Roger Hicks
Veteran
Microphen is just going back into production in the next few weeks; I've just done a toad rest of it and Perceptol for Shutterbug, which will probably appear in 2-3 months time.
Good speed increasing developers such as Microphen give a true ISO seed increase (ISO conditions of density and contrast) of around 2/3 stop, maybe a little more. The penalty is coqrser grain. Fine grain devs give finer grain, but at the expense of a speed loss, again typically 2/3 stop but it can be more.
In other words, HP5 is around ISO 400 in D76, ISO 250 in Perceptol, ISO 650 in Microphen. As I say, these are true ISO speeds, scientifically replicable; you may prefer different exposure indices (EIs) but that's another matter.
Acutance developers such as Paterson FX39 do give higher sharpness, but slightly coarser grain.
Some film-dev combinations are 'magic' such as Paterson Acupan 200 in FX39 or HP5 or Tri-X in almost anything, Some films have a very small developer repertoire and are extremely picky about times and dilutions: I found Fuji Acros to be in this group, though it can deliver superb results when you finally get it right.
As you may guess from the above, while I heartily agree with JLW that you can standardize on any one of a number of developers, with convenience and ease of purchase being major considerations, I really don't think that distinguishing between different developers is hair-splitting. This is especially true when you consider that some deliver twice the true film speed of others. Most developers do what it says on the box or bottle, but they don't all promise to do the same thing.
You might want to have a look at the Photo School on www.rogerandfrances.com for more ideas and information.
Cheers,
Roger
Good speed increasing developers such as Microphen give a true ISO seed increase (ISO conditions of density and contrast) of around 2/3 stop, maybe a little more. The penalty is coqrser grain. Fine grain devs give finer grain, but at the expense of a speed loss, again typically 2/3 stop but it can be more.
In other words, HP5 is around ISO 400 in D76, ISO 250 in Perceptol, ISO 650 in Microphen. As I say, these are true ISO speeds, scientifically replicable; you may prefer different exposure indices (EIs) but that's another matter.
Acutance developers such as Paterson FX39 do give higher sharpness, but slightly coarser grain.
Some film-dev combinations are 'magic' such as Paterson Acupan 200 in FX39 or HP5 or Tri-X in almost anything, Some films have a very small developer repertoire and are extremely picky about times and dilutions: I found Fuji Acros to be in this group, though it can deliver superb results when you finally get it right.
As you may guess from the above, while I heartily agree with JLW that you can standardize on any one of a number of developers, with convenience and ease of purchase being major considerations, I really don't think that distinguishing between different developers is hair-splitting. This is especially true when you consider that some deliver twice the true film speed of others. Most developers do what it says on the box or bottle, but they don't all promise to do the same thing.
You might want to have a look at the Photo School on www.rogerandfrances.com for more ideas and information.
Cheers,
Roger
Last edited:
back alley
IMAGES
thanks roger!