Which Kodak film is least demanding when developing?

[jay moussy]

I have yet to try some Kodak B&W films (beyond usual Ilford, Foma). Reading on it here, it seems that they may demand extra care with development.

True, which ones, why, and how to best cope with it?

Am I overthinking it?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

You are overthinking it.

Follow Kodak's instructions and everything will come out fine. It's thinking that gets people in trouble.

 

[abruzzi]

OTOH, if you shoot any of the TMAX films, be sure to add at least 50% to your fix times. They’re easy to develop, but they need extra fixing.

 

[absalom1951]

You are overthinking it.

Follow Kodak's instructions and everything will come out fine. It's thinking that gets people in trouble.

You will have no problems.

 

[pentaxuser]

When I saw the word "demanding" with Kodak films for some strange reason the song "Chantilly Lace" by the Big Bopper came into my head especially the lines "makes me act so funny, spend my dog-gone money( IN SPADES - my addition ) but to be fair when developing I was always able to feel real loose like a long necked goose and and when developed as per the instructions I was able to say to it "Oh baby, you know what I like "

pentaxuser

 

[Duceman]

OTOH, if you shoot any of the TMAX films, be sure to add at least 50% to your fix times. They’re easy to develop, but they need extra fixing.

Kodak developing instructions (at least with respect to XTOL) state that fixing should occur for between 5 and 10 minutes. Using Kodak fixer with TMAX films, I've found that the only sure way of getting rid of all of the "pink" during fixing is to simply go the full 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes the film still retains any "pink" then it's time to either replenish the fixer, or begin with a new batch.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I find fixer (F6 in my case) doesn't do a very good job with TMax pink. A few minutes in Hypo-Clear gets the vast majority of the pink out, washing gets the next bit and the last comes out in a 12% isopropanol + photoflo 600 wetting bath.

 

[Duceman]

I used to use Ilford Rapid Fixer, and could never fully get the pink out of TMAX films with it, unless I essentially did what you did above with the Hypo, and wash in warm water. Switching to Kodak fixer seems to have entirely resolved that issue for me.

 

[MattKing]

As a lifelong user of Kodak films, I would say that the only thing they demand is respect! .
The T-Max films are very responsive to changes in development. So if by "demanding" you are really meaning demanding of consistency, in order to obtain consistent results, I guess in that way they are demanding.
I make no representations about Kodak films used in reduced agitation (stand and semi-stand) development schemes, which I don't like at all!

 

[Sirius Glass]

I find all the black & white films of all the companies are about the same in handling and the same thing for the color films.

 

[Paul Howell]

I dont Kodak to any more challenging that other brands, maybe less than Foma due ti Foma's use of softer emulsions.

 

[Down Under]

My suggestion is to stay with Ilford films if you can.

Over the (many) years I've used these, I've never, ever had any processing problems. FP4 and HP5 are very forgiving. The Deltas may be a bit more, well, 'problematic' - friends who use these say they can give fiddly results in developing. I've not used them, so this will be for somebody else to comment on.

The TMaxes originally came with a steep learning curve (this was in the late '80s) and I disliked the results. The newer versions apparently removed most of the problems. I went back to Ilford in 1990 and I've never looked back.

I used Shanghai films for a while in the early '00s as there was a bit of a supply problem with Ilford then. Had good results from these, which most of my friends who did the same thought was rather odd. Nobody liked them. I also tried Foma in 2008 or 2009, but my results were meh! so I went back to Ilford.

As always, a lot of good advice in this thread. Amazing what one can learn even after half a century of loading films in tanks...