Why mix your own developer

[Gerald C Koch]

I could be mistaken, but I calculated the costs of mixing up my own D-72 (similar to Dektol print developer) and found it would be a few dollars per liter (of stock solution) more expensive than just buying the 1-gallon packet of Dektol. I wonder how many chemical formulae you really save money by mixing at home.

I decided to take your challenge. Dektol from Amazon costs $5.39 plus shipping for a 1 gal packet. The cost for making your own D-72 comes out to $3.76. The cost is based on buying chemicals in sizes that a serious home brewer would normally buy. Shipping cost for the Kodak product and the prorated cost of the chemicals is considered to be comparable.

Years ago when I was a poor college student my favorite film/developer combination was Kodak Panatomic-X developed in the Beutler formula. Using the same costs as above this developer costs less than 8 cents per roll.

The principle cost in each example is for the developing agent(s). If instead of D-72 you mix up a Dimezone or Phenidone based paper developer your cost is further reduced. While the cost of Dimezone is 2.8 times that of Metol you only use a tenth as much on average.

For a better analogy, I would say that mixing your own developer is no more difficult than making a cake.

Jerry

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Mmm developer cake...

Haha I also have thought about taking the plunge about a few months ago, I sourced out all the main/most used ingredients online for developers and it is not too bad of a startup cost. I would also need a nice scale but I kept loosing eBay auctions so I left this on the back burner.

I would most likely use this primarily to grain access to developers that are just not sold commercially anymore. And second to make developers that normally cost a fair amount more such as diafine.

Now from reading, and learning that you can make your own toners, I think I must really get into photographic chemistry!

 

[Andrew Simpson]

Why cook, when you can buy Mc Donalds - it's obvious.
Go figure...

 

[Steve Smith]

I can understand the fun and perhaps educational, but not to save money.

What's wrong with saving money?


Steve.

 

[MDR]

I prefer mixing my own developers, etc... because my favourite developers are not made anymore or were not designed by companies but by individuals. My favourite paper developer is Agfa 135 a very warm tone developer whose tone depends on the amount of Bromide in the mix.
My favourite film developer aside from Rodinal is Jay de Fehrs Hypercat designed by an individual.

Dominik

 

[steven_e007]

I decided a long time ago NOT to mix my own. I easily get side tracked and I was afraid of getting locked into chasing magic bullets...

Then one day I ordered some film from a well known stockists... And they screwed the order up and sent me someone else's chemical order by mistake. When I offered to return it they said not to bother, since the postage cost was nearly the value of the chemicals.

So... Having inherited some Sulphite, Metol, Carbonate and hydro quinine I thought I'd better do something with it. I quickly found I could mix up a huge range of developers and learned quite a lot about sharpness v grain and speed v fog by mixing up some old developers that were not fine grain, but we're very clean working and low fog. The articles about developers by Micheal Maunder in Ag magazine were very helpful.

But yep... I was right about getting side tracked. It is easy to spend many hours mixing and testing and not taking any pictures at all...

 

[removed-user-1]

I got started mixing my own when I read about caffenol; as others have pointed out, that you must mix yourself. The idea of a developer I can mix with off-the-shelf stuff from the grocers intrigued me... Now I use Rodinal, or D76, all the time. But last semester my school darkroom ran out of D76 when about 8 students needed to process. So I mixed some of Gainer's original Vitamin C + metol developer, and everybody was happy. I like having the ability to solve a problem like that.

 

[Leon]

... why would you want to mix your own developer when there are plenty excellent ready formula ready made like D76, Rodinal, and Xtol etc.?

I mix my own purely for financial reasons.

I like to use pyrocatechol based developers. Pyrocat HD is my fave. AFAIK, it's not available as a pre-mixed solution in the UK. Similar products are, but they are expensive.

The following is a comparison of the prices for 10 litres of working developer (in my tanks, that equates to34 rolls of 120 or 60 sheets of 4x5)

Moersch Tannol 200 = £12.76 (£0.21 per sheet 4x5 or £0.37 per 120 roll)

Precyscol EF = £12.99

Exactol Lux = £13.95

Home mixed Pyrocat HD = £1.60 (£0.03 per sheet or £0.05 per 120 roll)


These do not include shipping costs, but I bury those when buying raw chems as I order it with film and paper. The proprietary devs usually carry an extra £2 or £3 postage and packaging fee.

I think you can see the financial benefit.

Leon.

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

I mix my own purely for financial reasons.

I like to use pyrocatechol based developers. Pyrocat HD is my fave. AFAIK, it's not available as a pre-mixed solution in the UK. Similar products are, but they are expensive.

The following is a comparison of the prices for 10 litres of working developer (in my tanks, that equates to34 rolls of 120 or 60 sheets of 4x5)

Moersch Tannol 200 = £12.76 (£0.21 per sheet 4x5 or £0.37 per 120 roll)

Precyscol EF = £12.99

Exactol Lux = £13.95

Home mixed Pyrocat HD = £1.60 (£0.03 per sheet or £0.05 per 120 roll)


These do not include shipping costs, but I bury those when buying raw chems as I order it with film and paper. The proprietary devs usually carry an extra £2 or £3 postage and packaging fee.

