Can anyone recommend a b/w film developer?

J

jbrough

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I am starting on a project where I will need to develop Ilford Pan F, Fuji Neopan 1600 and all of the Tmax's (100/400/3200). I know it's a long shot but could anyone recommend one developer that will suit them all? I just don't want to have to buy three separate solutions. Many thanks in advance!

Best,

Jonathan.
 
Consider good old D-76. Another serious contender would be HC-110.

I use Diafine and those two for everything. Diafine, though, isn't good for the Pan F or the Tmax films in my experiance.

William
 
Ilford Pan F, Fuji Neopan 1600 and all of the Tmax's (100/400/3200)...

IMHO, you're better off using different developers. While Rodinal is nearly ideal for the PanF, the conditions under which you'll be shooting Neopan 1600 will likely yield blobs of grain when you develop that with Rodinal. Further, TMX/Y/Z are finicky to begin with, so using the same developer for them will likely yield inconsistent results. XTOL's pretty versatile, but again, across such a wide spectrum, results will likely be inconsistent.

Just my $0.02
 
I'd say D76/ID-11 though I seem to remember others commenting that it wasn't a very good match for Neopan. I do not think Rodinal would be a good choice for the faster emulsions as the grain would be horrendous.

Xtol also looks like it might meet your needs. I know for example that the lab I used a few times in Edinburgh uses it as their standard b/w developer for all films and it gives very nice results in general. The only thing that puts me off it is the reports of sudden-death of the stock solution but if you're developing enough film this won't be a risk.

Matthew
 
Coffee! It's cheap, reliable and drinkable.

Or hc110 if you MUST use commercial preparations. It's actually my favorite (and almost only) developer.
 
William recommends always D-76, and if it weren't for the fact that you have to mix it, I'd second it.

In turn, I'd recommend T-Max (one part developer, four parts water). You only mix what you need, and it has a long shelf life. Besides, you're doing a lot of T-Max so... it should fit with at least some of your stuff.

Good luck! 🙂
 
I would say XTOL, as it is a good speed increase developer for your Neopan 1600, as well as being designed to work well with TMax films. I have not tried it with Pan F, but Kodak lists it on the XTOL package (7minutes at 68 degrees) so it should be fine. You'll need to do a lot of shooting: XTOL comes only in a five liter pack!
 
D76/ID11 or HC-110 or Ilfosol 3. All are good general purpose developers and by varying the dilution can be tuned for excellent results with the films you are using.
 
Its interesting nobody mentioned Tetenal Ultrafin yet...
I have no used one yet (I'm on HC-110, now experimenting with Microphen for high speed), but has a bottle purchased a while back sitting in the closet waiting for its moment...
Plan to try one soon...
 
Definitely another vote for Xtol ... Rodinal doesn't do it for me with high speed emulsions!

It will do all those films you mention well and some brilliantly.🙂
 
Not that your decision isn't complicated enough, but you might want to consider DD-X also. I just did a roll of Neopan 1600 in it and I'm very pleased with the results. I've also done Tmax3200 with good results. I have not done any other Tmax or PanF, but DD-X does well with Delta films, so I would expect good results with Tmax too. Maybe someone else can comment. Shelf life is good. I've had this bottle for 6 months and it's still going strong.

Paul
 
I'll second (or third) the vote for HC110. It's the only developer I've been using for a while; but then, I've only been using it with 400TX, so I can't comment on your films precisely.

I've also had some success with hp5 in HC110, but it seemed to run a little "hot" with the same times used for 400TX.

This developer is really great in dilution H (1:63) for pushing 400TX to 1600 and using significantly reduced agitation. In short, it's very flexible - and keeps just a tad less long than Rodinal, which is to say almost forever.


Cheers,
--joe.
 
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