Most Commonly Used B&W Film Developer

Most Commonly Used B&W Film Developer

  • Total voters
    417
D76 produces better tonality on trix than microdol or HC110. That´s all i know. I checked what other photographers whose BW i admire the most and it was always 120 trix developed w/ D76.
 
HC-110 for a few years , but have taken to Caffenol CM(RSA) after quite a prolonged testing procedure ( with slower films ) . FWIW , this is a rather green kinda developer ! Peter
 
Back when I was big into b/w film I tried a bunch -- DD-X, Rodinal, Diafine, HC-110 (maybe XTOL too) but always came back to D-76. I got the most consistent results with it, negs always looked good, and it's easy to use. It was also available locally "then" and could walk to a nearby camera store and buy a pack if needed. The rest had to be ordered online. Very forgiving, almost impossible to screw up. Downside was it might oxidize but I bought these collapsable bottles that kept air out. Seemed to work. Rodinal has a virtually indefinite shelf life and was a little sharper (but really, not all "that") and lasts forever but not versatile and definitely more visible grain. Also it had to be diluted so much I never felt confident I got the ratio right (but always did). Diafine caused bromide streaks in some rolls. You can keep it. DD-X was good too but a bit pricey iirc. I didn't see what all the hubbub was about with HC110. It was "okay" but never got on with "the goo" and didn't see it as any better than D-76, so why bother?

So good ole D-76 it was for me.

So here's my "controversial" statement that will upset some. "I" think D-76 is seen as a "for kids" or "starter" developer. Something you use in HS photography class. Grown-ups use (fill in the blank) developer. Kinda like "real" photograhers shoot RAW. Baloney. (And I think that's why although the poll has D-76 in a virtual tie for first? Few people jumping on this thread talking up D-76. C'mon D-76 users. Come out of the closet. It's okay! We both know that this is the best developer out there... No need to be shy.)

Meanwhile, D-76 is perfect. Plentiful, inexpensive, easy, versatile, forgiving, consistent. You can push with it, pull with it mess with the dilution. Forget you have negs in the Jobo, pull them out a week later, they look fine.

Yeah. I'm on team D-76.

But I no longer fool with black and white film. But if I did?

THE MIGHTY

D. SEVENTY. SIX!

The rest you can keep.
 
I'll put in a good word for Diafine 🙂 I had a lot of trouble getting it to work for me early-on, but I finally realized that my frequent under-development symptoms were caused by over-agitation in B. Even though my agitation regimen would have been normal for other developers. This agitation would wash much of the A out of the emulsion before it could fully work.

Agitation is essentially irrelevant in A, where the only thing happening is letting it soak into the emulsion for later activation in B. In B it's critical be be gentle, only enough occasional fluid movement to let development byproducts drift away from the film surface. Time in both A and B is not critical, but be a bit generous, doesn't hurt to let it proceed to exhaustion.

Also, I think the high ISO claims with Diafine are exaggerated. 🙂
I do like Diafine's convenience and longevity.
 
Waaay back in high school, we used TriX and D76.
When I started processing my own 4x5 film recently in 2017, I settled on HC-110. It seemed to offer what I was looking for: ease of storage and use (the liquid concentrate is simple to mix and the concentrate seems to be stable for quite a long time) and consistent results.
Works for me. Still using the first bottle I bought and have no reason to change, so far.

Rob
 
I'm just about to get back into B&W processing after many, many years and this thread has been very helpful to me. I like the sound of HC-110, the shelf life being a big plus, but I understand it's quite a viscous solution. Is it difficult to dissolve fully, any tips? For instance is it better to mix (and how) at a higher temperature and let it cool before use?
 
Ricoh said:
I'm just about to get back into B&W processing after many, many years and this thread has been very helpful to me. I like the sound of HC-110, the shelf life being a big plus, but I understand it's quite a viscous solution. Is it difficult to dissolve fully, any tips? For instance is it better to mix (and how) at a higher temperature and let it cool before use?
Click to expand...

In my limited experience, HC-110 is not difficult to mix. It is easier, for me, than mixing powdered chemicals.

I make up 500ml of working solution at a time--I use it in a Stearman SP-445 daylight tank--and it was a bit fiddly to measure the small amount I needed but, since I figured that out it is quick and repeatable.

I mix using water at my desired temperature and the HC-110 at room temp.

I use 1:31 ratio ( dilution B) which means 16ml HC-110 and 484 ml water.
I have a blunt tipped syringe marked in ml that I thought I'd use to measure the 16ml but that proved to not work very well because of the viscosity. What I did to solve that was to get a small plastic cup, use the syringe to measure 16ml of water, squirt that into the cup and mark the level. With that level marked I now just carefully pour the HC-110 to the mark.
I then rinse the HC-110 into my larger graduate with the water I'm using for my working solution. Once the small cup is well rinsed, I then simply add water to the larger vessel to the 500 ml mark. Mix in normal light and you'll be able to see whether or not the HC-110 is well mixed. And, the working solution will be a homogeneous, pale yellow-ish color.

