oscroft
Veteran
I restarted my b&w developing recently, and thanks to recommendations from you fine folks here I started with a bottle of Rodinal (I'd used ID-11 and Acutol in the old days). I'm pretty impressed, even with Delta 400 (though Delta 400 is an impressively fine grained film for a 400). Also, being a liquid concentrate, it's very easy to use, and it keeps well. But it's not so great with HP5+, which does seem to come out a bit lumpy (though I might be unfairly comparing it to Delta 400).
So I'd like to try a developer that is considered to work well with higher speed films (from HP5+ and Delta 400 up to Neopan 1600). Ideally, it would be a liquid concentrate with a decent shelf life - I'm only shooting one or two films a week right now, and that's while I have new gear to test. (Making up and storing large volumes of powdered developers would be a bit of a pain considering my modest throughput, but I'll do it if necessary).
So, opinions would be very much appreciated.
So I'd like to try a developer that is considered to work well with higher speed films (from HP5+ and Delta 400 up to Neopan 1600). Ideally, it would be a liquid concentrate with a decent shelf life - I'm only shooting one or two films a week right now, and that's while I have new gear to test. (Making up and storing large volumes of powdered developers would be a bit of a pain considering my modest throughput, but I'll do it if necessary).
So, opinions would be very much appreciated.
K
Kin Lau
Guest
HC110 (concentrate), otherwise Diafine. Both store for just about forever.
I typically use Rodinal for slow films, HC110 for speed both for faster development time and push processing. Diafine's a premixed developer that's a bit hard to find at times (you'll like have to order from the US) but quite unique in it's character. Do a search here and on photo.net for the many discussions we've had about it.
I typically use Rodinal for slow films, HC110 for speed both for faster development time and push processing. Diafine's a premixed developer that's a bit hard to find at times (you'll like have to order from the US) but quite unique in it's character. Do a search here and on photo.net for the many discussions we've had about it.
oscroft
Veteran
Brilliant, thanks - I'll do a search for HC110 and Diafine. HC110 seems to be easily available here in the UK, so maybe that's the one for me to try first.
P C Headland
Well-known
oscroft
Veteran
That's interesting - I'll try it before I buy anything new (I'm very pleased with Delta 400 at 1+50, so maybe I don't need to try anything else just yet).
Thanks
kaiyen
local man of mystery
I would've gone with DDX as my first recommendation, but I haven't used HC-110 or Diafine so... 
HP5 and Rodinal has _never_ looked good to me, personally. As you say, the grain is weird. Not grainy or peppery or whatever. Just plain weird.
allan
HP5 and Rodinal has _never_ looked good to me, personally. As you say, the grain is weird. Not grainy or peppery or whatever. Just plain weird.
allan
oscroft
Veteran
Yeah, it's hard to describe - I think you're right, "weird" is the word for it
Mackinaw
Think Different
While it's a powder, Xtol is very good at delivering the rated speed, and even adding to the speed, of most high speed films. It's my standard developer with Ilford HP5.
Jim Bielecki
Jim Bielecki
SuitePhoto
Established
I second that vote for Xtol. I developed a roll of Neopan 1600 @ 1250 in Xtol 1:1 this weekend. Not only was it my first sucessful try at developing, I'm pretty happy with the results! I just posted a few examples on my gallery.
I just posted a few examples on my gallery.
titrisol
Bottom Feeder
DDX or Xtol would be better
or Clayton F76+ if you live in the US
or Clayton F76+ if you live in the US
goo0h
Well-known
I was just going to ask: overall, how would folks compare Xtol to Clayton F76+?titrisol said:
Clayton F76+ is similar to Ilford's Microphen, right? I believe they are both phenidone-based developers. Browsing around on flickr this past weekend I stumbled upon this series which turns out to have been developed with Microphen:
http://flickr.com/photos/lilian3000/sets/72157594183851869/
Since OP wanted a liquid, perhaps Clayton F76+ would be an adequate alternative to Microphen? However, I haven't seen many threads discussing the times for development of Neopan 1600 with F76+, but perhaps I just haven't looked in the right places yet.
I have to admit this is a topic I have been following closely myself too. I've seen a lot of fine results using the Neopan 1600 + Xtol combo, but have to admit the "sudden death" stories of Xtol have been a bit of a concern. Hence my curiosity with F76+ and/or Microphen.
Oh, then there's DS-10:
http://wiki.silvergrain.org/wiki/index.php/Film_Developer_Recommendations
Have any folks here tried that? I notice he directly raises the issues of Xtol failures and indicates that DS-10 might be more robust. I wonder if folks have had similar experiences?
kaiyen
local man of mystery
I wouldn't worry too much about the sudden death issue of XTOL - just use some caution and it seems like it'll be okay.
But ddx and f76+ are supposedly the same, and both are liquid concentrate, phenidone-based developers, and are therefore extremely close to microphen.
For dev times, always start with the massive dev chart, which lists 8 minutes for EI 1600 of NP1600. 1+9.
allan
But ddx and f76+ are supposedly the same, and both are liquid concentrate, phenidone-based developers, and are therefore extremely close to microphen.
For dev times, always start with the massive dev chart, which lists 8 minutes for EI 1600 of NP1600. 1+9.
allan