Suitable developer for Ilford HP5+

Henry Alive · Jan 25, 2007

Hello everybody:
I usually take photographies with B&W 35 mm Ilford HP5+, and Rodinal is the developer I always work with.
However, I would like to know your opinions about changing Rodinal for another more suitable developer. Thank you,
Henry.

ijsbeer · Jan 25, 2007

Hi Henry,

For developing HP5+ is Xtol my prefered developer. It is very easy to mix and use. gives nice tnality and good grain. But so far i'v e never used Rodinal so I can't tell you the differences between them.
my two cents

ijsbeer

Chazzy · Jan 25, 2007

ijsbeer said:
Hi Henry,

For developing HP5+ is Xtol my prefered developer. It is very easy to mix and use. gives nice tnality and good grain. But so far i'v e never used Rodinal so I can't tell you the differences between them.
my two cents

ijsbeer

Are you using the Xtol straight, or 1:1, or some other dilution?

ijsbeer · Jan 25, 2007

Hi Chazzy,

I use Xtol straight. make 5 litre of it and store it in airtight bottle's. Whe a botlle is half full then I use some lighter gas to cover the solution so no oxygen can reach it. No anything scientific but it works for me.

Cheers Ijsbeer

BarryWilkinson · Jan 25, 2007

Well it depends on what result you want. I prefer to use Perceptol 1:2 and get little grain and sharp negs.

Barry

eddym · Jan 25, 2007

I like ID 11, 1:1, or Ilfotec HC, 1:31.

arigram · Jan 25, 2007

You can also try Ilfosol-S which I use for all my Ilford traditional grain film, PanF+, FP4+, HP5+ (in 120 though).

Mick Fagan · Jan 25, 2007

You could have a good look at the Ilford web site. There is a very good selection of liquid and powder developers that Ilford manufacturer for their own films.

I'm positive that Ilford ensure their own house chemistry is very well matched to their films.

That should give you some food for thought.

I myself have used HP5 & HP5+ for many years. Long ago I settled on D76 1+1 as my preferred developer of choice for HP5+.

D76 and Ilford's ID11, are virtually identical developer supplied in powder form.

Mick.

Steve Smith · Jan 25, 2007

arigram said:
You can also try Ilfosol-S which I use for all my Ilford traditional grain film, PanF+, FP4+, HP5+ (in 120 though).

Ilfosol S was also my developer of choice for Ilford films but I have recently been using Ilford LC 29 as Ilfosol S does not keep too well. Still waiting for the promised Ilfosol 3 to appear!

Steve.

ineffablething · Jan 25, 2007

dd-x is quite nice.

reellis67 · Jan 25, 2007

Another vote for Perceptol, but I prefer it at the 1:3 ratio. The solution (no pun intended!) I suggest is to try out a few different developers and see what you can get, then apply that understanding to each individual sheet/roll to get the results that suit that subject matter best.

- Randy

fschifano · Jan 25, 2007

Both XTOL and D-76 are better than good at 1+1, and it's hard to find something overall that's better. For those with a peculiar bias against anything Kodak, ID-11 is identical in use to D-76.

Lee Shively · Jan 25, 2007

Nothing wrong with Rodinal--I use it 1:75 or 1:50 with HP5+.

D76 1:1 or 1:3 other good choices.

tom_bw · Jan 25, 2007

If you search flickr with 'HP5' and <your developer of choice>, you can see samples. From what I can see, for each developer used on HP5 there are photos that I would say are quite nice. Thus, it is possible to get good prints out of any of the developers listed below. That being said, it really comes down to what you want:

Fine grain, sharp (when diluted) with some speed loss compared with others (appears 'softer' than others like Rodinal):
- Perceptol (44 photos): http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hp5+perceptol

Grainy, sharp, average speed:
- Rodinal (421): http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hp5+rodinal

General purpose: medium grain / sharpness / speed:
- HC-110 (282): http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hp5+hc-110&m=text
- HC110 (458): http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hp5+hc110&m=text
- D-76 (194): http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hp5+D-76&m=text
- D76 (507): http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hp5+D76&m=text

More speed (not sure about the speed / grain)
- Diafine (364) http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=hp5+diafine&m=text

FWIW, with HP5 and depending on the desired effect I use:
- Rodinal 1+25 (25%)
- HC-110 1+63 (50%)
- Perceptol 1+2 (25%)

pentaxuser · Jan 25, 2007

Like Randy another vote for Perceptol at 1:3. I started at stock but 1:3 is sharper and I can't see any increase in grain compared to stock at up to 8x10prints which are my biggest.

