Chemicals to universally dev different bxw stock ?

W

welshzorki

Established
Local time
9:44 PM
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Messages
63
As the title states, i'm looking for chemicals to dev bxw 35mm films of different types. So i'm in the UK i have some HP5, some tri-x and some fomapan200 exposed. Are there dev/fixer brands that will dev all or what are you preferences ? It would be for small runs of maybe one or two rolls at a time, in a patterson or jobo style tank.

Hit me with your suggestions please.
 
Just about anything you can buy off any regular online store. There are very few and rather special developers (which you will usually have to mix from scratch, as they only exist as a recipe, not as a ready-mix kit) that will visibly fail with one of them, provided that you develop each film type separately for the appropriate time. Indeed, even with films much less similar than the three mentioned ones it is rather hard to find a factory-made developer that will not (when properly used) deliver at least decent results with every film - at the very worst (using developers intended to boost the acutance on slow film) you will end up with more grain and slightly more or less speed than you bargained for.

Truly special developers (and matching special film) only exist outside the realm of pictorial photography - if you want to use copy or aerial film for pictorial photography you will have to use special developers that would turn every photographic film unbearably soft.
 
Pretty much any standard chemicals will work for those B&W film types. With typical developing you would have to process like film together. In other words your trix together, then a tank of your HP5... etc..etc.

Shawn
 
welshzorki said:
As the title states, i'm looking for chemicals to dev bxw 35mm films of different types. So i'm in the UK i have some HP5, some tri-x and some fomapan200 exposed. Are there dev/fixer brands that will dev all or what are you preferences ? It would be for small runs of maybe one or two rolls at a time, in a patterson or jobo style tank.

Hit me with your suggestions please.
Click to expand...

Are you hoping to be able to develop 2 different film stocks at the same time?
 
Swift1 said:
Are you hoping to be able to develop 2 different film stocks at the same time?
Click to expand...

That might actually work out for HP5+ and Tri-X, if you adjust the exposure accordingly - the times for them are within 15% or less of each other with most well-behaved developers. Most photographers might not even notice the difference as that is below the accuracy they aim for in exposing, and even if you are meticulous it will be within the limits of half a stop of pushing/pulling either way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom