Name the developers have you tried?

Thomas Bertilsson · Apr 9, 2007

For film I have used extensively:

Rodinal at high dilutions (was my only developer for my first three years)
FA-1027 (love it, used it exclusively for a year)
Pyrocat-HD and Pyrocat-MC (very similar, second one in glycol for keeping)

I have also dabbled with Diafine, Caffenol, Ilford DD-X, Ilford ID-11, and Sprint, but decided against them in favor of Pyrocat. I love the Pyrocat. So versatile. Works great with (unfortunately) APX400.

For paper I have a love affair with:
Ansco 130
Kodak Dektol (I always come back to this for some reason)
VersaPrint II (glycin developer similar to Ansco 130)
Edwal Ultra Black (love it!)

My latest endeavor is Fotospeed LD20 lith developer which I fully intend on making a staple bottle on my chemistry shelf.
Others I've tried are Ilford Multigrade, Ilford Bromophen, various incarnations of Kodak chemistry such as Selectol Soft...

I found that a couple of developers give me choice, too many gives me confusion and make matters complicated, but most importantly a bazillion choices gets in the way of making photographs for me. So I use Pyrocat MC almost exclusively, and a couple of different print developers.

Now please don't start a discussion on films and papers. I'm all over the map there...

- Thomas

aldevo · Apr 9, 2007

Thomas Bertilsson said:
For film I have used extensively:

Rodinal at high dilutions (was my only developer for my first three years)
FA-1027 (love it, used it exclusively for a year)
Pyrocat-HD and Pyrocat-MC (very similar, second one in glycol for keeping)

I have also dabbled with Diafine, Caffenol, Ilford DD-X, Ilford ID-11, and Sprint, but decided against them in favor of Pyrocat. I love the Pyrocat. So versatile. Works great with (unfortunately) APX400.

For paper I have a love affair with:
Ansco 130
Kodak Dektol (I always come back to this for some reason)
VersaPrint II (glycin developer similar to Ansco 130)
Edwal Ultra Black (love it!)

My latest endeavor is Fotospeed LD20 lith developer which I fully intend on making a staple bottle on my chemistry shelf.
Others I've tried are Ilford Multigrade, Ilford Bromophen, various incarnations of Kodak chemistry such as Selectol Soft...

I found that a couple of developers give me choice, too many gives me confusion and make matters complicated, but most importantly a bazillion choices gets in the way of making photographs for me. So I use Pyrocat MC almost exclusively, and a couple of different print developers.

Now please don't start a discussion on films and papers. I'm all over the map there...

- Thomas

Agreed - APX 400 and Pryocat-MC are a stunning combination.

And there were those who suggested that staining developers should not be used with Agfa APX films...

nworth · Apr 10, 2007

Over 60 years, there have been a lot of them. They started with Kodak Universal MQ packets. (I think I also tried the Ansco equivalent, but not often.) An overall constant has been Kodak D-76, which has been my principal developer for the last 37 years. In college (in the 50s), I also used D-50 and DK-60a and even Dektol for large format and the Ethol UFG, FX1, some FR compensating developer, and probably a few other things for 35mm. Later I had a fit of using FG-7, mostly for MF. I also tried FX-2, Beutler, D-23 and Microdol-X for 35mm. Lately I've used Rodinal and Pyrocat-HD from time to time with MF and LF (both excellent developers) and HC-110 and FX-37 for 35mm and MF (also excellent). I know I've experimented with at least another dozen more, but what I've listed is what I've used a fair amount of. In the end, I seem to always go back to D-76, which is simply a phenomnenol developer.

phaedrus · Apr 10, 2007

Up until it was discontinued, I used Artdol to soup my Acros in, now I'm trying (and liking) Prescysol.
In the past, it was Rodinal for everything. That were school darkroom days long gone, obviously.
Good day, Christoph

Snapshot · Apr 10, 2007

For for film developing I've used...

Rodinal
XTOL
T-Max
Diafine

For print developing I've used...

Ilford Multigrade

I'm planning on experimenting with other developers in the near futre but my experience has been fairly limited.