Easier to do than to describe!

I will also suggest using the "Massive Dev Chart" as a good starting point for times/temps and there is a very useful "Volume Mixer" that makes getting your measurements quite a bit easier. See here:
https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

Good luck and have fun!

Rob
 
I still can’t decide which developers to stock . My list of favourites varies quite widely to make it tough to narrow down to just two or three choices.

So far favourites are

Acros Rollei Retro.80s- both shine in Rodinal
HP5+ and FP4 - at box speed they look best in Ilfosol 3
HP5+ pushed to 1600 , I can’t decide between DDX, Ilfotec HC and Microphen
Delta 3200- Microphen or Ilfotec HC

So for me DDX looks soft, HC looks decent in all situations but nothing riveting , Microphen can look pretty crude which is fine if that’s what you are after. Ilfosol 3 has the Achilles of short life and being a poor choice for pushing. May be in 2019 I’ll come to a decision on films and developers to stick with.
 
rbiemer said:
In my limited experience, HC-110 is not difficult to mix. It is easier, for me, than mixing powdered chemicals.

I make up 500ml of working solution at a time--I use it in a Stearman SP-445 daylight tank--and it was a bit fiddly to measure the small amount I needed but, since I figured that out it is quick and repeatable.

I mix using water at my desired temperature and the HC-110 at room temp.

I use 1:31 ratio ( dilution B) which means 16ml HC-110 and 484 ml water.
I have a blunt tipped syringe marked in ml that I thought I'd use to measure the 16ml but that proved to not work very well because of the viscosity. What I did to solve that was to get a small plastic cup, use the syringe to measure 16ml of water, squirt that into the cup and mark the level. With that level marked I now just carefully pour the HC-110 to the mark.
I then rinse the HC-110 into my larger graduate with the water I'm using for my working solution. Once the small cup is well rinsed, I then simply add water to the larger vessel to the 500 ml mark. Mix in normal light and you'll be able to see whether or not the HC-110 is well mixed. And, the working solution will be a homogeneous, pale yellow-ish color.

Easier to do than to describe!

I will also suggest using the "Massive Dev Chart" as a good starting point for times/temps and there is a very useful "Volume Mixer" that makes getting your measurements quite a bit easier. See here:
https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

Good luck and have fun!

Rob
Click to expand...
Thanks Rob, extremely helpful tips for me to follow.

Thank you kindly 🙂
Steve
 
So almost 18 months later, I've basically come to the conclusion that the difference a developer makes is harder to discern in most cases. For me, a good part of the problem lay in the variability of my hand agitated so-called technique. To fix this, I picked up a used Jobo, and yes, it fixed a lot of problems. There are certain types of low agitation, stand development approaches that a Jobo won't work with, but for many, it eliminates problems.

Even so, seeing the difference between an XTOL, ID-11, D-76 developer... takes a trained eye. Even Pyrocat-HD can be be less of a holy grail than it's often cracked up to be. While it won't be news to a lot of folks, I've come around to the position that 95% of our results won't be differentiated on the basis of developer or film choices, but by lighting and composition. Duh. So I've spent a year with the one film, one camera, one lens, one developer mantra... and there's a lot to be said for keeping it simple and focusing on what comes under the lens rather than the rest.

That said, which ones can make a difference in your confidence in getting the results you want. For me, the year's been all about Delta400, Rollei TLR 3.5F, and Bergger Berspeed. I've also used color: Portra400 and C41 (where the developer manufacturer doesn't matter all that much). C41 processing experience went a long way in terms of convincing me that there's a lot less value derived in these discussions than I'd have thought at the beginning. And Jobo literature will tend to convince you as well that the artsy fartsy agitation techniques have less merit than we want to believe as well.

To use the C41 podcast line, "Just go out and shoot some film, dang it!" Keep it simple and don't get lost in the details. Been there, done that. Glad to have moved on.
 
roscoetuff said:
So almost 18 months later, I've basically come to the conclusion that the difference a developer makes is harder to discern in most cases. For me, a good part of the problem lay in the variability of my hand agitated so-called technique. To fix this, I picked up a used Jobo, and yes, it fixed a lot of problems. There are certain types of low agitation, stand development approaches that a Jobo won't work with, but for many, it eliminates problems.

Even so, seeing the difference between an XTOL, ID-11, D-76 developer... takes a trained eye. Even Pyrocat-HD can be be less of a holy grail than it's often cracked up to be. While it won't be news to a lot of folks, I've come around to the position that 95% of our results won't be differentiated on the basis of developer or film choices, but by lighting and composition. Duh. So I've spent a year with the one film, one camera, one lens, one developer mantra... and there's a lot to be said for keeping it simple and focusing on what comes under the lens rather than the rest.

