Hey Matt -
I am not really sure.
I HAVE developed at "Room Temp", but that was earlier in the year and it was about 70-71. I looked up the slower times at.....is it called The Massive Chart.?
Wouldn't the times at 80 degrees be pretty fast.?
I realize that, in the end, all that matters is acceptable results...but i am still quite new to all this, and just trying to stay close to the Ilford/Photo Formu times that they suggest with their products.
I do not really have the experience to know what i can and cannot get away with.
If i can figure a way to mount this thermometer in my trays...at least the Developer Tray...i think i would be a lot more comfortable knowing i am close to the factory Temps/Times.
I have enough problems with my "Photography" as it is. I am trying not to add Cockiness to my arsenal of shortcomings.
When you are developing prints in trays, you are developing more to near "completion" than to a specific time. The time recommendations in the instructions are there to help you get to completion, not as hard and fast rules. You will notice that the times are often expressed as a range, rather than a specific time.
What does cause problems is either inconsistent times, or inconsistent temperatures.
You may also cause problems if your various solutions are each at a different temperature - thus my concern about using individual ice packs. A common source of tempering water to cool all the trays would be of less concern.
As long as you work within a reasonable range, you can choose an alternate time as your target, stick to that time, and your results will be fine. With prints in trays, developing for too short a time causes problems, but you have to work really hard to cause problems by developing too long.
If the manufacturer recommends a single time, either use it, because an 80-82F temperature won't hurt, or use a time that is something like 80% of the recommended time.
If the manufacturer recommends a range of times like 1 - 3 minutes, just use a time near the shorter end.
In many cases you can compensate for the high temperature by increasing the dilution a bit (but don't worry about that yet).
And, once you gain more experience, you may want to look into something called factorial development, which is excellent for taking into account all sorts of variables, including higher temperatures (but again don't worry about that yet).
The idea to use ice wasn't a bad idea, but it would probably have been better to ask more generally if 80-82F temperatures were a problem, and if so, how best to deal with them.
And it certainly is a good idea to monitor the developer temperature, but generally the problems occur when it either gets too cold, or when it gets so hot that you probably shouldn't be working in there.
I would be giving different advice if you were doing production printing and you depended on an ability to obtain highly repeatable results in a highly efficient manner. That's when close temperature control along with accurate agitation and monitoring of chemicals (usually through mechanized agitation and control strips and replenishment) is necessary.
Which developer are you using?
