Developer for slow films.

[Stephanie Brim]

We all know I use Diafine as my main developer, but I want something for slow films that won't give me horrible grain. I'm thinking of possibly picking up a few rolls of Efke 25 and some more Pan-F. Anyone have an opinion? All will be carefully considered...these rolls will be used for both my current projects.

 

[kaiyen]

If you go with such low grain film, you can use slightly higher acutance developer to keep the sharpness. If you use a low grain developer like perceptol you'll probably be a bit underwhelmed by the lack of sharpness.

FX-39 is a good acutance developer with low grain characteristics, but it has a relatively short shelf life. Perhaps try D76 or XTOL 1+3. Good compromise there.

allan

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Anything in liquid concentrate that has a really long shelf life (6 months or so)? I know that in the next few weeks I'm going to be shooting anything that moves with my camera, but I still have a feeling that I won't develop more than 5-6 rolls a week. Can't remember how many a gallon of D76 can handle.

And how is Rodinal with these films?

 

[kaiyen]

5-6 rolls a week? That's like 3 tanks a week. Assuming each tank holds 20 oz...let's go with 24. So 6 oz + 18 oz of water. That's about 21 tanks to the gallon...which is a lot of weeks 🙂.

It is just about 5 months, so that's less than the 6 month shelf life of D76. However...Rodinal is extremely popular for Efke films, and that might be a good first candidate.

allan

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Course, I'd have to find Rodinal first.

Has anyone used the Photographer's Formulary clone?

 

[Trius]

As much as I love Rodinal, HC-110 is a good choice, too. The concentrate has very long shelf life, acutance is good in my experience, and it is very flexible.

 

[titrisol]

D76 if you break the gallon into many small bottles (cough syrup or green soda) will last for a year or more. You can also buy the srpint or the nacco clones that are in liquid form.

I've been lucky with DDX lasting me over a year after opening, and even though I haven;t tried it with EFKE 25 it should work at high dilution 1+9 or 1+15.

Rodinal shoul dbe available, there was some in my local photo store, otherwise Calbe R09 is the same (from jandc). The PF clone should be good, but is it a powder or a liqudi?

HC-110 should be another alternative, and you can pervert it with some vitamin C to give it a bit more "punch" 😉

 

[Stephanie Brim]

It think the PF is liquid...but I'm not sure. I'm going to look into HC-110. If all else fails I'll just go with a liquid form of D76 and, for the first time, dilute the stock.

 

[peterc]

Perceptol. If you use one of those bottles you can squeeze the air out of the stock solution will keep for 6 months. With Pan-F in Perceptol you'll have a hard time finding the grain.

Peter

 

[jano]

I read up on varioius websites a while ago that rodinal + efke were a good combo. I've only got xtol at home, and have some efke on order so I'll be trying that combo in the next several weeks *shrug*

 

[kaiyen]

I think Perceptol would be too much of a sharpness loss on Pan F or Efke 25. The apparent sharpness would be almost gone. Maybe at 1+3, but perhaps that wouldn't be enough. I'd go with Rodinal (or one of the clones) or HC-110 (which I hadn't thought of - good point).

I still think XTOL is worth a try with just about any film. If you're shooting a slow speed, low grain film, then try it at 1+3.

It's weird that I haven't even tried XTOL but I recommend it so much. What I know is that it's got the versatility of D76 but it's perhaps the most current developer formula out there right now (PC-TEA and FX-50 being roughly equivalent). Normally I'd suggest D76 first, but if you got XTOL...go for it.

allan

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I think I may try Rodinal first and then if I don't like that I'll try Perceptol or just go back to using D76. Does anyone know the best place for someone in the states to get Rodinal or a clone? JandC has the clone, of course, but is there anywhere that I could get Rodinal that would take Paypal?

 

[doubs43]

D76 if you break the gallon into many small bottles (cough syrup or green soda) will last for a year or more. You can also buy the srpint or the nacco clones that are in liquid form. <Snip>

I have a stock of quart-size brown glass IBC rootbeer bottles that I'll eventually use for photo chemicals. I buy them from the Dollar Store for $1 a quart and I get to drink the rootbeer too! Good stuff!! 😀

A developer you may want to consider is Accufine. Many years ago I sent a roll of Panatomic-X (ASA 32) to my father because I didn't have the facilities available to develope film. I can check the time he used but it seems to me that it was 3 1/2 minutes. I've made some HUGE enlargements from that roll of film and it holds up VERY well.

Walker

 

[Dracotype]

Ilfosol S. I know it isn't very long lasting, but if you are going to use it as fast as you say you are, then I wouldn't worry. Especially if you got it in small batches (I think they are sold in 500ml bottles 😕 ?). I have only tried FP4 with Ilfosol, but I liked the results alot. Alot of bite, which I like.

Drew

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Now for yet another question: if you're in the states and you have a shop near by that sells Rodinal, can you tell me how much a 500ml bottle would be? I'd be interested if there was anyone willing to take Paypal and then ship it to me. I'd rather have Rodinal than the clone, but if I can't get anyone to do this I may just have to get some R09 from J and C.

 

[derevaun]

A neat trick with Rodinal is to add some sodium ascorbate and borax to the 1+50 dilution. It's said to mitigate grain clumping and increase activity. It seemed to do just that in the couple rolls of 16mm Tri-X I tried it with. I read about it in this article, at the bottom of the page.

 

[titrisol]

Calbe R09 (JandC) is not a clone, they claim is the oldest version of Rodinal.
Have not tried it yet, but as soon as my hot-rod runs out I'll buy from them.
Not sure if they take Paypal, but they'll take credit cards.

In my local photo store a 500ml of Rodinal was soemthing like $15 last time I checked

I think I may try Rodinal first and then if I don't like that I'll try Perceptol or just go back to using D76. Does anyone know the best place for someone in the states to get Rodinal or a clone? JandC has the clone, of course, but is there anywhere that I could get Rodinal that would take Paypal?

Just did this, look at the RESULTS HERE . It was FP4 though.

A neat trick with Rodinal is to add some sodium ascorbate and borax to the 1+50 dilution. It's said to mitigate grain clumping and increase activity. It seemed to do just that in the couple rolls of 16mm Tri-X I tried it with. I read about it in this article, at the bottom of the page.

 

[varjag]

The effect of developer on sharpness depends a lot on film format. With 6x6 and larger you can have fine sharpness with classic lowgrain formulas.

When shooting portraits or human body you'd primarily want smooth range of tones, razor sharpness is rarely an objective. You'd have hard time getting low grain out of most acutance developers, though again, it'd be less perceivable on larger formats.

 

[Hektor]

Steph, I've used FX39 with the films you mention with excellent results

D76 is very good too, and so cheap to use one shot (not diluted). Just throw the unused stuff away when it gets too old.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I just got my 500ml bottle of Rodinal from J and C (fast shipping, definitely) and I can't wait to use it! I'm going to load some Neopan 100 in my Canon and I have some Pan-F in my Olympus Pen EE. I'm going to go crazy taking photos today and tomorrow so that I can dunk both rolls when I get off work tomorrow night. So excited.