How do you do temperature control?

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CronoZero

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Hi everyone!

First post from me despite lurking for a bit. I was looking to try developing my b&w film myself but wondered how everyone controls their chemical temperature during development. I'm a chemical engineer going for a Ph. D., so temperature control to me is a very specific thing.

Do you guys, say, use a water bath or heating elements with flowing developer to ensure a constant 23C or is that just room temperature/temperature you guys try to stick to?

Thanks!

Aaron
 
Dear Aaron,

Water baths are good, but quite honestly, development is FAR less critical than a chemical engineer might expect, and to start with, time/temperature curves or charts are all you need.

Take the temperature before AND AFTER development, so you have a good idea of the average temperature. The whole process is sufficiently flexiible that you can define 'average' how you will.

Oh: and welcome.

Cheers,

R.
 
I was really curious about this too. I'm developing in Hong Kong. I seem to either be below or above the 20 degree magic mark. I can achieve. . .eventually, but if it is sitting at 18-19 or 21-22 degrees, what's the deal? Is there compensation for this one way or the other, and does it matter?

I mean, I could reach the desired temperature and have it go up or down ast the end of ten minutes.

Interested in this one.

DB
 
I simply fill a large bucket with water and mix warm and hot till it is 20 c.
From that bucket i mix for developing, fixing and washing ... pretty easy ;)
 
Borger that is almost the same as I do. My fixer is usually mixed so I make the bucket the same as the fixer temp which is room temperature. I have enough water for dev, water stop and washing using the ilford wash method.
 
Depends where you live! In the winter the heating is set to 20c. In the summer the basement is 20c. I just put my water and chems. downstairs during the warm months.
 
Mix bucket of water to 22 degrees. Put chemicals in bottles into it. Check before I am going to use them that they are around 20 degrees. If lower add hot water to bucket, if higher let them cool down. After that don't worry about temperature. Have a multimeter that measures temperature.
 
The heating is set at 21, so I just let everything come to room temp, if by some quirk it ever gets any warmer I have one of them fancy graph thingies ... and I rinse at whatever temp the tap-water is at ... hp5 and id11 doesn't seem particularly sensitive and I use that 90% of the time
 
Room temperature is usually around 20°C. I usually develop at 24°C. Filling a bucket with water at 24°C works for me because during the developing time temperature ( 8 - 12' ) does not drop in a sensible way.
robert
 
In colder weather I fill a large bucket with water. I drop in an aquarium heater with the temperature I want (68F), leave for half an hour to get a quick bite to eat and come back to a bucket of water at my desired temperature.

In warmer weather I replace the aquarium heater with ice and check more frequently.
 
Water bath with a thermometer + ice cubes or jug of hot water.

You can use ambient and temperature compensate the time, but best results are 68.

Presoak the film on reels inside EMPTY tank, developer, and fix
in the water bath until they all come to temp. Glass bottles transfer heat faster than plastic.
 
I try to keep the darkroom somewhere between 68 and 72 F. It's a separate room off the main basement and stays pretty consistent with a small ceramic heater. The chemicals are stored on the same shelf with a couple of jugs of distilled water. If the developer is 1:1, I use distilled so the temp doesn't vary from that of the stored chemicals. A mix valve on the wash spigot keeps the wash water within a degree or two of the developer, stop, and fix. That has worked well for me for 30+ years. BTW, it's much better than my first darkroom, a second floor uninsulated kitchen.
 
hi,

I am the opposite. my room temperature is around 30C (86 Fahrenheit). So I develop around it. I have a starting time of roughly half the time it takes to develop at 20C (68F) and then I adjust around this time.

Sometimes I find myself heating up the water to reach 30C...LOL

raytoei
 
I'm fortunate to live in Denver and have a basement that stays at around 19C +/- 1 degree or so. I keep a digital thermometer on the shelf next to the chems. So, I basically go with room temp. I either use pre-mixed chems, or when I mix, I mix with distilled water that's been standing in the dark(bath)room.

If I need some tap water at temp, I just stick a thermometer in a graduate and play with the temp control on the faucet until it's pretty close.

I really don't fuss it much, but I use pretty forgiving film, chems, and processes.
 
presspass said:
I try to keep the darkroom somewhere between 68 and 72 F. It's a separate room off the main basement and stays pretty consistent with a small ceramic heater. The chemicals are stored on the same shelf with a couple of jugs of distilled water. If the developer is 1:1, I use distilled so the temp doesn't vary from that of the stored chemicals. A mix valve on the wash spigot keeps the wash water within a degree or two of the developer, stop, and fix. That has worked well for me for 30+ years. BTW, it's much better than my first darkroom, a second floor uninsulated kitchen.
Click to expand...

Do pretty much the same except since the tempt from my facet varies so much I use distilled water and following the Agfa R3 instructions for washing the film. Adds about .35 to the cost of developing a roll but saves in scanning/post processing vs using my tap water.

FYI for folks using Kodak Chemicals: The PDFs, available for download from Kodak, Often list times for temps of 65, 68, 70, 72 and 75 degrees.
 
I have the luxury of a dedicated darkroom. When i designed and built it in the late 80's I installed a filtered water system and a 3-phase 220 volt water heating system (similar to what a color lab would use). It will give me constant 68F/20C water flow - the advantage is that it only uses power when it is in use and does not drain the hot water heater (cold water intake only).
I keep 3 two-liter "jugs" of water in the sink. these are room-temperature and are used for mixing developers and wash between developer/fix. The room stays pretty constant for most of the year (20C) except in high summer when it can go up to 23-24C (flat roof on top of the building) - but for bl/w it is easy to compensate for that difference.
Washing film is done through the water heating system.
Biggest problem is spring run-offs that can silt up the water supply and I have to change water filters frequently (once a month right now).
If you have problem getting sufficient 20C water flow for filmwashing - use some room temperature water after fixing, fill the film-tank and slowly add the colder water to it. This reduces the shock of the cold water hitting the film.
Modern films are quite resistant to reticulation and 1-2 degrees off is usually not a problem. More than that you can get some "cracking" of the emulsion.
 
I shoot mostly C41, so jobo for me. with b&w, I never notice a serious difference if the temp is less than a few degrees off what it should be. The film I shoot is fairly forgiving so that helps.
 
Wow, I wasn't expecting so many responses, especially when I only got updated like...twice, haha.

Thanks everyone! Bit the bullet, got some supplies, and will develop some rolls when I get everything next week.
 
If I'm developing with D-76 1:1, I use tap water. If too warm, I toss a small ice cube into my stainless tank to cool it down (I've also kept a pitcher of cold water in the fridge during summer). If too cool, I put the tank on the gas stove for a second under a low flame. Fixer stays at room temp.
 
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