So I got some D76, finally.

[Stephanie Brim]

Starting soon I'm going to start shooting black and white almost exclusively, probably with the Canonet and the Nikon, and so I've finally bought everything that I need to develop film. I decided to start with D76 and I'm going to be getting some Diafine *sometime* in the near future, probably with next week's 40 dollar photographic supply budget. What I got was a *dinky* plastic two reel tank, two empty peroxide-type bottles, a funnel, D76 developer and a Kodak fixer. I'll be developing mostly Tmax 100 and Ilford HP5 in it, but I'll probably shoot some Tri-X at some point as well. I also invested in a set of nice clips that shouldn't scratch the film up. I'll be looking at scissors soon for cutting the film and also some sleeves to protect it. I also have a thermometer and I'm going to get my hands on a timer really soon. I'm excited. Next weekend is the time I'm developing my own film. YAY!

 

[BJ Bignell]

Good luck! It's always exciting to pull the reels out of the tank, and to see your negatives...

 

[rover]

It really is a lot of fun. I am going to add a bottle of DDX to my stock for developing fast film (3200 stuff). D76 and Diafine have been very good to me, I know you will enjoy it.

Just a note, when you get your diafine make sure you have 3 graduates (two developer solutions and one for the fiixer). And I have just used a clock with a second hand to keep my time.

 

[peter_n]

Good luck Stephanie! Tell us how it goes.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I should be able to show you eventually.

While I was at the place I picked up a roll of Tri-X (my first) and three rolls of my favorite black and white film, HP5. I'm going to develop them at home and then have them printed at 59 Minute Photo (Website here) afterwards as they seem to do a great job.

 

[stet]

woo-hoo! another one here, too. My girlfriend and I are doing our first two rolls at home tonight, D76, water stop bath and Kodafix. We went for the cheapie plastic two-seater, too, but that should be enough for us now. If we start developing too much too often, all the better!

 

[doubs43]

The best of luck to both of you and you're gonna love it, I predict!

Two suggestions: Get some Photoflow 200 to prevent water spots and if your water supply isn't sparkling clean, filter your water.

I use a Sears in-line filter housing with clear plastic tubing that I can attach to my faucet. My filter is a .5 - 1 micron sediment type which is pretty effective. You may want to use distilled water to mix your chemicals at first until you know how dirty your water supply is.

I'm looking forward to seeing your first prints from your home-processed film!

Walker

 

[RObert Budding]

I shoot HP5 and use D76, too. For what it's orth, I expose EI 200 and dilute 1:3 D76 to water and agitate once oper minute for 14 minutes. YMMV.

Enjoy!

Robert

 

[kiev4a]

Different people have different tastes but I would recommend always dilluting D-76 1:1 and throwing away the used solution. D-76 undilluted has more grain (although some folks seem to like that).

 

[FrankS]

An inexpensive digital kitchen timer is just peachy.

 

[GeneW]

That's great, Stephanie! I know you'll have fun. BTW, I've found inexpensive barber shears to be the best film-cutting scissors. They're thin and narrow and you can see very clearly where you're cutting. The shears are good for trimming beards too, but I guess that's what they call a 'guy thing' 😀

Gene

 

[T_om]

Different people have different tastes but I would recommend always dilluting D-76 1:1 and throwing away the used solution. D-76 undilluted has more grain (although some folks seem to like that).

Er, actually... with any developer containing Sodium Sulfite, as does D-76 and a host of others, you get an INCREASE in grain with increased dilutions.

More dilution = more grain.

Tom

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Yeah...I always thought that more dilution = more grain.

So anyway, I'm going to drag my boyfriend to my place Sunday and we're going to do us some developing. I should have a blast considering the shots will probably be either of friends or of landscapes. There's a Memorial Day BBQ at a friend's house on Saturday and then we'll probably be at another friend's on Friday night...lots of good shooting. Going to have to push my Tri-X, though...

 

[pshinkaw]

I use an old Big Ben alarm clock with a sweep second hand as a development timer. The alarm usually dies first on these things but they still keep time for many years (if you keep winding them).

Also, many years ago I acquired a bunch of half-liter brown nalgene bottles with lids from my local blood bank. It seems that they purchased saline dilutant that way and discard the empties. I can mix up a gallon of developer, fill the bottles to the top to eliminate oxidizing air pockets. The saline, if there was any residue in the nalgene pores, is harmless to developer.

-Paul

 

[xcapekey]

d76 is great...i use it to develop hp5 and neopan 1600 with great results...

my favorite recipe so far is d76 1:1 for 11mins with HP5@400 (10 sec every minute, stand last 2 minutes)

d76 1:1 for 9 minutes with neopan 1600@1250

good speed and nice grain

r

 

[titrisol]

One more turn to the darkside 😉
Plastic tanks are great, if you clean them with an old toothbrush every 6 or 7 rolls the spirals can last a very long time.
D76 or its clones are excellent developers, but after a long journey I've settled with Rodinal and DDX as developers.
Rodinal gives me everything I like in 25 and 100 films, and adding some vitamin C to it increases the tonal range, keeps the sharpness and decreases the grain.
DDX is an excellent developer (Clayton F76+ is almost identical in how it acts), I generally use it for 400+ films and it is outstanding with Fuji Acros.

Now films are a different question, I use APX100 mostly, even though EFKE 100 is almost as good. EFKE 25 blew my socks off when I tried it!. In 400 and higher I prefer the Neopans (400 and 1600), and also keep 1 or 2 rolls of 3200 handy.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I have a thing for the look that Ilford film gives me. I also have a thing for the look that the one hour place gives me. They use D76 to develop the black and white. It's expensive, but it's good. They generally say that they use stock solution but will custom mix if you have a certain amount of rolls you want done. I figure that I'll develop the rolls from this weekend in stock solution and then do a few from next week in a 1:1 solution and then take both sets in for scanning to Walden in Ames.