Developer life?

[ChrisN]

Hi - absolute newbie here where developing is concerned. I've only been developing my own for about a month, and I'm up to my eighth roll of HP5+ film. I'm using Ilford Ilfotec DD-X, which is all I could find in the local shops, along with appropriate Ilford stop bath and fixer. Now my question concerns the life of the developer. I downloaded the information sheet from the Ilford website, and found the bit that says that even though Ilfotec DD-X is best as a one-shot developer (throw away after use) it also says you can develop up to 10 rolls per litre of solution, by extending the developing time according to the table of times given. Now I'm up to my 8th roll, and I'm reasonably happy with the results, but I only just noticed that they also advise not keeping the mixed developer solution for more than 24 hours! Mine is now over three weeks old.

Is developer life critical? Here are two exposures from my last roll - I picked the most over-exposed and the most under-exposed, both scanned with the same settings. Could anyone advise whether they appear to be suffering from any obvious fault in the developing process? Thanks.

 

[titrisol]

DDX in the bottle (without diluting) has a reasonably long shelf life and is an excellent developer.

I generally used DDX one-shot. Once you mix the required quantity of developer use it once and down the drain it goes.....
The only exception is when you are going to do several rolls in one session (which has become common practice to me). I do 2 35mm at once or 1 120 in Patterson-like tanks.
I prepare 1l of solution (1+4 or 1+9) and then use Ilfords reccomendation and after the session is down the drain.... at most I'll use it the following night.

To make sure your solution is alive, drop the leader of the film you ar eabout to develop into it, agitate and observe the time it takes for the leader to become dark-gray (almost black). That time multiplied by 5 should give you an excellent estimate of your development time.

 

[ChrisN]

Thanks for the suggestions, Mango and titrisol - I'll certainly try that trick with the leader.

Chris

 

[Poptart]

I think what they probably mean is that the diluted solution should be used within 24 hours after mixing. The re-use times are for labs that develop roll after roll one after another. With dilute developers you're safter tossing it out after use. Even the second use will have a lot of bromide already in the solution.