Your fave Ilford paper developer and why....

sperera · May 8, 2009

Your fave developer for Ilford paper range + why

so Ive progressed now to prints at last....I've got Ilfospeed developer and used it at 1 + 9 ratio the other night....as opposed to 1 + 4 ratio.....I just wanted to be more economical in its use......BUT whats the diff. in the print.....less contrast? I felt my prints lacked contrast and where a bit too grey all over.......

so.....any comments on this and also what's you fave paper developer and why you use it to what effect.....for example....Dektol is what our Ansel goes on about......anyone like that?

oh, and Ilford cos I got a whole load of it from a wharehouse that was being cleared out and I bought masses of it and Paterson equipment for £25!!!! we're talking LOADS of resin coated and fibre paper (the expensive stuff) plus loads of equipment here......amazing luck!

Keith Tapscott. · May 8, 2009

I`m not surprised, Ilfospeed developer was discontinued years ago, so it has probably gone off. Discard the Ilfospeed and buy some new Multigrade or PQ-Universal or another manufacturers equivalent paper developer.

Shangheye · May 8, 2009

I would also do a fog test on the paper...nothing more frustrating as a newbie than discovering that all your initial work and exposure times etc are worthless because of out of date developer or paper...I am speaking from experience...K

sperera · May 8, 2009

is there a test i can do to KNOW whether it's off or not? i guess buy another make...thing is I have like 10 bottles of it

sperera · May 8, 2009

Shangheye said:
I would also do a fog test on the paper...nothing more frustrating as a newbie than discovering that all your initial work and exposure times etc are worthless because of out of date developer or paper...I am speaking from experience...K

can you describe how you fog-test?

Keith Tapscott. · May 8, 2009

Another cause might be out of date paper that is losing speed and contrast although there could be other causes as well.

sperera · May 8, 2009

now THAT be suck....cos i have loads of it....it IS out of date of course.....

one thing though....I also scanned the same negative to see what was up and pulled the curve right at the midtones to make the image darker and it gave me the same look as the print....so perhaps the negative is very flat and its the negs fault.....

i will try a high contrast neg i guess......

Shangheye · May 8, 2009

Take the paper unexposed, cut it in to 3 strips and develop for 1 min, 2 min and 3 min (I am sssuming FB paper here) in fresh developer. After fixing and drying, compare them...are they the same colour or is there a graying with development time? Fogging shows up as greying (effectively exposure) of the paper. The development time changes helps since if the paper is old, it may be slower and need longer times to show the fogging (wierd I know, but speed and fogging kind of work against each other I have been told)...

To test the developer. Take a strip of unexposed paper. Expose for two seconds with the aperture at full open on the enlarger (no neg!). Then develop for the recommended time. Then fix and dry. Do you have a true black? If not, then the developer is likely depleted...

Rgds, Kal

Tom Stanworth · May 10, 2009

I use MG dev. Why? bec it does what it is supposed to with loads of shelf life, tray life and capacity. i get prints that look good. I am about to give PQ a go, but dont expect to see any difference that matters in the grand scheme of things.

david b · May 10, 2009

I have used lots of Mulitgrade developer and like it for somewhat neutral prints, but I like the warmtone developer even more. So much so, that I current have about 20 liters in my darkroom. I never got to try to cool tone, so I figured I'd better stock up.

Pete H · May 10, 2009

Multigrade is my standard, but I still have 3 litres of Cooltone left (going down rapidly) ... I love the blacks you can get from it.

Peter Schrager · May 10, 2009

PQ developer

Ilford PQ is outstanding with varycon paper which is a little on the warm side... also use it for making great platinum negs with my older tri-x stash....
Best, Peter

Your fave Ilford paper developer and why....

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