Return to B&W, some advice needed

After almost 15 years, I am planning on doing a large portrait project in black and white with my 5x7, some enlarged and some contact printed, using both natural light and 5500K fluorescent lights. In preparation, I have bought a Jobo 3006 drum to use with a motor base from my Cibachrome days. I plan on using Ilford HP5 (cost and speed), but am unsure which developer to use.

Due to toxicity I can't use Pyro based developers. For this reason I am leaning towards Xtol, but am a bit concerned about its failures. Are these still a concern? Other suggestions for a developer for use with HP5 and rotary tube are appreciated.

Hi Jason,

For rotary development of Ilford HP-5+, I would use Ilford ID-11, at the 1+1 dilution.

Microphen, and (my favorite) DD-X, are great developers for HP-5+, but not when using rotary (continuous) agitation, in my experience.

I develop 4x5 Tri-X with XTOL 1:3 using a Jobo CPP2 and Expert 3010 drum. Consistently excellent results. I've never had any kind of problem from XTOL let alone a failure. It's pretty sharp, and produces reasonably fine grain as well. And, if you are worried about toxicity, XTOL is about as safe as you can get. YMMV, but I think if you run some tests, you'll end up liking what XTOL has to offer.

Eugene why don't you like DD-X for HP-5 in a rotary processor? I was going to test this combo out and I want to know what problems you have had.

"Microphen, and (my favorite) DD-X, are great developers for HP-5+, but not when using rotary (continuous) agitation, in my experience."

I've found it to be much nicer for rotary processing at a 1:9 dilution (though normal dilution wasn't exactly "horendous")

That's for DD-X

I have seen results from DD-X, ID-11, etc and tonality wise they are excellent. Personally I like FG-7 because it gives me plenty of speed, besides the great tonality. It may come down to ready availability in your area.

Jason,

My understanding is that both Microphen and DD-X are HQ developers. That is, they are phenidone and hydroquinone based developers. The hydroquinone makes them more toxic than XTOL.

If XTOL bothers you, but you still want the low toxicity of an ascorbate developer like XTOL, you could always go with Patterson's FX-50:

http://www.patersonphotographic.com/chemistry/fx50testreport.pdf

Then again, you could always try "the standard by which all other developers are judged." [Anchell and Troop, "The Film Developing Cookbook," 1998, Focal Press, p39] That "standard" is D-76, undiluted or 1:1. I'd go with 1:1 for rotary processing.

Jason,

I forgot this resource that you might want to look at:

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/xtol/

This will tell you more about XTOL, its history, and alternatives you might consider than you would ever really want to know. Covington is nothing is not through.

I use DD-X for my rotary processing (BTZS tubes) of HP5+, and like the combination very much. My dilution is 1:6.

I don't think you will have any problem with XTOL, though. Most of the failures seem to have been related to the long-since discontinued one liter packages.