Reusing Ilford Microphen

Hi,

I made up 1 litre of stock solution, and developed two 35mm films separately. The second one I added 10% exposure time as Ilford suggests. However, I only used 300ml of dev - that's all that's needed in Paterson tanks as you probably know. I then poured the 300ml back into the fresh stock solution.

How susceptible to this is Microphen? Will I need to adjust dev time again, or will it be pretty much replenished on going back into the fresh stock?

I will probably mix it 1:1 next time, will that make a difference?

Thanks all in advance!

Jez

If you are processing small quantities I'd use the Microphen at 1+1 dilution and not re-use.

Tom

Just continue to follow Ilford's instructions. Return the used developer to the bottle each time and increase the development time. Remember to observe Ilford's limit as to the number of rolls that can be developed in this manner.

if you are using it neat it is the number of films you count so add 10% per film irrespective of how much the tank takes.

If you now want to use it 1:1 or 1:3 etc then you need to process for longer cause you have used up some of the stock capability.

Id recommended pair of micro scales and ID68 same timing rules as Microphen.

Ilford does not recommend reusing diluted developer. So the method of extending development time for each film developed works only for full strength developer.

Thanks guys. BTW, startlingly good results developing FP4+ at 400ISO. I shot a roll just for fun, but may try again. And Kentmere 400 loves it too. I'm not buying Ilfosol again for a while, that's for sure, I found FP4 to be very flat, and Kentmere very grainy with it.

jeztastic said:

I'm not buying Ilfosol again for a while, that's for sure, I found FP4 to be very flat,

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Usually when people say this of a film they are not developing it enough. Manufacturers publish suggested times for their films. The key word is suggested. You can modify them for your particular process.

Gerald C Koch said:

Usually when people say this of a film they are not developing it enough. Manufacturers publish suggested times for their films. The key word is suggested. You can modify them for your particular process.

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Thanks for the suggestion - I will try this.