Ilfosol 3?

[brofkand]

I am looking for a liquid film developer that would be more economical and longer-lasting than D-76 powder.

I have and love Rodinal, it is my go to developer for most of my film. But there are films that don't respond well to Rodinal, or where the high acutance makes the grain too apparent.

I have stumbled upon Ilfosol 3. Has anyone used it? What films does it work particularly well with? Any opinions?

Thanks.

 

[naeroscatu]

HC-110 comes as a super concentrated syrup. Long lasting and as good as D-76. No idea of Ilfosol, never used it.

 

[Tony-S]

I've used it with Acros, Deltas 100 and 400, and Pan F+ and it works fine. It will oxidize withing a few months after you open it, though.

 

[cowanw]

I pour it into smaller containers, full up ( actually 25cc brown bottles I get at work) Each is good for 80 sq inches of film. Never had it go bad yet. Has finally given me the contrast and consistancy I need.

 

[John Shriver]

I've had open bottles of Ilford DD-X last up to a year. More expensive than Ilfosol 3. If money is an issue, HC110 is the way to go, it lasts aeons.

 

[abate cruento]

+1 for HC-110, or if you prefer a more liquid one, you can point at Ilfotec LC 29

 

[filmamigo]

I found it a good match for the Delta films. Moderate contrast, smooth grain.

 

[sandermarijn]

Ilfosol 3 is my third most used developer (after Rodinal and Xtol). It's very sharp and gives excellent tones. My favourite combo is with HP5+, so it's not just for slower films. Also excellent for Pan F+.

Ilfosol 3 is the replacement of Ilfosol S. Ilfosol S suffered from sudden death, Ilfosol 3 definitely does not and keeps very long in fully filled bottles (I've gone as fas as two years once, by accident). Ilfosol 3 and Ilfosol S give identical results in my experience.

 

[Ottrdaemmerung]

I personally don't care for Ilfosol 3. For economy I'd join the chorus of recommendations for HC-110: amazing stuff, even Shanghai film looks phenomenal in it. Right now for T-grained films I'm loving DD-X, though it's more costly, but I'm hoping to start experimenting with XTOL (and replenishing it) soon.

 

[winger]

I'm not a huge fan of Ilfosol 3 because its times are usually shorter than those for Ilfosol S (which I loved). While it might work well for some films, I used it with Acros and the time was so short that it contributed to uneven developing (IMO). I've switched to DDX and I'm still considering if I might try something else.

 

[rphenning]

I love ilfosol 3, switched from d76. It gives me more grey tones and is very sharp when used with finer grained films.

 

[steven_e007]

Ilfosol S was a great developer - one of my favourites and excellent with FP4+. It had one really bad point, as has been mentioned, which was short life and sudden death after being left in a part used bottle.

Ilfosol 3 is an 'improvement' in that it is supposed to last longer, but they only sell it in bottles twice the size!
Kind of two steps forward and one step back, I think...

I bought a bottle, used about a quarter (I'm an 'intermittent photographer' - the hobby goes on the backburner for months at a time) and when I came to it again... it had gone off. It probably lasted longer than Ilfosol S, but I had hoped it would last a lot longer, which it didn't... I like the previous posters 'decant into smaller bottles' idea. You could also add marbles to exclude the air (I wished I'd tried that) - or use that can of nitrogen - but all extra effort. If you are shooting a lot of film regularly it is great. If like me you are a more intermittent shooter - there are other developers which last longer.

 

[Rick A]

I bottle all my D-76 in 250ml bottles after mixing, so far I've had it last over a year and still be fresh as the day it was mixed. Formulary sells a liquid version of D-76, haven't tried it, though it sounds interresting. I also like Pyrocat-HD for most of my films, economical and extremely long lasting.

 

[bsdunek]

I like Ilfosol 3 too. The convience of mixing what you need to use is nice. If developing times are too short, use one of the higher dilutions. I use marbles in the bottle to reduce the amount of air. The problem comes when it's near the end of the bottle. The marbles want to pour out faster than the developer.
Recently I tried Ilford Perceptol, and also like it. I store it in eight ounce bottles which are diluted 1:1 for use.

 

[wblynch]

I didn't like Ilfosol-3. Fomapan comes out very grainy and the tonality did not please me. I didn't use it much and the 2/3 full bottle was unusable at 6 months.

I got very pleasing results with D76 but again, it only lasted about 6 months in a partially used bottle.

My happiest results so far are with HC-110 and Clayton's F76+ (a liquid D76-like developer also sold as Freestyle's Arista Premium Liquid). My Clayton is about 1 year old and I just used it this morning to get great development of some Neopan 400.

 

[TareqPhoto]

I like Ilfosol 3 and i use it mostly with slow film up to 125-200, i can use it for 400 but as long it says that it is best for slow films then i follow that and use it for slow film, i tested it with Pan F+, FP4+, TMAX 100 and Acros 100, all of those films came out great nice with Ilfosol 3, even better than D-76 dev to me.

 

[TareqPhoto]

I still have a bottle of Ilfosol 3 from previous session, i think it was almost 1 year or a bit over, not sure if it is still working, in all cases it has few amount, maybe less than 200ml or around, so i can dilute that for 1:14[or better to write 1+14?], but not sure if it is still working or dead already, same with Rapid Fixer, there is little remains in the bottle, i stopped to develop about 6 months ago and those were opened first time over 12 months ago, i have new bottle of Ilfosol 3, will not open until i will have bunch of films to develop.