One film and one developer or many films and developers ?

I am very much of the school of thought that using only one emulsion, once mastered, can produce the best results possible, especially when you use one developer exclusively and learn to do it well. Others seem to be able to get on with any emulsion thrown their way, but does this approach suit quality and consistent output ? Plenty of folks adopt the one camera one lens approach in an attempt to improve technique, but would they be better long term with the one film one developer doctrine instead ? Thoughts please.

Two very different goals:
1 - Consistently produce technically excellent results, possibly in a limited set of situations, or
2 - Experiment and produce a wide rnage of results in a wide range of situations.

What's more appealing to you? My film photography is not about perfection (technical or otherwise), it is about having fun. To me, that means playing with different emulsions and developers. I might refine my Delta400 & D76 technique where I can consistently get a perfect negative, but I'll never be able to produce an IR portrait with it.

I agree with you. I did one film and one developer for a while. Then I added another film. Next I developed C-41 film. Now I use replenished XTOL and Rollo Pyro for black & white, and C-41 kits for color and a range of films.

hi john

i think people do what they want and as long as they are having a good time it really shouldn't matter too much
what the current flavor of the month is ( whether it is a developer or film or camera that changes every day ) ..
but if the person is dissatisfied with their results then they might want to prune the variable tree.

Many years ago, I followed the "one film / one developer" doctrine with my LF photography. In recent years, I have experimented with several different emulsions and developers (both prepared and home brew), and have found a few new favorites that I would not have otherwise uncovered. IMO any good modern film / developer combo will produce acceptable results, if handled properly.

All great and interesting points of view. There is clearly no right or wrong view here, but it is revealing and very educational to hear the thoughts of others.

As has been pointed out previously if your intention in photography is just having fun then do anything you want. But I think most serious people will eventually get past this stage and wish to create memorable images and this requires a certain amount of skill. Ansel Adams in the prolog to one of his books makes the strong case to become familiar with ONE film. Only after this can one add a second film. The idea behind this is acquiring a skill.

If you like experimenting with materials and playing with stuff.... just do so and enjoy it!
If you want to master the process of producing great images.... limit yourself to 1 or 2 films and 1 or 2 developing methods; put your energy in creating the images rather than a diversity of techniques.

How about finding the one film and developer to solely use? I haven't heard anyone comment on how they found their one to work with. And what about the speed of film? I guess 400 ASA speed can be used for most situations, but on a sunny day, I wouldn't like that to be my first choice...unless I was feeling grainy. And I'm willing to bet most of us don't go walking around with only 50 ASA.

I think after (not soooo much) experimenting with only two developers and the most common films available, I can almost conclude my 'one(s)': Pan f+ and HP5 and sometimes FP4. Since the three films have somewhat similar grain structures, is this considered my 'one' film? As for which developer...hmmm still don't know... HC-110 and Rodinal are both really pleasing and easy to work with, although I think for higher pushing of film (over 1000 ISO), I prefer HC-110.

John Bragg said:

I am very much of the school of thought that using only one emulsion, once mastered, can produce the best results possible, especially when you use one developer exclusively and learn to do it well. Others seem to be able to get on with any emulsion thrown their way, but does this approach suit quality and consistent output ? Plenty of folks adopt the one camera one lens approach in an attempt to improve technique, but would they be better long term with the one film one developer doctrine instead ? Thoughts please.

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What has always worked for me is one film, one developer, one camera, one lens and (depending upon circumstances - i.e manufactures discontinuing a paper) one paper and one paper developer. This works for me because, at the time of making the negative, I have a clear idea of how I want the final print to look.

There are other photographers who learn by 'mistakes' or by trying different combinations of film, developer, etc. Neither approach is 'correct'. It is just a question of what you wish to achieve.

My approach is best suited to those people who are mostly concerned with developing an ongoing body of work that meets their aims in terms of photographic development. Other people enjoy trying various film and developer combinations as a way for continuously researching what photographic materials can deliver. Yet again, there are people who are concerned with achieving maximum speed, maximum acutance, finest grain, etc.

There is no 'wrong' or 'right' here just a question of what interests you in the wonderful world of analogue photography.

Bests,

David.
www.dsallen.de

One camera, lens, film, process and simplicity of printing can produce good consistent results, but you can still experiment outside your MO with variations of process technique/printing once you have the negative.

KidA said:

How about finding the one film and developer to solely use? I haven't heard anyone comment on how they found their one to work with.

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I think that it is fairly obvious that one must do some investigation before settling one a particular film/developer combination. But constantly changing the film or developer is not productive. At one time I thought it would be useful to master both a fast and a slow film for all lighting situations. Then I realized that my photographic interests favored only situations that could be covered by a single film. Tri-X and the T-grain films are so fine grained that a slow film is no longer necessary.

KidA said:

How about finding the one film and developer to solely use? I haven't heard anyone comment on how they found their one to work with. And what about the speed of film? I guess 400 ASA speed can be used for most situations, but on a sunny day, I wouldn't like that to be my first choice...unless I was feeling grainy. And I'm willing to bet most of us don't go walking around with only 50 ASA.

