Temperature Control of Developer?

[giganova]

I am interested in what method you use to control the temperature of your film development chemicals.

The chemicals are usually at room temperature, so do you change the temperature of the chemicals or do you keep them at room temperature and adjust the development time?

I like to develop at 68F=20C, fill the kitchen sink with water, add the storage containers of the chemicals and wait until the chemicals have the right temp. Its easy in the winter to bring up the temperature of the chemical by using hot water, but in the summer, when the room temperature is typically above 68F=20C, I put ice into the water of the kitchen sink. That's doable, but it takes a lot of ice which melts fast. I tried freezer cooling elements, but they don't seem to work well in bringing the water temperature down.

What do you do?

 

[shawn]

I use HC110 and mix on the spot so temp is easy.

For C41 I use a modified fish tank heater in a water bath to get everything up to temp. I fill it with hot water (120ish) and put the chemicals in the tempering bath. As the chemicals are coming up to temp the bath is cooling off and then the heater holds the temp at 105 degrees.

Shawn

 

[giganova]

I use HC110 and mix on the spot so temp is easy.

So you develop at room temperature and adjust the development time? My house and the tap water are at 80F in the summer, which I find is too high to develop film.

 

[Corran]

Ice from the freezer works just fine.

 

[davidnewtonguitars]

Basically the same as you, OP, except I have a couple of styrofoam boxes that fit the sink and hold enough water to both set the chemical bottles into for temp regulation, and use for D76 1:1 dilution, stop and wash water. I use a 4 reel stainless tank, 500ml, and one foam box full of ice cooled water (Texas has 68f tap only in the winter) is good for 1 cycles of development, 4 reels. I usually wait until I get 8 rolls of B&W to have a developing party.

 

[Papercut]

I use room temp because I store my chemicals in the basement which is pretty steady (mid-60s to high 60s) all year round. I have a number of jugs of filtered water that I store there too, so no need to use tap water with its variable temp and thus, everything is the same temp the whole process through. I just have to adjust dev time a bit depending on the exact temp that day.

 

[bhop73]

For black and white, I just use room temperature. I have some distilled water bottles under my sink. I don't adjust it at all and my photos always come out exactly as I want.

Clayton F76 @ 9.5 minutes, ilford wash with the distilled water. Easy peasy.

Color on the other hand, I heat them up in a pot of hot water in my sink till they're the proper temp. If I go over a little, I'll stick the bottle in the freezer till it comes back down. Not very scientific, but it's been working for me for a few years now.

 

[johnf04]

I make up developer with water at between 20 and 21 degrees C (to allow for cooling by the developing tank and contents). I use the other chemicals at the ambient temperature, and wash with cold water from the tap.

 

[shawn]

So you develop at room temperature and adjust the development time? My house and the tap water are at 80F in the summer, which I find is too high to develop film.

No, I start with a glass of ice water then add tap water to bring it up to temp. Then just pour out what I need, add the HC110 and develop.

Shawn

 

[Russell W. Barnes]

I compensate using the Ilford sheet for adjusted development times, if necessary - perhaps a minute or two either way if the developer is a degree or two above or below, and everything comes out just fine. Works with AgfaPhoto APX film too. I bring the water bath to 22C with the dev, stop and fixer in glass bottles within. Sometimes if the central heating is on the temp in the tank maintains its heat so I have to shorten the dev. time. I check the temp in the tank about half-way through and adjust the dev. time accordingly.

For stand development I set off at 20C but don't bother maintaining this temp, but the kitchen isn't terribly cold anyway and tank temp rarely falls below 16C.


I've developed two colour films C-41 at 30C with eight min dev. time and six min blix and it isn't difficult to maintain this temp within half a degree. I keep the dev, first-soak water and blix in thin plastic bottles in the big Belfast sink and the stab. in a plastic bowl sitting on a thick polystyrene sheet as the temp here isn't as critical. I have a boiled kettle handy and just use thermal inertia and the mixer tap to adjust as necessary.

