Factory-made or home-made chemicals?

[tho60]

own recipes-Orwo cookbook

own recipes-Orwo cookbook

I agree with the poster above that once you have a stock of chemicals you don't run out. That makes it much more convenient than ordering pre-packaged. No special tools needed. I use a cheap pocket scale and mix in a plastic measuring cup. I buy the distilled water from the grocery store because the chemicals seem to keep better than with my well water.

I'm mostly using D-76 but when I was printing I liked to mix D-52 for warmtone papers. That one hasn't been made for years.

Mike

In addition, you can mix the solution you want and do not depend on manufacturer's will. I have purchased the ORWO cookbook from 1968 and I will try some recipes. However, brewing too much developers might lead to confusion. To avoid this, you should use/storage maximum 3 developers at once.

 

[x-ray]

If you're following a formula like D-76 it shouldn't make any difference but it does give you the option of modifying the formula to suite your tastes.

 

[john_s]

............. When we say that factory developers are "overpriced", we are really only saying "cost more than I feel like paying". They are not "overpriced". If they were, other manufacturers would be rushing in as new competitors to take advantage of this earnings bonanza.....

That would be conventional economics, but the market is small and the existing brands (whoever makes them) are well established. Distribution channels are becoming patchy (one supplier in my city of 3 million) which wouldn't help. I was pretty annoyed with Ilford for discontinuing Microphen in packages bigger than 1Litre, and as I said above, HC-110 no longer imported. Hence my move to ID-68. By buying film locally at high prices I'm doing my bit to keep the suppliers going. We're all reacting in various ways to the contraction of our hobby/passion in the market.

 

[Fotohuis]

If I were you, I would import the chemicals yourself. Or does Australia have limitations on photochemicals?

 

[john_s]

If I were you, I would import the chemicals yourself. Or does Australia have limitations on photochemicals?

Luckily at the moment most chemicals are available here with a bit of hunting in some cases. It's certainly worth stocking up while one can.

 

[tho60]

Luckily at the moment most chemicals are available here with a bit of hunting in some cases. It's certainly worth stocking up while one can.

I recommend you Parodinal. It is made from easily available chemicals, so Parodinal is the default developer in Indonesia, the Philippines and so on-where photographic chemicals cannot be purchased. I have mixed two versions: from pure paracetamol powder, and a smaller amount from painkiller pills.

 

[Fotohuis]

I can recommend you "the film developing cookbook, Anchell/Troop" (English language) or "Sammlung Fotografischer Rezepte, U. Raffay" (German language). Here you can read all interesting type developers in a wide range of English, German/Russian concepts.

The Udo Raffay book is written in a very practical way to understand how to make it exactly! Incl. some examples of chemical calculations. However available in German language only. For Dutch people very easy to understand as our language is almost the same.

 

[Ronald M]

D76 mixed from raw chem is so cheap as to not be believed. It is easy to mix a liter or half liter.

I know how fresh it is and I decant to 4 or 8 oz bottles so it is very consistent development for 6 months. I have run exacting controlled tests.

prints can be remade so perfect developer activity is not as big a requirement. not that you can use old oxidized developer.

I need either TF4 or Rapid fix for tab film. I have not investigated making either. Since I use fix one shot, I use the leftover for prints followed by a quick fix in fresh fix.

Hypo clear in 5 gal size is as cheap to buy as make. I break the rules and do partial mix of package and never had a problem.

Ilford D400 in current iteration looks terrible in D76. DDX or Xtol work very well. DDX is a great developer, but you have no idea how long it sat on a store shelf. Same as any other liquid developer. You can not read the date codes and it does not change color so film development is a surprise I do not need.

Have not looked into mixing a Xtol clone and am not interested in 5 gallon batches. Again it does not change color. Kodak has told me there is no reliable home test to check activity. I guess you need to run a whole roll of grey scales and print them. When it works, it works well.

 

[mdarnton]

There was an article in the magazine CAMERA 35 in the early 70s about making photo solutions from scratch with cooking measuring spoons. I read the article, checked my spoons against an expensive accurate scale, and never bought D76 or Dektol again after that. A decade or so, with Ebay and $10 digital scales, I bought a nice digital scale and ditched the spoons.

There's no reason at all to buy common pre-mixed chemicals. From scratch is incredibly easy, dirt cheap, ecologically more sound, and I never have to worry about running out of anything because each bottle of chemical lasts just about forever. The initial purchase price isn't too stiff, and you can use Borax and Washing Soda from the grocery store, yes, you can.

[Nearly] ANY excuse not to mix your own if you are in this for the long haul and can make something yourself that you use is totally bogus. 🙂

 

[randy stewart]

DIY photo chemistry

DIY photo chemistry

I got into mixing my own photo chemistry in the mid-1970s. Apart from factory publications (Kodak), before that there was little information about "how to" and formulas. I first got into it because I tended to shoot large batches of film at one time with nothing more until the packaged chemistry had aged out - a economy thing for me. Then, I started experimenting with developer formulas not sold commercially. This was all pre-internet (gasp!), so information available was a small fraction of what we have now. If you want to experiment, you have a huge initial investment in various chemicals, but your initial purchase may last 20 years for most of the items. At this time, I can when desired prepare B&W of almost any sort, C-41 (the real formulas) and E-6 (6-step). I do my own color because of the huge degradation of quality from labs these days, plus the (for me) unacceptable compromises built into the prevailing 3-step color kits. The huge cost of savings for chemistry consumption doesn't hurt either. For B&W, is there a quality compromise in not using commercial developers? IMO, not at all. Polls here show that the majority of folks use HC-110 or Rodinal, neither of which can be reliably cobbled up at home. However, compared to something simple to DIY, like D-76, these developers produce observably inferior results (their popularity being based on ease of use and storage life rather than best results for most films). Such considerations disappear when you DIY. Frankly, I recommend to anyone wanting to prepare their own chemistry: (1) skip color - the chemistry is quite tedious to prepare; (2) limit equipment to a modern office digital scale and some beakers; (3) buy fixer and stop bath commercially - very little to no savings here; (4) chose a couple of traditional developers to fully try - Since you are DIY, you can try anything; and (5) make larger batches to save time, then divide into small plastic bottle and freeze until use - lasts for ever; most formulas will take this treatment.

 

[sepiareverb]

I mix D96 from the raw chemicals and back when I printed on Agfa Insignia and Record I used to make a Selectol-Soft converter solution I would add to Kodak Selectol (or was it Dektol? Long time ago). I’ve played around with many formulas over the years but have settled on a few factory made liquid concentrates for all my developers except for Ilford Perceptol and D96.

 

[narsuitus]

Many years ago, I used raw chemicals to mix a 2-bath developer for my black & white roll film and sheet film.

After a long hiatus, I have recently started developing black & white film again but this time using commercially available Kodak D-76.

After stumbling upon this resurrected thread, I have been inspired to once again mix my own developer from raw chemicals. What are possible sources for the raw chemicals?

 

[sepiareverb]

https://www.artcraftchemicals.com/products/

 

[narsuitus]

https://www.artcraftchemicals.com/products/

Thanks Bob,

They had the six chemicals I needed.

I just placed an order.