BW development reference book

[David Roossien]

Can you recommend a BW film development book? I did a search and found the following:

"The Film Developing Cookbook", by S. Anchell and B. Troop

Would this be an excellent reference for a beginner?

I have been using a Jobo, Delta 100 and Rollo Pyro for almost a year and would like to begin experimenting with another film/developer combination (or possibly just trying PMK). Rollo Pyro has served me well for high contrast scenes, but not for dull, Michigan winters. I haven't had much success with N+ development and Rollo Pyro..

I'd like to find a combination that provides higher contrast negatives. I also plan to read The Book of Pyro by Gordon Hutchings before pursuing a higher contrast film/developer combination.

Thanks!

[Lenny Eiger]

I have been using a Jobo, Delta 100 and Rollo Pyro for almost a year and would like to begin experimenting with another film/developer combination (or possibly just trying PMK). Rollo Pyro has served me well for high contrast scenes, but not for dull, Michigan winters. I haven't had much success with N+ development and Rollo Pyro..

Thanks!

The "Cookbook" is a great resource. If you are adding time to your processing and not getting higher contrast with a Jobo it means that you are exhausting your developer.

First of all, ignore entirely and completely any suggestion that you should use less than a full amount of developer. It adds a degree of variability that you don't need. Second, exhausting developer is a very bad thing.

I tried Delta and like it very much. At the moment, I am using Xtol 1:1,might go to 1:2 soon... I think there is also new PyroMax or MaxPyro formula out there that might be worth trying... others can fill in the details..

I don't think you need to mix your own developer, unless you want to...

Lenny

[IanG]

Steve Anchell's Darkroom Cookbook, 3rd Edition, is very much more up to date and also far more accurate.

It has short articles by people like Sandy King (on Pyrocat), John Wimberly etc and has turned into the best book on processing since Kurt Jacobson's "Developing" which ran for 18 English editions and numerous reprints from 1940 to the 70's or 80's.

Ian

[David Roossien]

Thanks Lenny!

I have been getting higher contrast with extended development and Rollo Pyro, but I think the problem is overdevelopment. I've read in another thread that Rollo Pyro is an aggressive developer and that is what I'm seeing.

My normal development time is 8:30 @70 degrees. If I underexpose by 1-2 stops, and then add just a minute to this I sometimes get almost clear negatives in the darker subject areas.

I've found it tough to get consistent results when pushing.. Perhaps I just need more knowledge/experience/advice to understand what I'm seeing with Rollo Pyro.

[David Roossien]

Thanks Ian! I will look for the 3rd edition.

[Paul Bujak]

The Zone System Craftbook by John Charles Woods is a good book to learn how to find your own Personal Exposure Index (PEI) as well as N, N+, and N- development processes for each film/developer combination. There are many other texts which can be helpful but I found this one to be particularly easy to use.

Good luck,
Paul

[jeroldharter]

I suggest the latest edition of Beyond the Zone System by Phil Davis. If you are about to start experimenting, you might as well do it right from the start. I also suggest getting the Plotter software from the View Camera Store - will save you money in the long run.

[Lenny Eiger]

Thanks Lenny!
I have been getting higher contrast with extended development and Rollo Pyro, but I think the problem is overdevelopment. I've read in another thread that Rollo Pyro is an aggressive developer and that is what I'm seeing.

My normal development time is 8:30 @70 degrees. If I underexpose by 1-2 stops, and then add just a minute to this I sometimes get almost clear negatives in the darker subject areas.

I've found it tough to get consistent results when pushing.. Perhaps I just need more knowledge/experience/advice to understand what I'm seeing with Rollo Pyro.

I think you may be confusing exposure and its relation to development. I can't be sure, as you haven't told us enough. However, exposure is one thing and development is another. It's best to imagine they have no relationship with each other. Getting the detail in the shadows is a matter of exposure. Development controls contrast, or how far away the highlights are from the shadows.

So one "exposes for the shadows and develops for the highlights." Given this, I don't know why you would be surprised if you underexposed two stops and then found no detail in the shadows... Development will certainly not bring it back...

Lenny

EigerStudios

[ki6mf]

To figure film speed tests etc look on line at http://www.jerryo.com/teaching.htm

There are step by step instructions on how to do film speed tests, minimum print times etc everything you need to figure our B&W development.

[Pawlowski6132]

Thanks Ian! I will look for the 3rd edition.

Don't confuse the two books; Film Developing Cookbook and Darkroom Cookbook, both by the same aurhor.