I've just developed two colour films at 100F for the first time (together) and I managed to maintain this higher temp for the 3' 15" dev. and 4' blix OK. It's easier to start with a higher sink temp either method, and I keep the dev. tank in the sink after initial agitation and twiddle with the little stick. Trouble is, I use an alcohol thermometer and the thermal inertia means it takes a while to read the temperature before I've got to insert the agitator twiddler!


But so far, so good...

 

[Solinar]

I use a small Igloo ice chest for a water bath. In the warm months, I keep a couple of 1 quart plastic water bottles in the freezer to cool the tap water in the ice chest to about 65°F / 18°C or lower. Then add my dev, stop and fix bottles with correct amount working solutions to bring them to 20°C.

During development, I'll add a couple of 1 quart bottles with rinse water to the bath and use the Ilford method to wash the film.

 

[Peter Jennings]

I save those gel ice packs whenever we get them and store them in the freezer. In the summer, when tap water temp is too high, I’ll drop a few into a tub of water to cool it down. It works better than ice because they don’t melt. Take them out when the water reaches the desired temp and toss them back in the freezer for next time. In fall/winter/spring, our tap water hovers around 20 degrees.

 

[css9450]

I use room temp because I store my chemicals in the basement which is pretty steady (mid-60s to high 60s) all year round. I have a number of jugs of filtered water that I store there too, so no need to use tap water with its variable temp and thus, everything is the same temp the whole process through. I just have to adjust dev time a bit depending on the exact temp that day.

That's about what I do too. I keep a couple gallon jugs of water on hand, already acclimated to room temperature. In the winter, its pretty much 66-68 at home. I'll check a day ahead of time and will turn up or down the furnace if it varies any from that.

In the summer, its much too warm at home so I bring my water jugs into the office where I keep it on a low shelf. With the way they set the building's AC, its almost always 68 to 70 degrees.

Any discrepancies from 68 is accommodated by the Ilford temperature chart.

 

[DennisM]

Temp Control - Film Processing

Temp Control - Film Processing

Here's my procedure for B&W film (in a SS sink in a basement DR)
1. Fill an 11x14 tray with tap water; adjust water temp to 68F with water from a Britta pitcher and/or ice cubes & hot water.
2. Mix developer, stop bath & fixer in old (30 yrs plus) Paterson & Kodak plastic beakers and place in 11x14 tray

3. Adjust temp of D, SB, & F to 68 F with either ice cubes and/or hot water in plastic baggies raised and lowered in the beakers. Ice cubes and hot water close by in small cooler and plastic bucket.
4. I develop two rolls at a time in a SS tank which I place in the 11x14 tray between agitation cycles.
5. Tray water bath & solutions stay at 68 F during the entire processing cycle.

6. Resulting negatives print and scan very well.

 

[lynnb]

I keep a bottle of chilled (demineralised) water in the fridge, and use that to adjust the temp while mixing up the chemicals. Easy.

If it's too cool, I put the developer solution beaker in a bath of hot water. I use a 2L plastic juice container that's had its top half cut off - it makes a bath about 1" greater diameter than the beaker. I fill this with near-boiling water. Once the beaker is placed in the bath I use the thermometer to gently stir the developer solution until the temp is raised to the correct value. It only takes a minute or so.

 

[kiemchacsu]

I keep a bottle of chilled (demineralised) water in the fridge, and use that to adjust the temp while mixing up the chemicals. Easy.
.

I use this method so.
I normally make solution at temp 18-19C. My development time is kept around 6-8mins, hence the temp variation is under the tolerance.

 

[Rob-F]

I'm a strict 20 degrees C guy. Like several others said, I also keep a bottle of water in the darkroom fridge, to mix with tap water. I don't use distilled water. St. Louis water is good enough to make Michelob, and D-76! My darkroom in summer runs about 64 to 66 degrees (delightful). In winter it runs 68 (the heating and air conditioning ducts run through the darkroom). So I will start with the developer at 69 degrees, and will chill to 67 during a 9 or 10 minute processing--for an average 68 degrees.

 

[rangefinderlove123]

The RH designs "Process Master" features a probe that monitors the temp of your dev every 30 seconds. Once the temp is sampled it adjusts the speed of the countdown.

It does have bugs and it is very expensive for what it is but it is an other option