However I have enlarged parts of negs up to 5x8 prints which effectively would have been at least about 16 x 12 and again little grain.

There is a speed loss of up to 1 stop. I rate at EI 250 which not too great a loss of speed for my kind of shots. At f2.8 I have even managed church interiors, hand held and leaning against pillars.

If the production of grain free prints is your thing then this combo is worth a try.

All of this refers to 35mm. MF would allow very large prints.

pentaxuser

Rob Archer · Jan 25, 2007

HP5+ is a really versatile film. For finer grain and smoother tonality go with the perceptol options. I like the really 'gritty' feel I get rating it at 800 and using Microphen at 1+1.

Rob

rst · Jan 25, 2007

At the moment HP5 (35mm and 120) is my standard film. Depending on the situation I expose it at 200ASA and develop in Perceptol 1+2 at 24°C for 12 min or I expose at 640ASA and develop in Spur SLD 1+9 at 20°C for 6 min. Perceptol gives me sharp and fine grained negatives, SLD gives me film speed and sharp negatives. Both combinations have fine tonality. The participants of the last two rounds of the postcard exchange have now examples of both combinations. This is a good way to see results of many film/developer combinations: Join the postcard exchange

Regards
-- Ruediger

Blighty · Jan 25, 2007

Mick Fagan said:
I myself have used HP5 & HP5+ for many years. Long ago I settled on D76 1+1 as my preferred developer of choice for HP5+.

Yep, me too. Same dilution as well

BradS · Jan 25, 2007

I like HP5+ in D-23 and ID-68 / Microphen.

gainer · Jan 25, 2007

A modicum of sodium ascorbate added to the Rodinal working solution has been found to give the expected Rodinal qualities with somewhat finer grain. If you want to try it, add a teaspoon (5 ml) of sodium ascorbate powder to each liter of 1+50 Rodinal working solution and treat the resulting solution as if it were Rodinal diluted 1+25. 8 minutes at 20 C would be about right for HP5+.

In doing so we are, of course, making a superadditive pair of ascorbic acid and p-aminophenol. It ought not be much diferent from Xtol, but we all know the keeping qualities of Rodinal concentrate, and adding the ascorbate just before use is easilly and quickly done. In place of the ascorbate you may use a teaspoon of ascorbic acid and half a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Mix it in a small amount of water and allow the effervescence to subside before adding it to the working solution.

AlanC · Jan 26, 2007

Pat,
Excuse my ignorance but are sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid chemicals that can be bought in a chemists or health shop? Or are they only available from chemical suppliers?
I know were to get baking soda!

Alan Clark

Lee Shively · Jan 26, 2007

"A modicum of sodium ascorbate added to the Rodinal working solution has been found to give the expected Rodinal qualities with somewhat finer grain."

Sodium sulfite also does this. I don't know if one is better than the other but I've used sulfite for years and it does cut the perceived grain.

Tom Hoskinson · Jan 26, 2007

AlanC said:
Pat,
Excuse my ignorance but are sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid chemicals that can be bought in a chemists or health shop? Or are they only available from chemical suppliers?
I know were to get baking soda!

Alan Clark

I use Pure Vitamin C crystals (100% ascorbic acid) from my local health food store.

Henry Alive · Jan 26, 2007

Hi everybody:
I want to thank all your comments. They have given me some new options. I am going to work with D76 and Perceptol. Thanks again,
Henry.

gainer · Jan 26, 2007

Lee Shively said:
"A modicum of sodium ascorbate added to the Rodinal working solution has been found to give the expected Rodinal qualities with somewhat finer grain."

Sodium sulfite also does this. I don't know if one is better than the other but I've used sulfite for years and it does cut the perceived grain.

In my experiments I found that the sharpness was better with the ascorbate than with sulfite. I thought perhaps the fact that the ascorbate is a surface developer which is activated by the p-aminophenol in Rodinal had something to do with it. Xtol, for the same activity, has finer grain and greater sharpness than D-76 according to Kodak.

Suitable developer for Ilford HP5+

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