B&W Developers

[Michael Heald]

Hello! TMax RS with TMax 400 film in a Unidrum on a roller. Great reproducibility! Best regards.

Mike

[Toyon]

Rodinal for slow speed, XTOL for high, though every once in a while a batch of XTOL mysteriously fails.

[Ron Marshall]

Rodinal for slow speed, XTOL for high, though every once in a while a batch of XTOL mysteriously fails.

Just curious when you mention failures. Were they with the 5 liter size, and do you mix the powder with distilled water, and dilute the stock with distilled water?

[fhovie]

PC-TEA for pushing
Pyrocat P for accutance

[Andrew O'Neill]

Xtol failures never happened to me...mind you, I've always used the 5 litre packages.

[davidb]

I've never had an xtol failure. I think it's all bullshit at this point. Or poor handling.

[Brian Ellis]

Except for brief flings with PMK and Rodinol, I've used D76 1-1 exclusively for all formats for about 14 years. D76 has been around for almost 100 years, I seem to remember reading somewhere that it's the oldest developer still on the market. I figure it must be doing something right to have lasted that long with so many films having come and gone.

[Gary L. Quay]

I'm currently using Photographers' Formulary WD2D+ for low speed films, but I want to switch back to PMK Pyro when my current supply is gone. For higher speed films I use Clayton F76+. I have a bottle of Kodak HC-110 that's waiting in the wings. I want to see what results I get with it. I've heard that it's really good. I don't seem to be able to settle on one or two developers. I want to try everything. I have a bottle of Photographers' Formulary FX-2 on order, and I really want to see what Rodinal can do. I'm nostly happy with PMK Pyro, but I ruin a lot of negatives with it. I suppose I really should find something and stick with it, because that way I can more accurately adjust my technique. My darkroom has been up and running for under three years, though, and I still haven't found the magical combination that does everything I want. I'd like to have extremely fine grain, razor sharpness, and decent contrast. Unfortunately for my Pyro habit, I also want to move toward environmentally friendly developers.

--Gary

[Philippe Gauthier]

Except for brief flings with PMK and Rodinol, I've used D76 1-1 exclusively for all formats for about 14 years. D76 has been around for almost 100 years, I seem to remember reading somewhere that it's the oldest developer still on the market. I figure it must be doing something right to have lasted that long with so many films having come and gone.

Actually, Rodinal is older. It was first marketed in 1890 (or was it 1892?) which makes it at least 115 years old.

That said I agree that the differences in developpers are rather small, especially in large format. I mostly use HC-110 and Rodinal myself. I appreciatetheir convienience (high concentration) and their long shelf life.

[Lenny Eiger]

I think a discussion of this should include what kind of prints you want to make - darkroom, scan and inkjet, whether they be contrasty like Ansel, or smooth like much of the rest of the pack in the History. Hey, maybe you want to print like Steichen - and that would be a different developer.

FWIW, I use D-23 these days and I like it.. I print not-so-contrasty, I don't care about a big black in my images, I prefer to reproduce images closer to what I see in the world. This is all totally subjective and opinion-based, of course, and no "facts" are represented...

Lenny
EigerStudios