I think you can see the financial benefit.

Leon.

That is certainly a very significant saving. Replenished D-76/ID11 or D-23 might also be an option worth considering for low cost film processing.

 

[PhotoJim]

Somehow I missed that this thread was inspired by my comment in the D-76 thread.

I posted there as to why I like mixing from scratch, but to summarize again:

- you can save money, particularly if you mix smaller quantities of chemicals (not everyone can use up 1 US gallon or 5 litres of stock solution before it goes bad)
- you can mix up formulas that are no longer commercially available
- you can adjust formulas to experiment or to better suit your own purposes
- raw chemicals (with the odd exception like glycin) keep for years and years in storage; not all commercial chemicals do (even Kodak's dry chemicals have a shelf life)
- you can mix up precisely the amount you need, large or small
- you're no longer dependent on a company to produce the prepackaged chemical you want - if you have the formula, you can make it independently
- it is kind of fun to do, strangely
- having a supply of bulk chemicals lets you be more spontaneous because you can make up any chemistry you need at will without having to go to a photo store or wait for a mail order to arrive (as long as you keep tabs of your raw chemical stock levels, which is easy)

I don't always do it - in fact, the D-76 I mixed up two weeks ago was from a Kodak package - but I tend to use D-76 in one or two litre amounts, and mixing from scratch is usually more cost effective. Furthermore, Kodak doesn't make D-23 anymore, but you can make your own using only sodium sulfite and metol.

Lots of other terrific formulas are also makeable - Ansco 130 comes to mind. It's one of the best print developers ever formulated.

I have about a dozen or so raw chemicals and I can make a huge range of developers, plus a few toners. I don't bother making stop bath or fixer from scratch because it's less cost-effective, although making your own sodium thiosulfate fixer is pretty cheap. (I prefer ammonium thiosulfate fixers.)

Is it for everybody? No. But it's fun, it's cost-effective, it's flexible and it's easy.

I've made D-23, D-76, D-72, Ansco 130, Pyrocat HD and PMK developers from scratch. I make my own hypo clearing agent too. And if I ever get around to it, I can do some serious experimenting with sepia toning.

If you're inspired, get The Darkroom Cookbook and The Film Development Cookbook - they are the books that inspired me to do this.

 

[Chris Douglas]

It's really very simple

I suspect most people who mix there own are hobbyists. Amateurs, according to the definition, do it for the love of it. There may be some professionals who need a particular brew for the look they want, it would be interesting to hear from them. I just like messing around with photography and having a modest supply of bulk chemicals lets me dabble in the old favorites like D76 and D72, and also, reversal processing, toning, cine, high accutance fx-1, fx-2, fx-37, ect., and it costs pennies. A hobbyist doesn't have to justify anything.

 

[madgardener]

I'm a little surprised that PE isn't chiming in on this thread. He's a former chemist. I would love to hear his viewpoint.
As for me, I would personally love to mix my own, but right now my situation just won't allow it.

 

[eclarke]

In the near future, there won't be any Dektol baggies..

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Because I can?



Ken

 

[TareqPhoto]

It is funny that there are options to make chemicals for film or print, but there are no many options for the film itself, day after day one film or more are gone and we narrow our choices, Acros 120 is my favorite film and it is by Fuji i think, Fuji is trying to dump their films one by one, and my favorite slide is Velvia 5o and 100, and if both are gone too, i don't feel i want to use another film even great, and i am not worry which developer to use because i can buy ready mix or i can buy raw chemicals and prepare it by myself, the only raw chemicals i have now are only to make Rodinal and Caffenol, and i am planning to add more raw chemicals to make Pyrocat-HD specific formula, i don't think i want to make more developers, and hope one day i can understand about printing and make one or some chemicals for that.

 

[Roger Cole]

In the near future, there won't be any Dektol baggies..

If you're referring to the long agonizing decline of Kodak, maybe and maybe not. But you can get Dektol equivalent from other places, including Freestyle's "Legacy Pro" which wouldn't surprise me if it turns out to be the same stuff also made by Champion. And you can get plenty of other paper developers.

Or yes, you can mix your own D72.

 

[john_s]

I mix developers because I know I will be able to in the future when various products disappear from the market. Here (Australia) Microphen is now available only in tiny packets, and HC-110 is no longer imported. My favourite paper developer vanished with Agfa, so ID-78 took its place.

...as long as someone still makes film....

 

[hrst]

...as long as someone still makes film....

Maybe we will be reading a topic like this one day:

Why make your own film?
- Because it's fun!
- Because you can get something you cannot buy
- Because you can
- Because they are going to discontinue them anyway!
- Because you save money

Been there, done that, and will be doing that again in the future!

That being said, given the current somewhat "niche" status of this hobby and the huge decline from the past, it is really astonishing how many film products we have left. Especially Ilford's commitment to BW is remarkable; and given Kodak's economic situation, they are doing their best for color neg, too. So guess you can't complain too much.