That said, which ones can make a difference in your confidence in getting the results you want. For me, the year's been all about Delta400, Rollei TLR 3.5F, and Bergger Berspeed. I've also used color: Portra400 and C41 (where the developer manufacturer doesn't matter all that much). C41 processing experience went a long way in terms of convincing me that there's a lot less value derived in these discussions than I'd have thought at the beginning. And Jobo literature will tend to convince you as well that the artsy fartsy agitation techniques have less merit than we want to believe as well.

To use the C41 podcast line, "Just go out and shoot some film, dang it!" Keep it simple and don't get lost in the details. Been there, done that. Glad to have moved on.
Click to expand...

Hard to rationally argue with this, so I won't!
I will say, that I decided that since there are so many other variables, I felt the need to minimize as much as I could the variables in my own process. For me, that has meant choosing a single film for my 4x5 use, a single developer, and as standardized a regime as I can make it. Something like a Jobo would probably work very well toward standardizing my development but I do have a budget and going with the tank I chose and assiduously practicing my agitation are working well enough for me that I can be fairly confident that my failings are not in that part of my photography. If I've composed and exposed well/"correctly", I get good results. If not, I don't.

I am still very early in this part of my photography, having only shot about a hundred or so sheets in the last year or so, but, for now, I have no real reason to change either my film nor my processing. At some indeterminate point later I might want to try another film, possibly a slower one, but the HP5+ is serving me well so far.

The one thing I am planning on changing this year will be to get one more lens. I'm currently shooting with a 135 and want to add or switch to a 150. This would bring me to three options: 35, 150, and the pinhole lensboard. Ought to keep me happy for a while. 🙂

Rob
 
Ricoh said:
I'm just about to get back into B&W processing after many, many years and this thread has been very helpful to me. I like the sound of HC-110, the shelf life being a big plus, but I understand it's quite a viscous solution. Is it difficult to dissolve fully, any tips? For instance is it better to mix (and how) at a higher temperature and let it cool before use?
Click to expand...

Not even slightly difficult to mix into water. It is 100% water soluble and goes into water with even the most minimal agitation. The viscosity of HC-110 is higher than water but extremely low by any other standard. I use a simple 3ml syringe to add it to water. Takes about 45 seconds to measure, add, and mix into 20 C water.
 
NickTrop said:
I didn't see what all the hubbub was about with HC110. It was "okay" but never got on with "the goo" and didn't see it as any better than D-76, so why bother?
Click to expand...

HC-110 was formulated to produce the same results as D-76 but in concentrate form as opposed to powders.

HC-110 is far easier to mix, is unaffected by oxidation so has a much longer shelf life than D-76. Plus, with the various dilutions, one can adjust the timing of their development far more than with D-76.

Basically using HC-110 gives you all the advantages of D-76 without the oxidation that you worry about.

Why bother with D-76?
 
Ted Striker said:
Not even slightly difficult to mix into water. It is 100% water soluble and goes into water with even the most minimal agitation. The viscosity of HC-110 is higher than water but extremely low by any other standard. I use a simple 3ml syringe to add it to water. Takes about 45 seconds to measure, add, and mix into 20 C water.
Click to expand...
Well, that's good enough for me. Thank you very much.
 
Rob:

One of the great things I enjoyed playing with in HC-110 is the level of dilution to use. I don't know whether there's a more flexible developer out there. It's amazing stuff! The only thing I didn't like was that the viscosity is so thick, and the stuff ran so slowing out of the bottle and into the beaker, that I used to worry whether I had too much or too little. Truth is that precision isn't all its cracked up to be. You gotta be close, but you don't have to be precise or you're gonna ding dang dong die. But I only came to that with experience... experience of making mistakes and the stuff still turned out fine.

BTW, I like the shots you've linked to. Yep: you could develop with shoe polish and your content would still look great. Don't do it! Just saying.
 
roscoetuff said:
Rob:

One of the great things I enjoyed playing with in HC-110 is the level of dilution to use. I don't know whether there's a more flexible developer out there. It's amazing stuff! The only thing I didn't like was that the viscosity is so thick, and the stuff ran so slowing out of the bottle and into the beaker, that I used to worry whether I had too much or too little. Truth is that precision isn't all its cracked up to be. You gotta be close, but you don't have to be precise or you're gonna ding dang dong die. But I only came to that with experience... experience of making mistakes and the stuff still turned out fine.

BTW, I like the shots you've linked to. Yep: you could develop with shoe polish and your content would still look great. Don't do it! Just saying.
Click to expand...

Use a syringe to measure out HC-110. I have a very small beaker where i pour enough concentrate so that I can fill the syringe. This minimizes the waste and is very accurate. The viscosity of the material makes adding it any other way much more inaccurate and wasteful.

I can measure out 21.8 mls of HC-110 in 45 seconds using a 3ml syringe, 1 minute tops.
 
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