Newbie questions

to all
I am just getting started in developing and printing my own photos. I am making the reverse commute from digital to film.

Any suggestions on developing chemicals? Should I use a developer than can also be used in making prints? like D76?

Does it matter what developer I use if I have several different film brands/ASA?

Thanks in advance.

Jay D

A good general purpose film developer, such as D-76 or Xtol, will develop films of different brands or speeds. It's customary to use a print developer for prints, such as Dektol.

You can use a print developer to develop films. Many years ago, it was common practice to use a "universal" developer at different dilutions for film and paper. The closest you can get to that today would be to use Dektol at 1+2 for prints and about 1+9 for films. Dektol 1+2 still works great for modern papers, but not so well with modern films. When it was common practice to use a universal developer, films were not as sophisticated as they are now, and the formats were much larger. The larger formats allowed for lesser degrees of enlargement, and to a extent, masked the deficiencies of using "one size fits all" developer. The best all around, general purpose film developer available today would be D-76, or its clone from Ilford, ID-11. Some may argue this, but there is not a B&W film on the market today that does not perform well with one of these developers. XTOL is another good one that will do everything D-76 will do, and maybe do it a little better. But be aware that any dedicated film developer will not make a very good print developer. They are simply not strong enough to produce the contrast needed for a print.

There use to be Universal developers but that changed to separate developers for film and paper. Depending where you are at, Kodak D76 for film, Kodak Dektol for paper, or what ever brands that are equal to them is a good place to start.

Go with D-76. It's not the best developer, but it is very tolerant to beginner mistakes, such as incorrect film exposure, temperature, agitation, etc. Also, D-76 has arguably the biggest wealth of development info for different films versus other developers. Until you find your way and what kind of look you really love, do D-76. Use Dektol for paper developer. Also, if you go to FreeStylePhoto.biz, you can get the knockoff version of Kodak Chemicals called "Legacy Pro" which is obviously cheaper. It's the same exact thing, just repackaged under a different brand.

For film, use Arista Premium 400, also available at Freestylephoto.biz. It's repackaged Tri-X. Tri-X will be your all-purpose, extremely tolerant film. Arista Premium is $2 a roll, Tri-X is $4, even though they are the same exact thing. You will inevitably go use some other black and white film, but for beginning film person, Tri-X + D-76 + Internet will give you more information, more resources, and more examples than you'll ever need.

For printing, go with Ilford or Kentmere papers. They are both very consistent and predictable. Not as nice as say, Bergger or Adox papers, but cheaper. You can do Foma papers, but you might risk fogging unless you have a red-safelight.

hmurmur said:

Any suggestions on developing chemicals? Should I use a developer than can also be used in making prints? like D76?

Does it matter what developer I use if I have several different film brands/ASA?

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I agree with Chazzy -- pick one somewhat standard film developer (like D76/ID11) and another for paper (Dektol or equiv). Stick with that until you are comfortable with the process (preferably) or have an uncontrolable urge to tinker/experiment.

Most standard developers will work fine with most ASA/ISO speeds of most major companies' films. But again, if you can stick with one film until you know the process, it will make it easier to see how things are working -- more variables make it harder to identify where your mistakes are.

And have fun. Even when things don't go quite where you wanted (likely at the beginning, and common enough later), there is a bit of magic to seeing all this stuff work.

Trust me, you're not the only one moving from digital to film. I used to shoot the cheapest b&w when I was younger and got away from it because being young, I couldn't afford it. Then I made the move to digital, and ever since I bought my Pentax dslr a few years ago it's been a love/hate relationship. Now I'm relearning b&w and doing my own development again for the first time since jr. high school. I would definitely recommend following the advice here. After lurking a while and reading tons of threads, I can't believe the wealth of knowledge amassed here. So my observations (FWIW) fall in with these guys:

Pick 1 developer that's considered a "standard" and start learning it. I'm using HC-110 just because of it's cheap, has a long shelf life, and is well understood by a lot of people here. So that makes it easier to get help if I need it. A bonus is that from my understanding it's pretty flexible in use too.

Pick 1 film and learn as much as you can about it. I picked Acros, but I may have made a mistake picking this film. But it was so cheap in 120 and in the Freestyle generic 35mm form that I bought a lot of it. I probably should have gone with tri-x, but 6 of one...

I haven't made any prints yet for a couple of reasons. But the main one is that I don't really have anyplace to do it in (yet). But when I do go to start making prints in the near future, I'm probably going to follow the same process as I did with film/developing. I.e. picking one combo of paper, developer, enlarger lens, etc. and sticking with it.

The main thing I've learned is to not be afraid to ask questions. That rather obvious piece of advice seems to work well for just about everything in life too.

One film, one film developer; one paper; one paper developer; one year.

You are better off going with a specific film developer and a separate specific print developer.

They have different characteristics and don't do both Film and Paper great, just OK compared to the specific developer

Stop Bath can be common between Film & Prints - although I find it more convenient to have a specific bottle for Film and another of Print (for different volumes - YMMV)

Fix is the same chemical for both Film & Paper - but it is important to keep the working solutions separate and specifically for either Film or Paper (some of the by-products are incompatable)

D76 is a good place to start with a Film Developer

Some people enjoy the convenience of liquid developers but it very much a personal choice

There are no "perfect/the best" developers and these days no poor ones either - just pick one Film Dev and one Print Dev that are easily available

One of the great advantages of D76 as a starting point is that every film has a published development time in D76.

The only problem with using a wide choice of films is each one will take slightly different development times - which makes processing rather slow as you have to do one film at a time.

I choose to use my developer "one shot" at 50% water & 50% developer - then pour it down the sink when it has been used

The advantage is great consistency, as the developer is always in the same condition at the start of each film processing

Consistency is important in photography, never more so than when you are starting out with your own developing

If you can, try and find someone local to you who has done both printing and film processing before. A Darkroom buddy is a great way to learn and will save you hours of tears and frustration as you find your way, he/she can help you avoid those pit falls that you will sadly inevitably find if you go on your own.

We Darkroom workers are in general a very friendly lot and are usually absolutely delighted to share our knowledge and wisdom with a new enthusiast.

Don’t be easily put off, I find Darkroom work to be the most rewarding part of photography – but it can be hugely trying at times too.

Best of luck

Martin

Anscojohn said:

One film, one film developer; one paper; one paper developer; one year.

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Wise words John

Sadly, it took me years to find out that this was true

Martin

Oh boy, I better duck quick after saying this, but . . .if you are anything like me, Jay, the goal is to screw things up. There are about a million ways to mess up film or paper, and I'm somewhere around #700,000. Photography is playtime, so there no harm in sticking your fingers in every pie you can get your hands on! Why not? In any difficult craft, the lessons learned from mistakes are king! Failure is not only fun, but instructive!

Practically though, what they all said is solid advice.

An early mentor (almost 50 years ago) told me: "You think you're bein' creative, when all your doin' is makin' a mess!"

Martin Aislabie said:

Wise words John

Sadly, it took me years to find out that this was true

Martin

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Martin, oh ditto, ditto me too. Too many years.
JOHN