Which developer for FP4

Blighty · May 8, 2007

Fellow Apuggers,
Anyone recommend a particular developer for FP4. I'm open to all suggestions but would like to use chemistry that is easily available. I had considered Paterson stuff, but it's as hard to find as rocking horse s***. For some reason, I can't seem to get decent results with D76 when sticking to recommended dev times. Many thanks, Blights.

Steve Smith · May 8, 2007

I use Ilford LC-29 at 1+19 dilution.

I'm sure you will get a few dozen more recommendations though!

Steve.

steven_e007 · May 8, 2007

I have been very happy using Ilford Ilfosol S 1+9. Cheap, cheerful one shot and it gives quite fine grain without mushing at up the sharpness.

My favourite of all time was Acutol, but I believe that has gone, now...

Steve

jmcd · May 8, 2007

Rodinal

I like Rodinal 1:50 with FP4+. I use 12 or 13 minutes at 70 degrees for sheet film which is usually contact printed, and a little less for roll film that is printed with a condenser. I meter for 100 film speed for good shadow detail.

I have been meaning to try this at film speed 64. While the shadow detail is there for me at EI 100, I have heard that more exposure and less development will offer an excellent tonality with this film in particular.

What results are you not liking with your current attempts with D76, and what format are you using?

Blighty · May 8, 2007

jmcd said:
What results are you not liking with your current attempts with D76, and what format are you using?

Using FP4 in 35mm, the negs seem a bit thin. I used it with Exactol Lux and still got thin negs. My D76 is home brewed and I suppose it might have gone a bit manky, but I'm getting excellent results with HP5.

Ole · May 8, 2007

Ilfotec-HC is what I use now. Not because it's that much better than anything else, but because it lasts a long time and I got lots of it cheap.

That it also gives me great negatives is a bonus, though...

SAShruby · May 8, 2007

Xtol 1+1. Semi-stand development. For Ilford MG FB. Excellent results.
Or Pyrocat-HD, for AZO.

Neal · May 8, 2007

Dear Blighty,

If you can't get "decent" results with D-76 and FP$+, it is much more likely that the problem lies in your exposure and/or development techniques rather than some inherent problem between the products. Let your negatives tell you how you should adjust your exposure and processing.

The "Kodak Black & White Darkroom DATAGUIDE" has great examples for analyzing your negatives. Here is a nice web page with some great examples as well.

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Assessing-negatives

Neal Wydra

Thomas Bertilsson · May 8, 2007

I have used FP4 with:
Rodinal
D76
PyrocatHD
FA-1027
Diafine

All gave me good results with a nice tonal scale, except Diafine.

- Thomas

jmcd · May 8, 2007

"Using FP4 in 35mm, the negs seem a bit thin."

Assuming fresh developer...

If the shadows have insufficient detail, more exposure is required.

If the shadow detail is good, but the negatives are thin and requiring grade 4 paper, for instance, try increasing development by 15-20 percent.

MikeSeb · May 8, 2007

Xtol/Mytol 1+1 or 1+2, or PC-TEA.

Gay Larson · May 8, 2007

I use Ilfotec-Hc and like it.

Matt5791 · May 9, 2007

jmcd said:
I like Rodinal 1:50 with FP4+. I use 12 or 13 minutes at 70 degrees for sheet film which is usually contact printed, and a little less for roll film that is printed with a condenser. I meter for 100 film speed for good shadow detail.
QUOTE]

I have recently become a Rodinal addict, especially with FP4 and I second the above.

ijsbeer · May 9, 2007

X-tol full strength. easy, cheap, good results

cheers,

Dietmar Wolf · May 9, 2007

My experience with XTOL was not good at all.
It lacked the midtones&sharpness.

Recently I developed with ID11 1+2 15.30 min EI boxspeed.

This was near perfect silver look for me.

PepMiro · May 11, 2007

Ilfosol-S gives really very good sharpness and contrast with FP4+, although my favourite is PMK

haryanto · May 11, 2007

pyrocat MC 1:4:150 (with S carbonate in B) 24minutes (semistand, 1 minutes initial agitations and 10s, in 6 minutes for the rest), the best result I had, compared to others developers I've ever tried, smooth tonality and rendition and sharp thanks to Sandy and Pat

Which developer for FP4

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