Newbie Film & Developer Queries........

Hi All,

I'm still plugging away developing films...i've managed to resist the urge to buy any more cameras (although I have borrowed a mamiya 645 for a week or two!) and have been taking tons of photo's.

This got me thinking about developer and film combinations.

So far I have been using my darkroom gear for the past few weeks and have developed probably half a dozen films and a made a pile of prints that I am pleased with.

I have been using Kodak Tx400 plus one roll of Ilford HP5 film. My darkroom chemistry consists entirely of cheap and cheerful jessops own-brand developer,stop & fixer.

I wanted to know what combinations of film and developer people favour, so that I can try out different combinations get some more experience and see what I like for myself.

I'd would be interested to hear of peoples experience using some of the films from eastern europe and the far east, like Fortepan,Foma & Lucky etc.

I hope that this isn't too broad a question and hasn't been duplicated.

As ever anyhelp appreciated. Cheers

Adam

laudrup said:

I hope that this isn't too broad a question and hasn't been duplicated.

Click to expand...

Adam, I believe your questions cover about 90% of all the activity in the B&W subforum. You will find multiple, often contradictory, answers to all of your questions by reading a few hundred posts here...

Hi Adam,

You're going to get lots of answers with this question. There will probably be no wrong answers, just different ways of doing things for different folks. For my work, I use a variety of films and devs; it depends on what I'm after at that moment.

I do a lot of tripod work at times with slow films: APX 25 (what's left of it) and Pan-F. For these films I usually use Rodinal. Rodinal is not a fine-grain dev, but shows the true grain of the film. It has been called an "honest" dev. You can dilute Rodinal 1+25 to 1+200. I like the 1+50; it's a good compromise. Rodinal seems to bring out all the tones in a negs and maybe that's why so many people use it. Pan-F in medium format souped in Rodinal is a winner!

Although Rodinal can be used for faster films, the image may start to get too grainy for you, but then again, it may not. I've done many a wedding with Tri-X film souped in Rodinal and made 16x20 enlargements. Yes, there is grain, but great tonality. You'll have to decide this one.

For medium speed films, I often go with something like D-76 (there are LOTS of devs out there in this "general purpose" category) because it has a bit of a fine-grain finish to it. For medium speed 35mm, I will use undiluted D-76. For medium format, I'll dilute 1+1.

I don't know Jessup's brand, but if it ain't broke...

The best thing you can do is to pick a film and dev and use it until you master it, then branch out.

You will often hear that a certain film is not good in a certain dev. Sometimes that's true, but more often than not, it's a case of it not being good for THAT person. You are the artist, you'll have to make the final judgement.

Happy shooting.

You are probably going to get as many film-developer suggestions as you do replys. At this point in your photographic experience you should ignore all of them. There are no magical combination no matter what you may hear. What you need to do is to decide what type of film you really need depending on the subjects you photograph. Tri-X is a good choice, it is moderately fine grained, has good latitude and speed. But perhaps you might like something a bit slower and finer grained film like Plus-X of FP4+. Only you can make this decision. Once you have decided on a film then pick a developer that the film manufacturer recommends. Now you are ready to become familiar with this combination. Avoid switching films and developers until you have investigated one combination thoroughly and are confident that you understand it. This is a common mistake where those new to photography constantly try new things and are never really satisfied with their results. Remember the goal is to produce good prints and the actual film used is often incidental.

Tri-x , rodinal 1:200 3 hours stand dev

You're new... so keep things simple for now. You can gradually expand your horizons as you gain experience.

Since you're in England, why not stick with some of the excellent products that Ilford makes in Cheshire? FP-4 Plus is my favourite Ilford film and HP-5 Plus is also excellent. Kodak's equivalents (not identical but similar) are Plus-X and Tri-X. Slower films like FP-4 and Plus-X have finer grain, generally, than faster films like HP-5 and Tri-X.

