Michel Hardy-Vallée
Membership Council
So with the locked down darkroom in full swing, I've had some time to read the latest versions of the film/paper documentation from Kodak, Ilford and Photo Formulary carefully because I was checking my development times. And here's what I learned:
- Stop bath is only 10s, not a full minute. I used to do a full minute for films. Now I'm saving 50s EVERY TIME!
- You don't have to agitate all the time you're fixing film. Just do the first 30s, then 5s every 30s. My wrists are thanking me.
- You can reuse some diluted chems. DK-50 1+1, for example, you can do 10 rolls with it, not just one. Profit!!
- When you're using a fix test (FT-1), it's not milkiness but a yellow, insoluble precipitate you should look for.
- Bonus point on FT-1, you're not supposed to drop it in the fix, but rather make a separate mix with equal parts test, fix, and water.
- It's not recommended to use stop and fix that's been left in trays more than seven days. I learned it the hard way when I was toning prints that turned yellow in selenium.
What else have you learned once you actually sat down with manufacturer's documentation?
- Stop bath is only 10s, not a full minute. I used to do a full minute for films. Now I'm saving 50s EVERY TIME!
- You don't have to agitate all the time you're fixing film. Just do the first 30s, then 5s every 30s. My wrists are thanking me.
- You can reuse some diluted chems. DK-50 1+1, for example, you can do 10 rolls with it, not just one. Profit!!
- When you're using a fix test (FT-1), it's not milkiness but a yellow, insoluble precipitate you should look for.
- Bonus point on FT-1, you're not supposed to drop it in the fix, but rather make a separate mix with equal parts test, fix, and water.
- It's not recommended to use stop and fix that's been left in trays more than seven days. I learned it the hard way when I was toning prints that turned yellow in selenium.
What else have you learned once you actually sat down with manufacturer's documentation?
Actually, everything. I used to shoot primarily HP5+ and developing it at my local lab. When I decided to develop my own, I downloaded HP5+ data sheet from Ilford's web site, which told me to use DD-X as "best overall liquid" developer. So I bought a bottle, and downloaded DD-X data sheet, which contained detailed instructions for the entire process: replenishing, temperatures, agitation technique, stopping, fixing, and washing. I've been doing all of that for a long time with excellent results before I discovered online communities.
