Developing Economics

[dazedgonebye]

I develop my black and white in Barry Thornton's 2-bath developer formula for a couple of reasons.

1) It is relatively indifferent to time and temperature (fits my imprecise personality)
2) The results are consistently good across every type of film I've tried (yes, I bet you can beat my results in many circumstances, but it's very good and good enough for me).

Another reason I use the formula is economy. I knew it was cheap to use, but I finally got around to figuring out just how cheap.

The formula (the one I use) is as follows:

80g Sodium Sulfite
6.5g Metol
12g Sodium Metaborate

Factoring in the distilled water at 1 cent/ounce and shipping over the several batches of developer I make with that much chemicals...I figure I make every 2 liter batch for about.....
$5.57

I wish I could tell you how far 2 liters go, but I did mention I'm not precise.
I reuse the formula till the 2nd solution starts to smell like bad old gym socks. I found early on that seemed to correspond to the 24 rolls or so of 35mm film 2 liters was supposed to handle.
My last batch was thrown out after developing:
35 sheets of 4x5
7 rolls of 120
3 rolls of 35mm

Now, the last roll looked pretty much like the first roll, so I assume I could have gone on for some time before tossing it...but it's cheap to make another batch, and I don't want to take any chances.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[venchka]

Steve,

What quantities do you purchase your chemical in? I found sodium sulfite in large sizes that were way cheaper than the usual 1 pound size.

You are going to make me give up Xtol 1:3. At $10/5 liters and 1:3, in theory I can process 50 rolls of film. However, I tend to use more than the minimum. I also use too many different films. That alone is reason to use Barry's developer. Or standardize on one or two films.

Thanks for the good info.

 

[dazedgonebye]

Steve,

What quantities do you purchase your chemical in? I found sodium sulfite in large sizes that were way cheaper than the usual 1 pound size.

You are going to make me give up Xtol 1:3. At $10/5 liters and 1:3, in theory I can process 50 rolls of film. However, I tend to use more than the minimum. I also use too many different films. That alone is reason to use Barry's developer. Or standardize on one or two films.

Thanks for the good info.

I'm not sure Mr. Thornton intended it to be, but it is a great lazy man's formula.
I developed PanF and Tri-x in the same batch yesterday. Takes the worry out of things.

I've been buying in 1 lb quantities, because that's how Freestyle sells it.

 

[venchka]

Not wishing to mess with success, but I think that Photographer's Formulary sells larger sizes of sodium sulfite reducing the cost/ounce. They also sell the other bits.

5 and 10 pound sizes:

http://www.photoformulary.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=2&tabid=9&CategoryID=28&langID=0