What is your favorite B&W film developer.

[Calzone]

I personally hate Rodinal myself. Really don't get why people like it so much. Ease of use?

Pro-Mone,

Tung gave me an unopened bottle of Rodinal. One day I will explore using it. I see a lot of people's work here that display very nice qualities that I find interesting, and I seem to favor the one's that use 50:1 dilutions over 25:1. Seems like at higher dilutions that there is more of a compensating effect like in Diafine. I did some research and It seems like minimizing aggitation and extending recommended development 25% exaggerates the compensating effect.

While Diafine is my current developer of choice because of fine grain, the cost effectiveness, the compensating effect, and the bump in film speed (which allows me to utilize filters without loss in box film speed in with Tri-X) is used to my advantage, I would not discount other people's nice results using Rodinal.

Perhaps not the best for your work...

Cal

 

[mdarnton]

I've been using D76, mixed from scratch (easy and extremely cheap) for decades, with a brief D23 interlude. Rodinal gets no love from me, since 95% of what I see people doing with it is totally devoid of shadow detail, and not much better in the highlights (soot and whitewash, as we used to say) which was my experience with it, too.

 

[Matus]

Pyrocat HD gives very unique look (in particular with Delta films), but often gives me uneven development (streaks) with 120 films (even with agitation every minute although it got better than with 3 minutes intervals) and there is some loss of speed.

I have tried Xtol and it works fine, but I did not get any 'wow' effect, though I did not use it too much yet.

I am about to try D-76 soon and hope for 'nicer' tones (less flat) than Xtol.

I just need to shoot more BW 🙂

 

[Photo_Smith]

Rodinal gets no love from me, since 95% of what I see people doing with it is totally devoid of shadow detail, and not much better in the highlights (soot and whitewash, as we used to say) which was my experience with it, too.

Surely you jest? I've used just about every developer out there, I've never seen anyone with soot and whitewash with Rodinal, in fact the incredible compensating effect means you get shadow and highlight detail.

I was going to post some examples, but in all honesty just google images Rodinal...

Its great you love D76, but don't denigrate something you have no/little experience of
*EDIT I just noticed why people who don't use Rodinal are mentioning it in their posts–I didn't realise it was topping the poll sorry ):

 

[hausen]

Slightly off topic but Keith how do you get Rodinal in Aussie? Are you importing it? Not sure if it is a dangerous good or not.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I think it depends on the result you wish to get, which format, speed etc.

I use three developers mainly, Rodinal is my go to developer in medium format and large format, for Delta based films and mild pushes I use Microphen/DDX and occasionally I use FX39 with slower films where I need maximum sharpness.

Oh and I always have a small stock of ID11/D76

A succinct and perfectionist analysis.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Ilford Perceptol.

Erik.

 

[mbisc]

Voted for TMax, but really meant TMax RS -- once you mix the two parts, the stock solution will last for months...

 

[rolfe]

I use Xtol as my standard developer and it does a great job with virtually any film. Having said that, I find that with Tri-X in particular, Xtol does a great job of maintaining delicate highlight detail while HC-110 delivers a more "gutsy" midrange tonal scale which is more appropriate for documentary subject matter.

I have no fancy graphs to prove this, it is just my experience over hundreds and hundreds of rolls.

For low speed films -- my current favorite is APX-100 as it is available at blowout prices from European sources -- Rodinal or Beutler both look great. Actually, they are almost indistinguishable. I suspect FP4+ would behave in a similar manner.

It bears mentioning that if you are scanning film, this whole subject is much less important than it used to be as you can easily modify the curves at will.

As always, YMMV.

 

[slm]

I voted Xtol, but I have to be shooting a lot to mix up a batch.
I'm using HC110 cause its convenient and I haven't shot a lot in the last little while

Steven

 

[Alpsman]

Promicrol, for everyhing that looks like film.

 

[haempe]

TMax for over 1600 and push
Xtol for 200 - 1600 (dilution depending light conditions)
Beutler or PyrocatHD for slow/medium speed films (depending desired look)

 

[DNG]

RE: HC110 B/H

For what it's worth, that has always worked for me.

...Mike

I did fine with "B", but my tap water is 23c-26c in the summer, and I don't like cooling down the Developer to 20c and rinsing in 23c-25c water,

Dilution H allows 9m-11m at 23c-25c developer time over the 4.5m at 23c with "B".

So I can keep all my chems at the same temp, including the final water rinse.

 

[Ronald M]

D76 is the best all round film developer. Perhaps not the best in every category, speed, fine grain, sharpness, but over all, it works.

Cost wise it is cheap if I mix it myself. Chemicals last decades if you store them properly. I can mix anything from a gallon to 8 oz stock, normally a liter at a time.

It can be used stock or diluted up to 1:3 where it is is exceeding sharp , but with the normal grain penalty.

Shelf life is perfect in full sealed bottles for 6 months where it begins to deteriorate slowly.

Half full bottles are only good for something less than a week,where I lose a half contrast grade, and I do not care what Kodak says.

 

[hidejoshi]

My tol, vote as Xtol and Pyrocat MC

 

[Oren Grad]

I've tried many developers over the years but keep coming back to D-76. It works well with just about any film and is a very nice match to my primary films, which are TX roll film and HP5 Plus sheet film.

As it happens, I did just come upstairs from mixing my first batch of ID-11, which of course is the same thing. I've been using more film recently, and Harman's package is 5 liters compared to Kodak's 1 gallon, which means I can save a bit of time by not having to mix a new batch quite so often. I'm going through the stuff quickly enough that shelf life won't be a problem.

 

[nikon_sam]

I'm down to two film developers...HC-110 and Rodinal.
I'll use either one depending on what mood I'm in...
For years it was D-76 and before that was Microdol-X...pretty sure I still have some packets of D-76 somewhere around here...

 

[Rayt]

TMY is my preferred film and I like the results with Tmax developer. I also shoot Acros and for that I use Rodinal.

 

[sepiareverb]

Studionol (now R09 Spezial) is not on the list but one of my go to developers. I also use DDX, Rodinal, HC110 and Perceptol. Thinking about Tetenal Ultrafin Plus as a liquid replacement for Perceptol, just got it in but haven't had a chance to do any testing yet.

 

[Mcary]

Down to just shooting 4x5 for film these day so mainly use Rodinal, unless of course I need to shoot at ISO 1600 in which case its HP5+ in DDX.