As for a developer, it's hard to go wrong with Kodak D-76 and Ilford ID-11. These are essentially identical. I recommend beginning with a 1:1 dilution, i.e. mixing one part of developer with the same amount of water. This results in slightly higher sharpness at the expense of a bit of grain. (Developers that make grain finer make your sharpness lower, too - generally.) This also saves you some money which is no bad thing. To warn you, these are powdered developers so you have to mix them yourself, which is not difficult. As a bonus, powdered developers are inexpensive because they weigh a lot less and cost a lot less to ship from the manufacturer to the retailer.

If you find you like these films and want to try something with even finer grain, give Ilford Pan-F Plus a try.

Once you've gotten very comfortable with these films (say 15 or 20 rolls of film total, or more), give the t-grain films a try. Ilford has Delta 100 and 400; Kodak has T-Max 100 and 400. They require greater attention to processing - they are less tolerant of errors - but the quality is markedly higher. (I rarely shoot these films anymore because I like how the traditional emulsions like FP-4 look, but many photographers prefer them.)

That should keep you busy for awhile. Once you know what you want to do, you can ask some more focussed questions here and we can give you plenty of direction.

Have fun!

Jim

I would stick to what you are doing for fast film, unless you want to experiment with squeezing more speed out of it. Now add a slower film like Pan-f, FP4+, or Plus-X. Get comfortable with that in your current developer. Then maybe try some Rodinal. For myself, I use Rodinal with slow films and Diafine with fast films most of the time. But a lot of that choice is driven by lazyness and the fact that I tend to develop in spurts. I like developers with long shelf-lives.

I agree with the opinion of sticking with what you know, which is your current film / developer combination.
If you change something, change one thing at a time, and then compare prints. Take it slow, become proficient with a certain combination before you move on. Most film / developer combinations out there has some kind of advantage over other combinations, and it's actually pointless to hunt around wildly for the silver bullet one.

I made the mistake of experimenting with films and developers too much, and it wasn't until I started thoroughly exploring the potential of just one combination that I really started to see and become somewhat proficient with how to adjust my process, and how to properly expose / develop film to get really good prints.

- Thom

Gerald Koch said:

This is a common mistake where those new to photography constantly try new things and are never really satisfied with their results. Remember the goal is to produce good prints and the actual film used is often incidental.

Click to expand...

This is the best advice anyone could give you.

Mucking around with too many things will create what appears to you as random results, both good and bad.

You can learn 90% of what there is to know about film/developer combinations, by working with one combination. After you have totally mastered one, you may choose to proceed to enlightenment, or you may find the mastery of what you are familiar with is comfortable, and concentrate on the other aspects of making photographs.

When you feel you are ready, the Church of Rodinal is a fun exploration.
When you start moving up in format size and technique, The Hermetic Order of the Souls of Pyro awaits.

JBrunner said:

The Hermetic Order of the Souls of Pyro awaits.

Click to expand...

OOOhhh, I don't know this one! Are you accepting new members?

JBrunner said:

When you feel you are ready, the Church of Rodinal is a fun exploration. When you start moving up in format size and technique, The Hermetic Order of the Souls of Pyro awaits.

Click to expand...

I'm currently a lowly disciple of the lapsed catholic order of the jessops £2.99 econodev 2....but for my sins I'm trying to see the light!

By the way thanks everyone for your input and advice!

It's appreciated!

Cheers

Ad

laudrup said:

I'm currently a lowly disciple of the lapsed catholic order of the jessops £2.99 econodev 2....but for my sins I'm trying to see the light!

Click to expand...

What sin? If Jessops works, don't fix it!

Hi Adam, Welcome to APUG. As has been stated in the previous posts on this thread, sticking to one developer, and getting the best out of it is the far better option than the scattergun approach of trying everything..... If economy is important as well as top results, HC-110 diluted from the highly concentrated SYRUP is a good way to go. It keeps for a very long time in deed and produces very nice negs. I also have a great liking for Rodinal which is my current developer of choice. It keeps damned near forever, and is capable of some fine results, as long as you let it work its magic in its own time. Dilute at least 1:50 and agitate a lot less than the modern wisdom dictates. It has a look that is amazing if done right, and it shows the true grain of a film, maximising sharpness and producing a wide range of tones.

All the best in your efforts, J.B.