Liquid or powder chemicals?

Petzi · Nov 7, 2006

Do you prefer liquid or powder chemicals? Please let me know why.

Markok765 · Nov 7, 2006

Liquid for everything but film developer.
I like Xtol, it is easy to mix up.
Rodinal is also extremely good for pushing(minimal agitation)

jim appleyard · Nov 7, 2006

Both actually. I do like to mix homebrew devs from scratch, but Rodinal is so cheap that I'm going to go back to buying it as it is.

I use TF-3 fix, a hybrid; Sod. Thio as a liquid and then the metaborate and sulfite as powders.

Do I not count because I do both?

Ole · Nov 7, 2006

If I buy, it's liquids. If I mix my own, it's from powders. Why buy powder mixes when I have all the ingredients? The only reason I have for buying chemicals is for convenience (or because the deal is just too good to pass up, like the recent pallet of Ilford fixer we bought here in Norway).

Tom Hoskinson · Nov 7, 2006

jim appleyard said:
Both actually. I do like to mix homebrew devs from scratch, but Rodinal is so cheap that I'm going to go back to buying it as it is.

I use TF-3 fix, a hybrid; Sod. Thio as a liquid and then the metaborate and sulfite as powders.

Do I not count because I do both?

Sodium Thiosulfate is most commonly available as a dry chemical.

Ammonium Thiosulfate is available in both forms (liquid and dry chemical). I prefer to use it in the liquid (60% solution) form.

jim appleyard · Nov 7, 2006

Duh! I meant ammon. thio. As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon!"

BWGirl · Nov 7, 2006

Liquid chemicals... I had a chemistry teacher waaaaaayyyy back when who begged me to never do anything involving mixing chemicals... might have had something to do with the acid spills or maybe it was the small localized explosion in the lab... not really sure...

Dave Starr · Nov 7, 2006

Powder, since I mix my own.

Lowell Huff · Nov 7, 2006

liquids are better

Liquid formulas, as a rule, are much more sophisticated in design and much more capable of dealing with the variables of film development. They can vary in dilution, contrast and development criteria. Most importantly, they also can be aloquated.

Mick Fagan · Nov 7, 2006

Powder, I mix my own.

ricksplace · Nov 7, 2006

Doesn't really matter. Whatever I can get up here, I use.
d76 and dektol from powder, HC110 and Rodinal liquid. Rapid fix liquid, Kodak fixer powder. Indicator stop bath liquid.

raucousimages · Nov 7, 2006

I only care about what it does, not what form it comes in.

Flotsam · Nov 8, 2006

Liquid for stop, fix, perma wash and flo.
But I enjoy the Zen of slowly stirring and watching the whirlpool and the powder dissolving. Dektol, Xtol, D-76.

marcsv · Nov 8, 2006

I've fallen in love with home brews so powder

rogueish · Nov 8, 2006

I use liquids (all Ilford) because of my current setup. Living in a condo without a dedicated darkroom (read bathrom), I look for ease and convience.

arigram · Nov 8, 2006

Liquid if I can find them on the shelf of my local store, powder if I need to order them from abroad.

André E.C. · Nov 8, 2006

I prefer the convenience of liquid developers, but I have used powder also.

Cheers

André

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Nov 8, 2006

Liquid if I can, really just for convenience. I don't really trust myself with powdered chemicals, I've caused a few small explosions and fires in various ways with computers, I'd rather start off positively with chemicals when I do.

Neal · Nov 8, 2006

Dear Petzi,

If I like a product that comes in powder form, I will deal with the difficulties of mixing.

Neal Wydra

eclarke · Nov 8, 2006

marcsv said:
I've fallen in love with home brews so powder

Ditto..ec

pentaxuser · Nov 8, 2006

Powder keeps longer. It's a pity that some powders such as Perceptol can't be mixed to make smaller quantities. I have had a couple of bad experiences with liquid colour chems going bad long before I could use them although to be fair no such problem experienced with B&W chems.

Very happy with keeping qualities of Nova and Ilford paper developer and fix.

pentaxuser

jim appleyard · Nov 8, 2006

pentaxuser said:
Powder keeps longer. It's a pity that some powders such as Perceptol can't be mixed to make smaller quantities. I have had a couple of bad experiences with liquid colour chems going bad long before I could use them although to be fair no such problem experienced with B&W chems.

Very happy with keeping qualities of Nova and Ilford paper developer and fix.

pentaxuser

Perceptol is rumored to be very much like Kodak's Microdol-X. There is a recipe for a homebrew version of Mic-X in Anchell & Troop's "The Film Dev. Cookbook". If you don't have the book, PM me and I'll pass it along to you.

It might also be in the chem section here.

fschifano · Nov 8, 2006

Powder exclusively unless I can't get what I want in that form. It's cheaper and mixing stuff up is not a problem.

Jim Noel · Nov 8, 2006

I normally use only powdered chemistry because of keeping qualities. Also, most of my chemistry I mix from raw chemicals which I purchase in reasonably large quantities.

Byron Worthen · Nov 8, 2006

I use liquid concentrate for film developer (T-Max RS for my T-Max film), stop, selenium toner, Permawash. I use powder for paper developer (Dektol), fixer (PF 24 for paper, Kodak for film).

My question is, why is it impossible to find a liquid concentrate sodium thiosulfate-based, non-rapid fixer? I don't really like mixing fixer, but I prefer not to use ammonium-based or rapid fixers for my prints, which are all toned in selenium toner.

Liquid or powder chemicals?

Which do you prefer?

Liquid chemicals

Powder chemicals

Don't care

Petzi

Markok765

jim appleyard

Ole

Moderator

Tom Hoskinson

jim appleyard

BWGirl

Dave Starr

Lowell Huff

Mick Fagan

ricksplace

raucousimages

Flotsam

marcsv

rogueish

arigram

André E.C.

Alex Bishop-Thorpe

Neal

eclarke

pentaxuser

jim appleyard

fschifano

Jim Noel

Byron Worthen

Liquid or powder chemicals?

Which do you prefer?

Liquid chemicals

Powder chemicals

Don't care

Moderator

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