economical developer

[FrankS]

I use HC-110 developer at 1:100 dilution and am happy with the HP5+ negs I get with it. A 473ml bottle costs about $14. Doing the math, it costs about 9 cents to develop a roll of 135 film, and about 15 cents per roll of 120. Not bad.

 

[Morca007]

Diafine's good until you feel too queasy to keep using it! 😀

 

[thomasw_]

Rodinal at 50 or 100 to 1 is a remarkably economical developer.

 

[Trius]

HC-110 is indeed economical. I think Rodinal is about the same. I'd love to know the economics of Harvey's 777 ... I guess the initial outlay is large, but it lasts forever with just a bit of new batch to replenish once very decade or so. Once I have a darkroom again, I'm going to look into the price of 777.

 

[sienarot]

Rodinal for me. It gets bonus points for having an extremely long shelf life too!

 

[Keith]

Rodinal is good value ... but with my Combi Plan tank it needs to be. It takes a litre of developer to develop six 4x5 negatives! 😱

I'm not going to bother doing the math on that! 😛

 

[venchka]

What's wrong with Xtol, 5 liters for $10? Mix it 1:3, 400ml in the JOBO for 4 sheets of 4x5 and it goes a long way. Also, you only need 100ml/8x10 equivalent. I suppose the D-76 I bought for under $4/gal is kinda cheap too.

 

[infrequent]

any thoughts on making ddx cheaper? higher dilutions or reusing developer?

 

[Trius]

Wayne: XTol is another good choice. Not as cheap as HC-110 or Rodinal, but I am liking the way it works. I'm out now, but when I get some I will be trying it with Pan F+ (35mm) and TX (4x5).

Hope your negs are washing well. 😉

 

[venchka]

You just never know...

You just never know...

Grinning. As luck would have it, about 2 weeks after I paid hard earned money for a print washer, I was GIVEN FREE FOR NOTHING a Zone VI 11x14 print washer. 🙄😀😱 This thing is HEAVY and qualifies as plexiglas sculpture! 😎

 

[David Goldfarb]

I once did the math to see if paRodinal was cheaper than Rodinal, and indeed it is (approx $2.50/500ml for paRodinal using generic acetominophen tablets vs. $15/500ml for Rodinal), and I even like it a little better than Rodinal. So at 1:50 that would be 2.5 cents a roll for 35mm. Of course you could be frugal and dilute it 1:100 to bring it down to 1.25 cents a roll.

 

[Trius]

Holy CRAP, Wayne! The only reason I sold you that 11x14 is I have a 16x20 Zone VI washer 🙂p😛😛😛😛) ... good stuff, buddy. We both be stylin', eh? 😀😀😀😀😀

 

[venchka]

Right on, Bro!

Right on, Bro!

Holy CRAP, Wayne! The only reason I sold you that 11x14 is I have a 16x20 Zone VI washer 🙂p😛😛😛😛) ... good stuff, buddy. We both be stylin', eh? 😀😀😀😀😀

Good grief, Charlie Brown. How do you pick that beast up? Got a baby fork lift in the house? 😱😉😀😎

Check your email for a question about the Zone VI washers.

 

[shadowfox]

Rodinal is good value ... but with my Combi Plan tank it needs to be. It takes a litre of developer to develop six 4x5 negatives! 😱

I'm not going to bother doing the math on that! 😛

Keith, the method I mentioned to you using the paper Unicolor drum and roller uses 200-300ml per four sheets.

🙂

 

[Keith]

Keith, the method I mentioned to you using the paper Unicolor drum and roller uses 200-300ml per four sheets.

🙂

Hey Wil,

The other system that intrigues me is the Paterson Orbital ... I was watching one on eBay the other day but it went for a little more than I was prepared to pay. I quite like that BTZS system ... I would have to make some serious improvements to my darkroom arangements for that setup but that interests me, being able to tailor development to individual negatives.

Strangely I kind of like my Combi Plan ... unusually it doesn't leak and I've managed to get it to fill and drain a little faster to make the development more even. This whole large format mystique where more negative real estate means better images with more detail ... overlooks the 'more developer more fix' spinoff! 😛

I've worked out that a fifteen dollar bottle of Rodinal will develop 100 4x5 negatives at 50+1 using the Combi Plan ... at the rate it takes me to shoot half a dozen exposures when I go out with the Graphic it's not a problem. It took me all afternoon to shoot twelve exposures at an old abandoned farming propert the other day ... in between lugging the tripod and associated equipment around from location to location ... not to mention beating off the flies it's a lengthy process! 😛

 

[titrisol]

any thoughts on making ddx cheaper? higher dilutions or reusing developer?

DDX can be reused within the same session (see the label)
I used to have 6-8 rolls (35mm) ready and 2-3 tanks so 750ml of 1+4 could be used for 6-8 rolls.

 

[shadowfox]

Hey Wil,

The other system that intrigues me is the Paterson Orbital ... I was watching one on eBay the other day but it went for a little more than I was prepared to pay. I quite like that BTZS system ... I would have to make some serious improvements to my darkroom arangements for that setup but that interests me, being able to tailor development to individual negatives.

Strangely I kind of like my Combi Plan ... unusually it doesn't leak and I've managed to get it to fill and drain a little faster to make the development more even. This whole large format mystique where more negative real estate means better images with more detail ... overlooks the 'more developer more fix' spinoff! 😛

I've worked out that a fifteen dollar bottle of Rodinal will develop 100 4x5 negatives at 50+1 using the Combi Plan ... at the rate it takes me to shoot half a dozen exposures when I go out with the Graphic it's not a problem. It took me all afternoon to shoot twelve exposures at an old abandoned farming propert the other day ... in between lugging the tripod and associated equipment around from location to location ... not to mention beating off the flies it's a lengthy process! 😛

I hear ya on the comparative slower rate of burning LF sheets 🙂

About the BTZS thing, I saw a video on a guy demonstrating it... I don't know, looks like a lot of work rotating those tubes by hand in the water... for quite a while.

With the unicolor drum, I put the sheets in (darkbag), pour the dev, set the drum on top of the rotator, switch on, and wait 6 minutes. Then 1 min. stop bath, 3-4 min. fixer. Done.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Keith, the method I mentioned to you using the paper Unicolor drum and roller uses 200-300ml per four sheets.

🙂

On the rare occasions that I use l/f, these days,-I use this rig too, and probably a lot less liquid than Will mentions is needed, due to the constant rotation......just got to make sure the sheets are clear of each other!

Cheers, Dave. 🙂

 

[shadowfox]

Dave, thanks for the photos, they illustrated what I've been babbling about clearly 🙂

How much liquid did you use? I use 200-300ml just to be sure that there's enough for the constant rotation.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Dave, thanks for the photos, they illustrated what I've been babbling about clearly 🙂

How much liquid did you use? I use 200-300ml just to be sure that there's enough for the constant rotation.

Will, I think 100ml. was actually sufficient last time I fired it up!, BTW Roger Hicks gives some exellent advice on this subject in his medium and large format book, it seems most folks use far too much fluid when doing sheets in these, and similar gizmos.
Cheers, Dave. 🙂