PhotoJim · Apr 10, 2007

Distant past:

ID-11
Packaged D-76
Ilfosol S
T-Max
XTOL (not that distant but not in a year or two)

Current:

PMK
D-76 (from scratch)
Rodinal

Experimenting with:

Pyrocat HD

For prints: I've tried a bunch but I commonly use Ansco 130 (from scratch) and Bromophen, and occasionally Dektol. I am experimenting with other scratch-made developers.

aldevo · Apr 10, 2007

nworth said:
Over 60 years, there have been a lot of them. They started with Kodak Universal MQ packets. (I think I also tried the Ansco equivalent, but not often.) An overall constant has been Kodak D-76, which has been my principal developer for the last 37 years. In college (in the 50s), I also used D-50 and DK-60a and even Dektol for large format and the Ethol UFG, FX1, some FR compensating developer, and probably a few other things for 35mm. Later I had a fit of using FG-7, mostly for MF. I also tried FX-2, Beutler, D-23 and Microdol-X for 35mm. Lately I've used Rodinal and Pyrocat-HD from time to time with MF and LF (both excellent developers) and HC-110 and FX-37 for 35mm and MF (also excellent). I know I've experimented with at least another dozen more, but what I've listed is what I've used a fair amount of. In the end, I seem to always go back to D-76, which is simply a phenomnenol developer.

I used to use FG-7 quite a bit with MF and 35mm films. In fact, it was the first B&W film developer I ever used and I continued to use it until about a year ago. A very nicely behaved developer - in fact it was the easiest PQ developer I've used as far as controlling highlights.

Ultimately, I went to Gainer's PC-TEA. It's pretty similar to FG-7, has great shelf life (FG-7 liked to go dead on me regardless of how I stored it) and I can mix it myself. It also has low toxicity (a nice feature when you are tyring to come to grips with tray development of sheet films)

Cheap, too, though FG-7 is no slouch in the affordability department.

I think people who start with D-76 and stick with it are the wisest of all of us. And I continue to believe that despite settling on developers other than D-76.

htmlguru4242 · Apr 10, 2007

I usually use D-76 or HC-110 for films, and either D-76 or Dektol for paper.

For copy films used pictorally, I use a slightly modified version of Caffenol LC+C

I occasionally use Microphen and TMax RS.

For color work, I use Patterson (Photocolor) C-41 Dev.

I've also tried rodinal, ID-11 and XTOL.

radiantdarkroom · Apr 10, 2007

Okay see if can Remember everything:

D19
D76
D50
Xtol
Microdol
Rodinal
Ilfosol S
ID 11
TEChnodol
Tmax
Tmax RS
HC110
Dektol (used on film meant for paper)
FG-7

Dave Krueger · Apr 10, 2007

It's interesting to read what people have switched from and to. One would assume they view their current favorites as being better than the developers they used to use...

aldevo · Apr 11, 2007

Dave Krueger said:
It's interesting to read what people have switched from and to. One would assume they view their current favorites as being better than the developers they used to use...

Try enough developers and they all start looking alike after a while This should be taken as a positive sign, actually.

Well, maybe that's not entirely true. I do think that the latest generation of staining developers have some real advantages under certain cirumstances. Some might disagree.

I'm also glad that all of the developers I'm using (DD-X excepted) have known formulas, are economical, have excellent shelf life, and are available as liquid concentrates. I'm happy with the end results, too.

P C Headland · Apr 11, 2007

Started off with Rodinal 1+100 with 120, and a couple of films went in 1+50.

Then added Diafine for "winter TriX", i.e. when wanting to shoot a higher speed film, in which case I shoot TriX at 1000.

Got a cheap bottle of FG7 that I experimented with and quite liked, but so so readily available here.

Since coming back to NZ, I decided to try a homebrew, something that was fairly cheap to make, lasted a long time and was relatively low in toxicity. So, I brewed up some of Mr Gainer's PC-TEA. Lovely developer!

What I'll stick with:
- Rodinal: Efke 25 and Rodinal are a lovely combination
- Diafine: Expressly for TriX at 1000 and Neopan at 650
- PC-TEA: For everything else.

So far I've only tried shooting at box speed with PC-TEA, but some time I must see how well it works when pushing films. I may try pushing TriX, and if the results are good, maybe I won't need the Diafine.

hka · Apr 11, 2007

In the past I used always
Promicrol from May & Baker

Nowadays I use:
ID 11 for FP4+
DD-X for HP5+
T-Max for T-max
Pyrocat (modified bij Jed Freudenthal) for landscapes 4x5"

Les succesfull trials with:
Ilfosol S
Rodinal
HRX-Super

ijsbeer · Apr 11, 2007

in the past i used some ilfosol and lc29 from ilford to soup my film. Now I use only X-tol for my fp4+ and hp5+. I've got some 30+ years old acufine cans that I will experiment with soon.

Not that interested in "testing" with other developers. More in developing my photograpic view and taking photograps.

Cheers.
ijsbeer

Jerevan · Apr 11, 2007

Not much at all... never was much of a tester.

