What type of process

D76. Dektol. Which process is this and what types of film will it develop? Just want to know what way to go for a start. Thanks.

D76 is your basic Metol-hydroquinone all-purpose film developer. Used a lot by photojournalists back in the day. Plenty of well-know photogs have used it exclusively their entire careers. Dektol is usually a print developer. It can be used for film, but will produce high contrast, and not very subtle gradations of tone. Both are Kodak trade name formulas, and should still be available in photo stores, with directions for approximate dilutions and developing times for given films/papers. You can use D76 on any black and white film.

I'll add that D76 and Dektol are both extremely popular general-purpose B&W developers (for film and paper, respectively), and as such are good choices if you're just starting out doing your own B&W developing. This isn't to say they're the only good choices, but you're presumably asking about them specifically for a reason (you've got some, you've seen them on store shelves, somebody's recommended them, etc.). The fact that they're good beginner choices also should not be taken to mean that they're bad choices for more experienced users. Lots of "old pros" (both literally and figuratively) use D-76 and Dektol.

Just to add one more thing: those are for silver-image black and white, to produce negatives that are then printed onto a second negative material; the double negative makes a positive print. They will not work (well) with any type of dye-based films, including the black and white C-41 types like Kodak Portra B&W, T400CN, or whatever they're calling it this year, and Ilford XP2 Super.

One never knows how much we're assuming and how much you really know...

Again. What is the process classification of the process using these chemicals? Which film s will they develop? Ilford? Others than Kodak TMax and Tri-X?

flash19901 said:

Again. What is the process classification of the process using these chemicals? Which film s will they develop? Ilford? Others than Kodak TMax and Tri-X?

Click to expand...

You may need to do a bit more reading, Donald answered your question IMO. Or you need to be a bit more clear what you mean by "process classification" . D76 can be used with just about any B&W film, Dektol can be used with just about any paper...they are General Purpose developers, and yes Kodak, Fuji, Efke, Agfa, Ilford films can be developed in D76. IIRC, it is the bench-mark that all other developers are compared to.

Color films have process types printed on their boxes (C-41, E-6, etc.), but B&W films don't, because almost all B&W films can be processed in a huge variety of chemistries (D-76, XTOL, Rodinal, Ilfosol-S, etc.). With the exception of chromogenic (C-41) B&W films such as Ilford XP-2 and a few very exotic films, you can mix and match your films and traditional B&W chemistries as you see fit. You may need to experiment to learn what development times to use, and you may prefer some combinations over others, but just about anything within the categories of traditional B&W films and conventional B&W chemistries will produce an image. Similar comments apply to B&W papers and B&W paper developers -- and in fact, most film developers can be used with paper and most paper developers can be used with film, although results aren't likely to be optimal in either case.

I must not have been clear before, but photomc and srs you guys answered what I wanted to know. Thank you EVERYBODY for answering this post. I really appreciate all the insight. THANK YOU AGAIN.