Small batch developers...

[ChristopherCoy]

Aside from caffenol, are there any developers that can be mixed in one off, small batches? I like XTOL but hate having to mix 5L at a time.

 

[ruby.monkey]

Rodinal variants and Kodak HC-110, to name but two. Come to think of it, most of the liquid developers of which I'm aware, are one-shot developers that can be made up as and when needed.

Then there are developers such as Diafine which are made up in bulk but then reused with no further work beyond the occasional replenishment.

 

[removed account4]

d23 + d(ivided) d23?

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Two very good ascorbate based developers are DS-10 and DS-12. These were designed by Ryuji Suzuki after extensive experimentation and development. They can be found on the Digital Truth website.

The "not too secret" formula for Xtol is given here.

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/xtol/

I personally would avoid such formulas as Mytol which are rather a hodge podge of poor work.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Rodinal variants and Kodak HC-110, to name but two. Come to think of it, most of the liquid developers of which I'm aware, are one-shot developers that can be made up as and when needed.

Then there are developers such as Diafine which are made up in bulk but then reused with no further work beyond the occasional replenishment.

I'm assuming that Adox Rodinal can be fixed with regular Kodak Fixer?

 

[pentaxuser]

If you mean proprietary ready mixed liquids that only use a small amount of the developer but are easily mixed and measured and cover the whole range of films from ISO 50 to 3200 then Ilford DDX must rank pretty high.

Not the cheapest of course but ticks most if not all the other boxes

pentaxuser

 

[ChristopherCoy]

If you mean proprietary ready mixed liquids that only use a small amount of the developer but are easily mixed and measured and cover the whole range of films from ISO 50 to 3200 then Ilford DDX must rank pretty high.

Not the cheapest of course but ticks most if not all the other boxes

pentaxuser

I just want a good, all around developer that I can get reliable results from without having to mix 5L at a time.

What always happens is that I buy developer, mix up the 5L, develop two rolls of film, and then the developer sits there for a few weeks to a few months without being used. And then when I'm ready to develop again, I have to go out and buy a whole new container and mix another 5L. And the cycle repeats.

I like the ease of use for caffenol and its 1L batches, but I can't trust my recipe/film/development time knowledge enough yet to do "serious" projects.

I'd like to be able to mix "X amount" of developer with "X amount" of water to make up a 1L batch for those times that I only develop two rolls at a time, and have the rest remain viable until the next time I'm ready.

 

[Siompa]

Just get some rodinal, i use it at 1:50 and just mix it when i need some.

It's a one shot developer but it lasts for ages and the Shelf life is supposed to be great. Just store it in a dark compartment and you should be fine

 

[ChristopherCoy]

Just get some rodinal, i use it at 1:50 and just mix it when i need some.

It's a one shot developer but it lasts for ages and the Shelf life is supposed to be great. Just store it in a dark compartment and you should be fine

Thats what I'm looking at. I was just figuring out the dilution for a 1L batch. Looks like 1.4oz of Rodinal to 32.6oz of water will give me a 1:25 dilution factor for a 1L batch.

 

[Regular Rod]

Aside from caffenol, are there any developers that can be mixed in one off, small batches? I like XTOL but hate having to mix 5L at a time.

510-PYRO is ideal for you. I mix 400ml of stock solution at a time and split it into two 200 ml bottles. Each bottle is enough for at least 40 120 rolls, or 160 4x5 sheets, or 40 8x10 sheets. It doesn't go off.

RR

 

[pentaxuser]

I just want a good, all around developer that I can get reliable results from without having to mix 5L at a time.

I'd like to be able to mix "X amount" of developer with "X amount" of water to make up a 1L batch for those times that I only develop two rolls at a time, and have the rest remain viable until the next time I'm ready.

Sorry I had assumed that you knew that DDX comes in a 1L bottle, already mixed and you simply use say 60mls of it with 240mls of water to make up 300mls for a 135 film. DDX lasts quite a long time. Like you I tend to do only one or two films at a time and the developer then sits for months. I never had a problem of DDX dying on me

Rodinal is fine and lasts a very long time but may not be the best for grain or the full range of film speeds

pentaxuser

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use XTOL for small batches. I keep the 5 liters in 1 liter bottles and only open the active XTOL bottle and replenishment bottle. When I finish the replenishment bottle, I use the next bottle in line. I have had XTOL last over a year this way.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I use XTOL for small batches. I keep the 5 liters in 1 liter bottles and only open the active XTOL bottle and replenishment bottle. When I finish the replenishment bottle, I use the next bottle in line. I have had XTOL last over a year this way.

You're still having to keep up with multiple liters of solution, and replenishment solution in addition. That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

 

[MattKing]

Thats what I'm looking at. I was just figuring out the dilution for a 1L batch. Looks like 1.4oz of Rodinal to 32.6oz of water will give me a 1:25 dilution factor for a 1L batch.

I would recommend HC110 - it will give you a result that is closer to XTOL then Rodinal will.

And you may find it a bit easier to mix what you need if you stay within the same system of measurement - either all metric, or all ounces.

