what developer?

Dear apuggers, I know this topic has been treated in the forum but after a quick search I couldn't find an answer that fits my doubts exactly, so here is it:

I'm shooting about 25-30 rolls of 35mm a year, mainly Ilford HP5+ (pushed to 800 and 1600), Kentmere 100 and Kentmere 400.

I've been using D-76 and it works great for me. My needs are sharpness, good detail in shadows and I don't mind about grain. My main film choice, Kentmere 400 requires looong (about 16min) developing time if used at 1+1 dilution but only 9 min if at stock, so I use stock.

According to my calculus, I will need during the next 12-18 months about 10L of stock solution; that is, 10 envelopes of D76 at €4,50 = €45. I avoid 3,78L envelopes as is a little PITA to mix it.

So, instead of spending €45 in D76 during the next months, do you have any advise of other (and cheaper) developer I should give it a try, considering that I look for high sharpness, detail in shadows and fairly good shelf life and I don't mind about grain. Ah, and I push iso 400 often to 800/1600!

thank you all

Rodinal but I don't comment on push.

HC-110 supposedly works similar to D-76, and it comes as liquid concentrate which is used to mix single shot working solutions. Given your requirements this is what I think will solve your problem. The 1l bottle will develop well over 30 rolls of film.

Have you tried to mix D-76 yourself? The formula is available everywhere, you could probably find it in APUG, but if not, you could get it here:

http://jackspcs.com/d76.htm

Chemicals could be found in Riesgo (as I can see you are living in Madrid, this suits you):

http://manuelriesgo.com/

If you do not find any chemical in the web page, you could phone them.

And now that I have started, I would recommend you to read this couple of threads:

http://www.formatomedio.eu/laboratorio/d-76-'home-made'/
http://www.formatomedio.eu/laboratorio/manuel-riesgo/msg81950/?topicseen#msg81950

I still prefer the readily available liquid concentrates.

- Rodinal
- HC-110
- T-max: Check for it push capabilities

and there may be other liquid concentrates that are economical as well.

Mixing developers has worked for me. You can try D-76 but I find they are not so economical. Since Metol is not that cheap and there are other things to consider.

In an economical point of view I tried to used DD-23(there are other variants) which is a two-bath developer but I am really irritated to bring up the developer temperature to 20°C when ever I want to develop.

So I have settled more or less with two developers.

- Rodinal
- Fomadon Excel: Sunny or evening shots, which are very seldom here in Bremen. So Rodinal is main stay.

In one of the links I have posted before, there is a comparison. D-76 as bought in 1 l Kodak packages costs in Spain around 4.5 €/l. Mixing from the raw chemicals, it costs 0.3 €/l. Yes, you have to do a relatively big investement in methol and hydroquinone, as they are not sold in very small quantities, but once you have bought one kilo of each, you have methol and hydroquinone forever (almost).

Alfonso omitted that you can get micro scales like drug dealers use in streets to 0.01 gm resolution and mix up hot developers like microphen or Crawleys the scales are cheap an rugged.

You only need scraps of paper or bottle caps to hold powders in and a face mask.

Eg

http://www.lostlabours.co.uk/photography/formulae/developers/devD76_variants.htm

Watch out for DK76b. Metol, Sodium Sulphite and Sodium Metaborate.

Another simple formula is D-23. Metol and Sodium Sulphite.

Dear Sergioto,

Consider trying a replenishing scheme. The D-76 data sheet contains the details you will need.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

Rudeofus said:

HC-110 supposedly works similar to D-76, and it comes as liquid concentrate which is used to mix single shot working solutions. Given your requirements this is what I think will solve your problem. The 1l bottle will develop well over 30 rolls of film.

Click to expand...

+1

Kodak states that HC-110 produces results very similar to D-76 with respect to speed, grain and sharpness.

HC-110. I'm also using mostly HP5 and Kentmere 100, 400.
I'm often using 15ml of it per 550 of water for two rolls/reels.
It is 100+ rolls.

Thank you all for your comments. HC110 is what I'm more looking at. Alfonso, thank you for the comment on the self-made D76. Sounds interesting but I'm kind of a disaster when it comes to selfmade chemical products so I'm looking for comercial solutions, besides the problem with minimum amount of chemical products that has to be bough... 1Kg,ouch!
tks!

I like Microdol and Microdol-X for those films. Very sharp, and used full strength the grain is sometimes not visible at all. You can usually buy old packages or cans of it on eBay or Etsy (never got a bad batch yet), and Freestyle has a clone of it. They only sell it in the gallon size though. You lose a stop of speed when used full strength, which would be perfect for the ISO you're shooting your film at.

These were taken w/ the same camera and film (Nikon FG w/ non AI 50 2 lens, Arista EDU Ultra 100 film), and I developed the first shot in Microdol-X, the other two in Rodinal at 1:25. The pics were taken over a month apart, and the same shoes were still there on the side of the road! Things are a little slow here I guess.

Both developers worked fine, but the Mic-X tonality is more to my liking. In the low light shots, both developers gave nearly identical results. You wouldn't think they would, but they did. Rodinal grain, at my place, is totally dependent on agitation and exposure. Even at 1:25 using 35mm film I get very little grain, but underexpose it even a little and its there. It's not on the wet print however, unless you do huge enlargements, just on the neg. I find Rodinal grain beautiful anyway.


http://www.freestylephoto.biz/749710-LegacyPro-Mic-X-Film-Developer-to-Make-1-Gallon

D23 replenished. I run about 20-30 before mixing new liter. Looks dirty after 10 roles but works great and its practically free. Must be used without dilution this way, which would be fine for pushing.

I've been reading about HC-110 and although it seems ok there are two things that don't convince me: I readed somewhere that HC110 is very exigent in terms of temperature, it must be constant at exactly 20º during the developing and the dilutions are quite small. Therefore I'm not sure I will be able to handle it accurately.

As some suggested I'm considering getting Rodinal for Kentmere 100 & 400 and keeping the D76 for pushing the Ilford HP5 to 800/1600. Any thoughts on that?

thanks

regarding the replenished D76 I'm not sure I can find D76R cheaply where I live

sergiotto, there are several trivial methods to measure the small amount of HC-110 you need to make working solution. You can get syringes and small beakers in most pharmacies. Also look at the "unofficial HC-110 page", which provides very helpful instructions. I have not experienced any peculiarities with temperature and HC-110.

How long do you develop for 400? I cannot find info on the MDC for 400 with 1+31

Ko.Fe. said:

HC-110. I'm also using mostly HP5 and Kentmere 100, 400.
I'm often using 15ml of it per 550 of water for two rolls/reels.
It is 100+ rolls.

Click to expand...

X-Tol in a replenishment regime.

Two packages (each to make 5 litres) should give you two litres of working solution and enough replenisher to develop 100 rolls, using 80 ml of replenisher after each roll.

Or if one litre of working solution is more convenient for you, the two packages should give you one litre of working solution and enough replenisher to develop 110 rolls, using 80 ml of replenisher after each roll.

Don't mix up the second package (unless you have shot enough film to need it) until six months after the first. You can keep and continue to use the previously replenished working solution, but you may want to consider discarding any unused replenishing solution that is more than six months old.

Kodak recommends approximately the same developing times for Tri-X in D-76 stock and undiluted X-Tol, so I would suggest using Kentmere/Harman's times for stock D-76 and Kentmere films as your starting point.

ID-11 can also be used in a replenishment regime - there are instructions on Ilford's website.

Replenished developers give you all sorts of advantages, including great economy.