I should be more disciplined in my approach. Another lesson learned.

While that would be a good idea, if the cameras you are using make it difficult to be consistent or to analyze things with rigour, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself and take good pictures.
It just means that it is difficult to come to conclusions about other parts of the process when analyzing results.
There is a tendency on sites like this to reach conclusions quicker than might be wise, based on incomplete info.
Many of the most argumentative discussions here come from that.

 

[cmacd123]

and the recomendation does say to use ONE liter of developer, and pour the used developer back and mix before the second. if you are say using 5 liters size of developer, and pouring back the used developer, the extra 4 liters will act to maintain the strenth of the total solution more than if you were just using the 1 liter mentioned in the Data sheet.

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

You will get repeatable results simply diluting the developer 1+1 and discarding after one use only.

If you are looking for economy, look towards a long life concentrated developer like Ilfotec HC or HC110 and use them one-shot.
Reusable stock solutions without replenishment are too hit or miss to get consistent results.