I think after (not soooo much) experimenting with only two developers and the most common films available, I can almost conclude my 'one(s)': Pan f+ and HP5 and sometimes FP4. Since the three films have somewhat similar grain structures, is this considered my 'one' film? As for which developer...hmmm still don't know... HC-110 and Rodinal are both really pleasing and easy to work with, although I think for higher pushing of film (over 1000 ISO), I prefer HC-110.

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My primary developer is replenished XTOL. Rollo Pyro is for experimenting with 4"x5" and rarely experimenting with 120.

I think a lot of the good that comes from "one film, one developer, one camera" isn't that you are "mastering one thing"... It's that there are so many "more important" things that deserve your attention when you are first starting out... So you are keeping it simple.

Bill Burk said:

I think a lot of the good that comes from "one film, one developer, one camera" isn't that you are "mastering one thing"... It's that there are so many "more important" things that deserve your attention when you are first starting out... So you are keeping it simple.

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Once one really understands the ins and the outs of processing can one start to try different developers and learn their sensitivities. Jumping between developers in the beginning slows the learning process.

One bike or many? Commuting, road rides, dirt trails, camping for a week...

I've been working with one film - Tri-X 135 - and one developer - D-23 - for several years. There are still options - replenished, 1:1, two-bath, 1:3, minimal agitation, etc. So you can do one film and one developer and still experiment.

I TRY to use one film. But there are times when HP-5 is the wrong choice. I do use only one developer - HC-110B.

markbarendt said:

One bike or many? Commuting, road rides, dirt trails, camping for a week...

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I can only ride one bike at a time.

KidA said:

How about finding the one film and developer to solely use? I haven't heard anyone comment on how they found their one to work with. And what about the speed of film? I guess 400 ASA speed can be used for most situations, but on a sunny day, I wouldn't like that to be my first choice...unless I was feeling grainy. And I'm willing to bet most of us don't go walking around with only 50 ASA.

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Originally I only used D76 for film and Dektol for prints as that is what the school I was learning photography at offered. We typically only shot Tri-X 400 or T-Max 400 unless a specific assignment required something different. After several semesters of this (and the occasional roll of HP5+ that came with Ilford paper bundles or Agfa APX 100 / 400 because it was dirt cheap when I worked at a camera store) I got into slightly more advanced things like high contrast, infra red, and extreme push photography. At this point, I pretty much find free-form experimentation to be the most gratifying part of photography. I guess you could say I'm taking the fundamentals I learned and applying a broad spectrum approach until I find a few particular combinations I like and will stick with for a long time. At present, I have a variety of film that has all been shot for 2-5 stops of push, and something like 5 developers in my cabinet waiting for testing when I feel I have the right subject to test it on. I like that there's not really a wrong answer as long as I study my datasheets, make sure everything is clean and organized, and go with my gut instinct.

Of course, at any point if I wanted to shoot something that was important and had to turn out 'standard and beautiful', I could always go shoot a roll of TMY-2 or TX, mix a fresh batch of D76, and I'd know exactly what I'd be getting from it.

At the end of the day, I have a somewhat specific look I like with many ways to get there, and eventually I'll settle on a best film/chemistry way to get it.

I've found through 35 years + of developing film that pretty much all films and all developers are capable of top results. I'd imagine choosing one of each and sticking to it has its attributes but that's not me. I enjoy the different nuances, and results, and experimenting, so I try them all. I've pretty much settled on Rodinal and HC-110 with D-76 a distant 3rd but still dabble on occasion with Diafine, Exactol-Lux and DiXactil Ultra too. And for films I'm a total film whore. I use whatever I can get my hands on as I like them all. But in order it's probably Neopan 400 and Plus-X (until I run out that is), then Acros, HP5+, and Tmax400. That said I still have in the freezer: Agfa APX100/400, Neopan 100SS and some Tmax 100. I'm easy. I'm a push-over. I get very satisfying results from all those and in all combinations of film/developer (except Neopan 400 in DiXactol, it gives squiggly lines in the emulsion for some reason).

Sirius Glass said:

I can only ride one bike at a time.

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Me too.

Here are some developer trades offs

Sirius Glass said:

Here are some developer trades offs

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Too bad there isn't a chart like that objectively included Rodinal, PyrocatHD, and RolloPyro.

Bill Burk said:

I think a lot of the good that comes from "one film, one developer, one camera" isn't that you are "mastering one thing"... It's that there are so many "more important" things that deserve your attention when you are first starting out... So you are keeping it simple.

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couldn't agree wtih this more .. not only does it allow one to concentrate on some of the more important "stuff"
when the time comes and the processing and exposure thing and printing thing is figured out, it allows that to be on auto pilot
so the person doesn't have to worry at all about that, stuff, and can concentrate on seeing, composition and being impulsive without worry ..
AND it allows one to have the ability to say " ok, this happens when i do this, i wonder what happens when i do that" with the same film and developer
( translation: allows the person to push themselves to learn more about their comfortable materials because it is like a conversation wtih an old friend )