I had no idea!!

I'm just starting processing b&w again, and over the course of about three weeks I got all the equipment I need from eBay. I didn't go for a starter kit, I just bought individual items. I now have a 2-spool dev tank, a changing bag, seven measuring cylinders, two chemical stirrers, a thermometer, and a couple of syringes (free from my local pharmacy). About £50 in total.
 
Ok, so what chemicals should I look at? Right now I have some rolls of Neopan 400 and 1600 (I bought them because I really liked the grain/contrast of that film from some of the shots I've seen on here), and a couple rolls of Tri-X 400 because I've been told that it is the classic B&W film. I'd like to have high-contrast and medium to high grain.

So what are my options for developer? If you could also include a type of stop-bath and fixer that works well with that developer, that would be awesome.
 
Hrm. Developer depends on the person developing the film. I'm using Rodinal almost exclusively with the occasional dip in Diafine. I would suggest starting with an easy-to-find, cheap developer such as D-76 or ID-11. With both Diafine and Rodinal I just use a regular old Kodak Fixer.
 
I've been developing my own B/W for a few months now. If I can do it, it's beyond easy. When I started out I wasn't even paying attention to temperature or being all that anal about development times and I got acceptable results. Now that I'm being more careful (I actually have a thermometer that works now) I can really see a difference.

Right now I feel comfortable developing Tri-X and Neopan 400 in D-76 1:1. I've also developed some Ilford HP5 but wasn't as happy with it. I don't know if it was what I did with it (the roll of Tri-X that I developed at the same time came out fine) or the film itself.

Have fun!
 
Heh, Melanie...I remember when you started a thread like this. HP5 and D-76 weren't my favorite either, which is why I started looking for another developer. Now I'm not using HP5 anymore. :)
 
I've heard a lot on these forums about Rodinal and Xtol - how well do these developers work with Neopan and Tri-X? Also, does it really matter which brand name of fixer and stop bath you use?

Adorama seems to have great prices on their own 'house brand' of darkroom supplies (dev tanks, etc). Any one have experience with their stuff?
 
Rodinal at least works very well with Neopan and Tri-X in my experience.

As far as I know, the brand of stop/fixer does not matter at all, but you need to get a suitable fixer, as there are different kinds.

I use Agfa Rodinal and Kodak Tmax developers and some Ilford fixer (multigrade (non-hardening) I think, diluted as recommended for film use).

I have not tried Xtol, it seemed to complicated with all the solutions and shelf life. Rodinal is truly simple. I rather switch film than developer, which is why I move from Delta/Tmax to Neopan, Fp4+ and Tri-X.

/Håkan
 
Xtol works great with Tri-x and Fuji Acros, you can use plain tap water for stop bath, I do it all the time. Xtol is also less toxic, if that bothers you.

Good Luck,
Todd
 
Speaking of - can all of these chemicals just be washed down the drain after you're finished with them? Or do you have to dispose of them in a special way?
 
A word about scanning!

A word about scanning!

I am in the same boat...just got back into 35mm B&W and developing my own film. I love it! I am already taking the plunge into getting my own darkroom...off to buy a used enlarger this weekend! But the one thing I would REALLY recommend is finding a B&W film that scans well with your particular scanner. I have a cheap negative scanner (Visioneer One Touch) and I bought about 8 rolls of Ilford Delta Pro 400. After I started taking pictures with the film and developing them I found that they would not scan properly. My current theory is that the silver in the negatives gave my scanner trouble. (I posted earlier in the week in this forum on my troubles!) So maybe you might want to try out a few of the most popular B&W films and see which one looks best when scanned. Just a thought to consider!! I ended up solving my particular problem by scanning the negatives as a slide and then inverting them in Photoshop.

Nancy
 
SuitePhoto said:
Speaking of - can all of these chemicals just be washed down the drain after you're finished with them? Or do you have to dispose of them in a special way?
Click to expand...
I dump everything down the drain except for the fixer. I will be bring that to a municipal hazardous waste program site when I have a gallons of it.
 
FWIW:

Scanning is easier if you purposefully underdevelop your negatives. If you're having a hard time getting good tonal range out of your scanner, expose the film like normal, but pull development back 15-20% as a starting point. Scanners respond well to the thin areas in negatives but often have a hard time penetrating very dense highlights.

Fixer contains heavy metal (silver!) after it's been used. You're legally okay flushing small quantities like this down most municipal sewer systems, but you ought to make an effort to collect your used fixer in a jug to be given to a local school/college/university for recovery, or to dispose of it properly through a home hazardous waste program. Remember that fixer can be re-used over and over until it's finally exhausted, you can order Edwal Hypo-Chek from most darkroom supply stores, a single drop of which will tell you whether your fixer's gone bad.

As for developers? I've recently been playing around with XTOL (for the novelty of a new developer, I guess) but I would recommend Rodinal and HC-110 to begin with, because they're simple and compliment each other well. On the other hand, I haven't seen Rodinal in stores for awhile, so you might have to chase down one of its clones like Calbe R09. The internet standard reference for HC-110 can be found here: http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

Good luck!
 
Let's take a practical approach here.
How many rolls are you planning to process a month?
If you answer less than 10 go for HC-110 which last a long time and seems to be a very good "standard" developer. It is also a liquid concnetrate, so no powders to dissolve :cool: ... just get a syringe from your phramacist to masure the concentrate syrup.
HC-110 should work fine with most films.

As per stop and fix, the brand is irrelevant.

My personal reccomendation is that you learn to wash your film using the AGFA/Ilford methid which saves a lot of water, time and renders archival negatives.


SuitePhoto said:
Ok, so what chemicals should I look at? Right now I have some rolls of Neopan 400 and 1600 (I bought them because I really liked the grain/contrast of that film from some of the shots I've seen on here), and a couple rolls of Tri-X 400 because I've been told that it is the classic B&W film. I'd like to have high-contrast and medium to high grain.

So what are my options for developer? If you could also include a type of stop-bath and fixer that works well with that developer, that would be awesome.
Click to expand...
 
Ok, I'm about to pull the trigger on everything i'll need to develop my own negs - everything is in my Adorama shopping cart. Here's the list, let me know if I'm missing any thing:

2 roll Dev tank w/ two reels (all stainless)
1 package of Kodak Xtol developer to make 5 liters
2 packs of Kodak fixer to make 1 liter per pack
16oz bottle of Photo-Flo
2 chemical stiring paddles
16oz funnel
1 1000ml pitcher
2 300ml plastic graduates
1 100ml plastic graduates
2 half-gallon chemical storage containers
1 collapseable 32oz container
1 collapseable 64oz container
Dial faced stem thermometer

So does this look like a darkroom in a box?
 
Hi Mike, I would also include some hypo-clear. It's not required, but it helps cut down washing times. there's Kodak's Hypo-Clear (powder) or Heico Permawash (liquid)...

don't forget your changing bag, if you don't have one already
 
SuitePhoto said:
I've heard a lot on these forums about Rodinal and Xtol - how well do these developers work with Neopan and Tri-X? Also, does it really matter which brand name of fixer and stop bath you use?

Adorama seems to have great prices on their own 'house brand' of darkroom supplies (dev tanks, etc). Any one have experience with their stuff?
Click to expand...


I find the house brand paper delivers good results. If I were to guess I would say it is Ilford under a different lable because the characteristics are identical. There is a considerable savings on their paper compared to the name brands.
Dan
 
I use a mixed flow - process negs myself, but scan and print digitally using an enson and printer
 
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