All Types of developers

[travelingman]

Hey all,

so i've been developing Tri-x 400/Arista Prem. 400 in Tmax(1:4) developer ever since I've started doing B&W. And basically I see people using all sorts of developer, and particularly nobody using Tmax dev. with tri-x. Anyways I'm just wondering whats the difference between all of these developers.

Basically:
What developer do you use? Why? And why not something else?

Also why doesn't it seem like anybody really uses Tmax dev?

And don't only talk about rodinal! ; )

 

[sojournerphoto]

After this weekend's tests I'm up to 3 developers now, and that will hopefully be it.

Xtol - new to me, but great at 1+1 with FP4, HP5, Acros 100, Tmax 400, Adox CHS25
Rodinal - my other standby, but gives more grain than I really like on FP4 and horrid with HP5
Tmax - I like Tmax P3200 at EI1600 in Tmx using Kodak's time.

Mike

 

[charjohncarter]

I use HC-110h and less Rodinal. I personally do not like Rodinal as well as HC-110h with TriX. But I do like it better when I use Tmax400, I half and half Rodinal/HC-110h with Tmax100. All the other films I use HC-110h. I use both these developers for convenience, my photo friend uses Tmax developer exclusively, I really can't see that he has any edge from it. But he learned with it and has stuck to it. Personally, I really don't think there is a gigantic difference between developers if you have time, temp, agitation nailed. Someone will disagree with me, but for general developers I'll stick with my statement.

 

[Bob Michaels]

<snip> Personally, I really don't think there is a gigantic difference between developers if you have time, temp, agitation nailed. Someone will disagree with me, but for general developers I'll stick with my statement.

I will agree with you.

And I happen to use HC110 and Rodinal as well. They are very convenient being one shot liquids, and they work well for me. It took me a while but I realized that more complex does not automatically mean better. So I tend towards easy things that work.

 

[fixbones]

Why HC110 rather than Rodinal? Is it because of grains?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I just developed a Roll of Tri-X in Tmax just to try it. Didn't like it; D-76 gives nicer tonality. Grain and sharpness were fine with Tmax Dev. Tmax developer works magnificently with Tmax 3200 and is very nice for Tmax 400 too, but I have never liked the results with it on any traditional-emulsion film (Kodak Tmax and Ilford Delta films use flat grains, traditional films use cube-shaped grains).

For Tri-X D-76 1+1 is really the best overall developer. Rodinal gives beautiful tonality but is grainy.

 

[Bob Michaels]

Why HC110 rather than Rodinal? Is it because of grains?

My standard film is Neopan 400.

120 is always in Rodinal.

35mm is where I am undecided because of the more visible grain with Rodinal. I will use Rodinal for around six months or until I finish what I am working on. Then I will end up using HC110 for six months or so. I have been back and forth about 5-6 times and never been able to exclude one or the other.

 

[charjohncarter]

Why HC110 rather than Rodinal? Is it because of grains?

I think you are, also, asking me; grain (a little bit), but more I, and this is personal, just didn't like the look I got with Rodinal (with TriX), plus it was hard for me to digitalize it. So I still use HC-110h with TriX and am happy. By the way, grain with Rodinal and TriX (35mm) doesn't have to be all that bad:

 

[travelingman]

I just developed a Roll of Tri-X in Tmax just to try it. Didn't like it; D-76 gives nicer tonality. Grain and sharpness were fine with Tmax Dev. Tmax developer works magnificently with Tmax 3200 and is very nice for Tmax 400 too, but I have never liked the results with it on any traditional-emulsion film (Kodak Tmax and Ilford Delta films use flat grains, traditional films use cube-shaped grains).

For Tri-X D-76 1+1 is really the best overall developer. Rodinal gives beautiful tonality but is grainy.

How exactly is D-76 Tonality nicer? Is D-76 tonality less/worse then Rodinal? but better then Tmax and better tonality to grain?

 

[mwooten]

Years ago I used to use Ilford's Ilfotec HC and really liked it. It kept rather well in the bathroom closet, and it mixed up pretty good too. I always liked the measurement with that developer-- one ounce of HC and thirty-one ounces of water gave a quart of working solution. I tried Ilford's "S" developer. I forget it full name. It went off too quickly for me and my amount of work.

This latest incarnation of my analogue photography is with Rodinal and Xtol. The Xtol seems to me to work better for 35mm stuff, and the Rodinal for 120. I have about a half dozen Mason jars of Xtol in the closet to use up -- so it will be my developer for right now.

--michael

 

[Roger Hicks]

Tonality - grain - speed - sharpness - price - keeping qualities.

All developers are a compromise. Many are different compromises e.g. a fine-grain developer will indeed give you finer grain but at the expense of maybe half the true ISO speed of the same film in a speed increasing developer, while a high-acutance (high sharpness) developer will be coarser grained than one designed for fine grain. There'a a ehole module on this on my site: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps neg development 1.html.

For the meaning of 'true ISO speed' see http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps iso speeds.html.

Cheers,

R.