In the past:
Tmax RS (4x5 Tmax, beautiful stuff)

What I stick with now:
Rodinal (mostly Tri-X)
Neofin Blau (Efke 100 and Plus-X, and looking forward to trying Pan F+)

brass majestic · Apr 15, 2007

For many years now have been using FG-7 with Tri-X rated at 800 - 1200-ASA. The mix is 1:15 with added sodium sulfite. Or 1 oz FG-7 : 15 oz water
w/45 grams of sodium sulfite added for a total 16 oz solution. About 9 m/72 d.
The sulfite reduces the grain. I get good shadow detail and very printable highs.
brass

Steve Smith · Apr 15, 2007

For film: Ilford LC-29

For paper: Ilford Multigrade developer.

I used to use Ilfosol S (still waiting for Ilfosol 3) and have used Caffenol once with good results.

Steve.

Uncle Bill · Apr 15, 2007

I am a regular user of HC110, D-76/ID-11 and Rodinal.

I have dabbled with Ilfosil S but I have held off using it recently due to the impending change in formulation.

I would like to try Perceptol and Microphen at some point.

removed account4 · May 9, 2021

---BUMP----

abruzzi · May 9, 2021

thats an old bump, but I've mostly used pre-made devlopers--rodinal, xtol, d67, and hc110. I've tried caffenol, but my results have been all over the map from WAY over developed to WAY under developed.

Michel Hardy-Vallée · May 9, 2021

I was under the impression that I had tried a boatload of different developers. Doing this exercise made me realize I did not in fact try everything under the sun. Not a bad thing at all! I may have tried out more films than I have tried developers.

What I'm using right now:
DK-50 1+1 for HP5+ in 120
Agfa 72 glycin developer 1+19 for FP4+ in 120
Either XTOL / D-76 / Agfa 17 for 400TX in 35mm, all undiluted

Stuff I have used regularly before, or that I found satifsying
HC-110b or h
Rodinal 1+50 (snif, Agfa APX 100)
D-96 for Kodak Double-X

Stuff I have tried once or twice, but did not pursue
Acufine
The special developer for Adox CMS 20
Agfa 40
Agfa 47 / Kodak D-61a
Agfa 48M
Ilford Perceptol

JensH · May 9, 2021

Hi,

for 4x5" in a Jobo 3010 (rotation):
D76
Pyrocat, actually the Windisch compensating formula.

For 120:
Rodinal
Moersch MZB (two bath), great with PanF+...
Pyrocat-Windisch
Rollei/Spur ATP DC/AB2 for the Rollei ATP 1.1 120 I recently found in the freezer...

For paper:
Moersch SE4 Neutral
Tetenal Centrabrom (a low contrast dev.)

Best
Jens

MattKing · May 9, 2021

The developer in a Kodak Tri-Chem pack - at the very beginning.
There is some D-76 and/or ID-11 in the mists of history and a shared darkroom.
Microdol - X
I may have used a bottle of Versotol at one time in my youth - recall having a bottle.
And I used a bit of Rodinal a long time ago.
More currently:
HC-110 dil B, Dil H and 1 + 49. I also used a lot of dil B and 1 + 49 in a replenishment regime, using the replenishment instructions for dil E.
Currently:
Replenished X-Tol, and a small amount of stock X-Tol used one shot.

Wallendo · May 9, 2021

When I first started developing, I used D-76. I also used a little ID-11 since it came in a 1 liter size.
I later switched to L-110 (freestyle's HC-110 clone). I followed this with real HC-110 - I didn't notice any difference in the negatives. The reason for switching from D76 was that concentrated liquid developers fit better into my developing style than mixing up a gallon at a time.
I also used Rodinal (originally the Adinal brand) since Foma doesn't recommend HC-110 for Fomapan 100.
I recently have switched to XTOL 1+1 for most of my development, although at my vacation home where I develop lesser amounts of film, I use either L-110 or Rodinal. (I use L-110 instead of HC-110 since this is sold in smaller bottles than HC-110.

Maris · May 9, 2021

Xtol and Dektol for the last 15 years or so. In the past I've used ID-11, DA-163, and HC-110.
Maybe because I shoot large format and roll film I find the choice of developer is remarkably irrelevant.
Even developing time is not particularly critical provided it is enough. Then I can use paper grades to translate negative densities into print tones.

Name the developers have you tried?

Thomas Bertilsson

aldevo

nworth

phaedrus

Snapshot

PhotoJim

aldevo

htmlguru4242

radiantdarkroom

Dave Krueger

aldevo

P C Headland

hka

ijsbeer

Jerevan

brass majestic

Steve Smith

Uncle Bill

removed account4

abruzzi

Michel Hardy-Vallée

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JensH

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Name the developers have you tried?

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