Which develper for best $ value

pesphoto

pesphoto

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Im looking at the Freestyle website now for film amd paper developers.
I shoot mostly TriX or other 400 speed b/w film and print on Ilford RC and Fiber papers. For the best bang for the buck, what is best to buy for a general all purpose developer that will last me a bit as well. Dektol and D76 seem least expensive but is it the best value?
 
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EDIT: Whoops - thought you wanted to use Dektol for your film :)

If you want super cheap per roll then Diafine (which you re-use forever*), but you'll be shooting the Tri-X around EI1600 with that, then Rodinal at, say, 1+50, which will give you a grainier, sharper neg.

With D-76 and Diafine, remember that they come as powders that you need to mix up with water to make stock.
 
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I'm notoriously cheap and use Arista liquid, which is priced less and works as well as D-76 did for me. Can be diluted 1:1, for better sharpness with the penalty of slightly longer times.

I really prefer a one shot product that doesn't require a stock solution stored for any length of time. Arista fits the bill.

Jo
 
Ethol LPD gets my vote for best value in a paper developer. The stuff has the longest working life of any paper developer I've used. I get hundreds and hundreds of prints per gallon. Different dilutions don't affect print density- they change the tone from cool to warmer as you dilute more. Printing four or five times a week, running 20-40 prints per session, a gallon will last me a month or more. At the start of a new session, I dump 10% of the solution and add fresh dev and water to maintain my dilution and keep printing. The stuff lasts and lasts- and gives great prints, too.
 
jolefler said:
I'm notoriously cheap and use Arista liquid, which is priced less and works as well as D-76 did for me. Can be diluted 1:1, for better sharpness with the penalty of slightly longer times.

I really prefer a one shot product that doesn't require a stock solution stored for any length of time. Arista fits the bill.

Jo
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I like th eone shot developers myself. I see there is the regular Arista developer and then the Premium developers. Do you use the "non-premium"? And it's ok? Man those are inexpensive.
 
drewbarb said:
Ethol LPD gets my vote for best value in a paper developer. The stuff has the longest working life of any paper developer I've used. I get hundreds and hundreds of prints per gallon. Different dilutions don't affect print density- they change the tone from cool to warmer as you dilute more. Printing four or five times a week, running 20-40 prints per session, a gallon will last me a month or more. At the start of a new session, I dump 10% of the solution and add fresh dev and water to maintain my dilution and keep printing. The stuff lasts and lasts- and gives great prints, too.
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I'd like to see some of your comparative prints .. do you have a link or thumbs available?
 
I think the bang for the buck should be way down your list of reasons to use a developer being that the developer is such an important part of the results you get in your B&W images. That said though I'd say Rodinal is likely your cheapest developer for film.
 
rich815 said:
I think the bang for the buck should be way down your list of reasons to use a developer being that the developer is such an important part of the results you get in your B&W images. That said though I'd say Rodinal is likely your cheapest developer for film.
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I agree but unfortunately house bills and other expenses come first, so while chemicals should be tops on my priority list, it is not. Hence my question...
 
The Arista premium developers are the Clayton ones. FWIW. I forget who makes the "regular" 87 octane stuff. The corner station his $4.07 yesterday, BTW. Awesome.

I would point at Rodinal or HC-110 as well. And incredibly versatile, though speed-decreasing.

But don't be too penny-wise, pound-foolish about this stuff. Just not a wise approach.
 
A 1ltr bottle of HC-110, if used with dilution H (1:63) should be good for at least 200 films (assuming you're shooting only 35mm). And even if you don't shoot that much film, the developer will stay good for years to come.

A 1ltr bottle of Rodinal should be good for a little under 200 rolls, but it'll keep at least as well as the HC-110. You'll struggle to get much better than either of these.
 
mr_phillip said:
A 1ltr bottle of HC-110, if used with dilution H (1:63) should be good for at least 200 films (assuming you're shooting only 35mm). And even if you don't shoot that much film, the developer will stay good for years to come.
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That sounds hard to beat. So do I go cheap and buy the Arista for my bank account now or go HC110 or Rodinal to last for a while. It will take me quite a while to shoot 200 rolls of film.
 
Yes, I use the basic Arista developers, both film and paper. Film and paper products, as well.

The above folks can say as they will, but I can't seem to say my negs (film) or developer or paper are at fault or lesser quality and tonal range than I would expect. Get a system & learn it's idiosyncracies....be familiar with your materials and develope and print accordingly.

Yeah well, my super-duper camera loaded with this and souped in that while printed on this or that is better than anything you got........Blow it out your butt, wanna compare prints?
 
jolefler said:
Yes, I use the basic Arista developers, both film and paper. Film and paper products, as well.

The above folks can say as they will, but I can't seem to say my negs (film) or developer or paper are at fault or lesser quality and tonal range than I would expect. Get a system & learn it's idiosyncracies....be familiar with your materials and develope and print accordingly.

Yeah well, my super-duper camera loaded with this and souped in that while printed on this or that is better than anything you got........Blow it out your butt, wanna compare prints?
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hahaha..I like you!
Do you have an idea of approx how many rolls you develop witih a bottle of the Arista?
 
kaiyen said:
The Arista premium developers are the Clayton ones. FWIW. I forget who makes the "regular" 87 octane stuff. The corner station his $4.07 yesterday, BTW. Awesome.

I would point at Rodinal or HC-110 as well. And incredibly versatile, though speed-decreasing.

But don't be too penny-wise, pound-foolish about this stuff. Just not a wise approach.
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I was going to say the Arista Premium (Clayton) as well, Allan beat me to it.

Clayton F76+ was my developer of choice until I switched to pyrocat-MC (I am doing more LF and alt process lately)

I keep some HC-110 on hand, long lasting and good general developer.
I never liked Rodinal that much, I think D76 delivers greater tone with less grain, but my opinion is the result of my observations from my work flow with the film I choose to use.
 
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Lemmee figure here....a 12 oz bottle will roughly make 12 single reel tanks or 9 two reel tanks at full strength which I use for pushing or 400 film, so 12 or 18 rolls, depending on tank. At 1:1, you can double those figures, which I do for slower film (100) or ortho (25).
Really, a few more rolls than that as the dilution is 1:9 from concentrate.
 
One other thing to mention about the Arista. The concentrate will oxidize rather quickly once open. If you don't think you will use the whole bottle in less than six months you may want to decant it into several smaller bottles and seal them tightly.

It will last longer if the bottle is full (less air in the storage bottle).

You can also get yourself a bag of glass marbles and add them to the bottle to keep the liquid topped off.
 
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