I'm using it replenished, but it works great one shot.

It is designed so that you can get slightly different results by varying the dilution. The "standard" dilution is dilution "B" - one part concentrate plus 31 parts water.

I'm using a variant of dilution E - 1 + 49 - instructions here in an article by Jason Brunner: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

If you want to follow an internet argument or two, ask about what the minimum amount of concentrate needs to be per roll. I prefer to follow Kodak's no doubt very conservative recommendation of 6 ml concentrate per 120/135-36 roll.

The concentrate is quite viscous, so you need to try some tricks to measure it reliably.

One point though - concentrated liquid developers should be diluted to working strength immediately before use - don't make up a large batch unless you are going to use it in the same developing session.

This site has a whole bunch of info about HC-110: http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I already ordered Rodinal from freestyle so I'll give it a go and see what happens. Maybe I'll try HC110 next week.

 

[removed account4]

hi christopher

i hate to suggest ansco130
but
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
the stock solution lasts over a year ..

 

[Paul Howell]

Foma's version of Xtol comes in a 1 liter package, seems to be very clsoe to Xtol, good tones, holds the shadows, with near box film speed. It is much more expensive per liter than Xtol, but as I use MCM 100 for 80% of my film I mix Foma as needed rather than toss out 4 liters of Xtol that I did not use.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use XTOL for small batches. I keep the 5 liters in 1 liter bottles and only open the active XTOL bottle and replenishment bottle. When I finish the replenishment bottle, I use the next bottle in line. I have had XTOL last over a year this way.

You're still having to keep up with multiple liters of solution, and replenishment solution in addition. That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

Just sent the extra liters of XTOL to me and I will handle them.

 

[rbultman]

I've not used it, but Thornton's two-bath may work for you. 1L each of part A and part B. You reuse them for something like 20-30 rolls, then discard.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Valerie]

My all-around developer is pyrocat HD (glycol version). I find it quite forgiving of my less-than exact exposures and processing routine. And it comes in small concentrated bottles that last a very long time. Just mix what you need as you need it.

 

[bdial]

I too use Xtol replenished, and have gone over a year with a batch with no issues. But, if space for 3 or 4 bottles is the issue, then one of the liquid concentrates may be a good choice. Rodinol will keep pretty much forever and HC-110 lasts well too. I just processed a roll of old film in some HC-110 that's at least 3 years old, and it worked fine.
Rodinol will show more grain than Xtol. HC-110 should be a little closer grain wise. With either one you likely won't get quite the film speed you get with Xtol, however.

As for the fixer question, you can pair any fixer with any developer.

Another approach would be to shoot more, you can go through a lot of developer in a short time that way

 

[JW PHOTO]

Rodinal is great stuff and I always have a bottle, but don't always want it for some films. I really like Pyrocat-MC homebrewed, but that's not for everyone either. I just made a liter of PC-TEA for the first time and it was pretty easy. The reason? I wanted a long, long lasting non-staining developer that was close to Xtol. Everything I had read in searches said that Pat Gainer's PC-TEA had many of the same qualities as Xtol 1:2 and that's what I was after. Plus, at a mix rate of 1 to 50 I figure my 1 liter bottle will make more than 50 liters of working solution. Darn good bang for the buck. I only mixed it yesterday and will start testing today. John W

 

[Terry Christian]

I'd say that HC-110 is probably the best all-around liquid concentrate, followed by DD-X and then Rodinal.
DD-X will give you the most XTOL-like fine-grained results, but can be a bit pricey. HC-110 was formulated to be like a liquid form of D76, and it excels in that regard. If you need to measure small quantities, I recommend a baby medicine spoon.
Rodinal is magical stuff, but is best for films ISO 100 or slower if you're doing 35mm, as it is not a solvent developer and thus does not reduce apparent grain.

 

[ChristopherCoy]

I too use Xtol replenished, and have gone over a year with a batch with no issues. But, if space for 3 or 4 bottles is the issue, then one of the liquid concentrates may be a good choice. Rodinol will keep pretty much forever and HC-110 lasts well too. I just processed a roll of old film in some HC-110 that's at least 3 years old, and it worked fine.
Rodinol will show more grain than Xtol. HC-110 should be a little closer grain wise. With either one you likely won't get quite the film speed you get with Xtol, however.

As for the fixer question, you can pair any fixer with any developer.

Another approach would be to shoot more, you can go through a lot of developer in a short time that way

I dont understand the replenishment thing. I guess if I did, it might not be all that bad to keep the 5L made up, but I dont understand the chemistry enough to test and replenish it, so its just easier to mix one shot small batches as I need them.

 

[Terry Christian]

Other threads explain replenishment and its benefits more in detail, but just briefly for anyone else reading who might be interested:
To replenish XTOL, you mix up your 5L stock and then divide it into two (or more) bottles that you designate as developer and replenisher. Every time you develop film, you pour it right back into your developer bottle, except for 70 mL (if I recall correctly) per roll developed, which you discard down the drain. You then fill up that space with fresh stock from the replenisher bottle.