Need advice on chemicals for developing my first B&W filim

[Bosk]

Hi guys,

I've bought a bunch of Lucky SHD 100 B&W film cheaply on eBay and would like to try my hand at developing my own film for the first time.

According to the instructions listed here the film should be developed in Kodak D-76 for 5 mins at 20 degrees, and then Kodak Fixer F-5 should be used for 5-10 minutes.



I have a couple of questions about this.

My local photographic supplies shop sells Kodak D-76, but only sells Ilford Rapid fixer and not Fixer F-5. Would it be alright to use Ilford Rapid fixer with D-76, or do I have to use an Ilford developer with it?

Second, the shop also sells Illford developers such as DD-X, Ilfosol S and ID-11. I would like to buy the most economical and easiest-to-use developer possible, would any of these be a better choice than D-76?

Do I need a Stop Bath of some kind too?



Thanks very much for your help. No doubt developing B&W film won't be as difficult in reality as I imagine so, but none the less I'm a little nervous about trying it for the first time. 😱

 

[SolaresLarrave]

If it's your first time (as it was mine last September), I'd go with the same brand chemistry... although I suspect that you can use one of Ilford's developer that comes in powder, and it's sometimes considered analogous to D-76.

You may want to use a stop bath. Use either water or a stop bath solution (for this one, the brand is irrelevant).

If it makes you feel better... do a "dry run", a kind of "dress rehearsal" before going at it. I imagine you have your tanks and must have practiced already what it is to insert the film in the spiral. If not, grab a roll of any film you don't mind sacrificing and become good at it. I invested something like half an hour to figure out what to do, but didn't get fairly good at it until I mucked up my first roll! 😱 In any case, once you've mastered getting the film in the spiral, put it in the tank and do a "make believe" developing, with a timer, agitation and the whole kit'n'kaboodle. That way, when you finally develop your stuff you won't be wondering what to do and how to do it.

I wrote a step-by-step document for myself, labeled all the bottles with huge letters, added the instructions and times of use in the Stop Bath, HCA and Photoflo bottles, and to this day, in my very short career as a film tinkerer, haven't made a fatal mistake (like dump fixer instead of stop bath in the tank). Just assume the Murphy's Law will eventually take place: whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

But you'll enjoy it a lot! 🙂 Good luck! 😀

 

[ikiru]

HC-110 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wonderful developer. I have tried lots of stuff and nothing beats it! (in my opinion) (Started on d-76, flirted with tmax (once) , then diafine, now Hc-110)


It is really cheap, lasts forever (just drop a marble in every time you use it to get rid of the air).


It is also really flexible and good for pushing films. I've been using it at high dilutions and it seems to be VERY forgiving ( at least at 1:63 and 1:100)...


Basically I like how one little bottle can do everything I need ( diafine wasn't flexible enough)...

Do a search here for Hc-110 1:100 I think it was gene who posted his methods (which I follow)...

 

[SolaresLarrave]

HC-110? Is that one that comes concentrate in a bottle? Kodak too?

Just wondering... I like D-76 and plan to explore others some other time, so... Let us know! 🙂

 

[ikiru]

Yes Hc-110 comes in concentrate. I use an oral syringe to measure it ( Goto you local pharmacy they gave me one for free)

It is used as a one shot. The other good thing is due to the small amount of chemical used (between 3-6ml per roll) It has a low environmental foot print too...

Here is shot HC-110 (1:64) Tri x @400 iso.


(Side note I really need to learn how to scan process in photoshop better....it is a REAL weak point of mine)

 

[Bosk]

So is it strictly necessary that I use the same brand of fixer & developer?

 

[markinlondon]

So is it strictly necessary that I use the same brand of fixer & developer?

No, fixer is either sodium thiosulphate (hypo) or ammonium thiosulphate (rapid fixer) in acid solution. Just avoid hardening fixers for modern emulsions, I tend to use Ilford Rapid Fix because it's the easiest available in my area. Also Ilford ID-11 is the same as D76.

 

[Ash]

I would have thought that Lucky is a bit of a dodgy film to develop as your first. I've souped about 5 or so rolls of it and I'm still not sure of timing!!

I would have said pick up some 'obvious' brand like Ilford, Agfa, etc where a lot of people have written about development with them. Once you're familiar with the technique, THEN try Lucky film.


That said, Lucky is cheap enough you can afford to screw it up I guess. Good luck! 🙂


Oh and I use Rodinal with cheap Jessops-brand fix. It's fine for the films I've tried. I went back to water wash between the dev and fix, since I think my Stop is causing pinholes.


((to Kully/Mark I owe you cheques! They'll be sent when I get home today!!)

 

[kully]

Don't send me the cheque yet Ash - I havn't told you how much it should be for!

I had 7 rolls of 35mm and 3 rolls of 120 Lucky 100 developed in HC110 when I was in Beijing. The results were nice.

Not sure what times they used, but if you want I could drop them an email.

 

[markinlondon]

To find times for a combo you don't know, use the following rule of thumb.

Lets say I don't have HC110 times for HP5 but have ID-11 times for both HP5 and Tri-x and HC110 times for Tri-x. I should then be able to make an educated guess as to the HC110 time for HP5 (by calculating % differences in the ID-11 times) which I can then fine tune with a bit of testing. You're unlikely to get perfect results first time from any film/dev combo even with data. Although sometimes you get lucky first go.

 

[Ash]

The educated guess method you describe is how I first developed my few rolls of Lucky. Course, then I forgot what time/dilutions I used!!! :bang:

 

[Xmas]

Bosk

None of the chemicals are critical, mix and match anyway, a water rinse is essential to prolong fixer life dont omit, a stop bath, is only critical with prints. The wash after fix is essential for archival permenance. the fast fix washes out faster as well as fixing faster but expires faster as well. Dont agitate the developer too much it can be worse then too little...

The time is dependent upon temperature, but the time is not too critical, the temperature is more critical i.e. you need to keep it close to 68 or whatever is called out on bottle as some of the chemicals are dependent upon temperature, and will slow down (a lot) if the water is too cold! That is the time and temperature chart should not be extrapolated.

Loading a reel in the dark is the most difficult step. Be sure you develop before fixing. If you live in a hard water area buy a squeegee and keep it squeeky clean, use x2 more photo flow or whatever in final rinse than recommended. Dont worry if it is a soft water area, just use squeegee.

Blood is not a good agent, the cassettes can be like pirana fish, you will be in stitches, use a good bottle opener on the cassette, swiss army opener is ok for me.

Noel

 

[RicardoD]

Bosk,

You can try diafine but you have to know ahead of time that is what you are going to use cause you will have to raise the rated film speed that you shoot at. Anybody know what speed to shoot Lucky film at if you use Diafine?

Here is the newbie process I wrote about about developing in Diafine. Don't have to worry too much about time or temp with Diafine and it produces great results for scanning into a computer.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23166