In search of developer

[macandal]

Hello. I'm looking for a new film developer. I started with D-76 and then moved on to HC-110. I liked both; they were good developers. The problem I had with D-76 was that, once the stock solution was made, I had to use it rather quickly before it went bad. I believe its shelf life was about 6 months, which may seem like a lot of time, but, once life takes over (and I'm not a professional photographer, meaning that I have to "find" the time to get to the darkroom), 6 months may go by faster than one would imagine. So I moved to HC-110. What I liked about it was that I didn't have to make a stock solution. I worked directly from the syrupy concentrate and diluted it with water to use only what I needed. However, HC-110 didn't work well with some types of film. In other words, it's not too versatile. I am looking for suggestions for another developer. Closer to HC-110 than D-76. What I mean by this is that I want a developer that I don't have to make a stock solution from. I want a developer where I can work directly from the concentrate and only mix what I'm going to need at any particular moment.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

[jnantz]

sprint film developer comes in a concentrate that you mix 1:9 with water.
it works well. and i have used it on + off since 1981 without any issues ..

if you don't mind mixing your own concentrate, ansco 130 is a great film developer
you mix a batch it lasts for about a year in a stock solution,
you pour off a little to develop your film ( 1:6 - 1:10 depending on what you like )
its not pre made though, that is the difference i guess ..

good luck !
john

[Mark Barendt]

D-76 is a whopping $5.79 for a bag to make a gallon at Adorama today. So what if you toss half a batch at the end of 6 months?

[Bill_1856]

Rodinal lasts forever.

[David Schaller]

PyroCat HD. Mix from the liquid each time. Shelf life of years.

[Leigh]

Rodinal* and Diafine are both excellent developers with essentially eternal shelf life.

Note that both of these are compensating developers.
They want very minimal agitation, meaning they don't like rotary (Jobo or similar) processing.

Diafine has a fixed development time (5 minutes for each solution A and B) regardless of temperature.
You replenish it by adding fresh solution A in the amount lost in processing to its bottle, then adding
that same amount of fresh solution B to its bottle. Discard any excess used B.

DO NOT use a pre-wash with Diafine. Solution A must be introduced to a dry emulsion so it can be absorbed.

Rodinal is used as a 1:25 or 1:50 one-shot. The concentrate keeps forever**. You can pre-wash if desired. I always do.

- Leigh

*Due to trademark issues, Rodinal is not available under that name, but you'll find it as R09 and possibly other names.
**NB - We've had reports of Rodinal concentrate over 50 years old working as good as new.

[Bill Burk]

I have greatly exceeded 6 months time with full, stoppered bottles of D-76. Only one or two times in my life did the developer die on me completely due to neglect. I can't imagine a better developer for an occasional darkroom user. If it's over 6 months old, just dip a scrap of film in it. If it turns black, it's probably still good.

p.s. I work for Kodak, but the opinions and positions I take are my own and not necessarily those of EKC.

[evan clarke]

D76 gains contrast as it gets old. An alternate formula, D76H, omits hydroquinone and ups Metol to 2.5g per liter. It has great keeping qualities and the raw ingredients are cheap, easy to find and the stuff can be stirred up fresh in minutes..


Distilled Water (125 degrees F) . . . . . . . 750 ml
Metol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 g
Sodium Sulfite (Anhydrous) . . . . . . . . . . 100 g
Borax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 g
Cold Water to make . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ltr


I have a Borax ocd issue and have taken to using 20 Mule Team from the store..gives me the willies but seems to work the best...

[photobymike]

D76 is a good developer so is HC110. Pyrocat HD is great but comes with some contact causions. Sounds like to me that you need a developer that matchs your lifestyle. I personally use Tmax RS because most of my developing is 4x5 film in jobo tanks. Here is an excellent article on choosing a developer http://lavidaleica.com/content/choos...film-developer not as easy as you thought.

[Brian Ellis]

I used D-76 for many years. I bought four or five small bottles, enough to hold a gallon of stock solution. I filled each to the brim and capped them. The stock in full bottles was good for longer than 6 months and I used up the partially-filled bottle sooner than 6 months. I also never found the gain in contrast that Evan mentions with either the full bottles or the partially full bottle. If it was occurring at all it wasn't enough to notice and didn't change any of my tested times.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that exposure to light is actually more detrimental to shelf life than having a partially full bottle. For that reason I used opaque bottles and kept them in a cabinet.