Getting back into developing film after many years out of the darkroom. I'll be scanning the film, so only developing film, not making prints in the darkroom.
I'm asking because although I see that D-76 and HC-110 are still available, I assume it is only surplus stock that is being sold. I want a developer which I can standardize on and have a reasonable chance of getting 10 years from now. Thanks!
Who told you that D-76 and HC-110 are no longer in production? I'd be wary of internet rumors, if it were me.
Anyway, Ilford ID-11 is supposed to be identical to D-76 and D-76 is very simple to mix from inexpensive chemicals if worse comes to worse and we're all huddled in our basements cackling over the last sheets of film we can find in our apocalyptic, zombie-filled future.
Mike
Politically, aerodynamically, and fashionably incorrect.
Mike - lol - I guess you just watch world war z too?!
Thanks, I assumed that these chemicals went belly up with Kodak. Not so apparently. Good news.
sprint film developer is made nearby to massachusetts in rhode island. it is also
similar to d76, but different. it is a liquid base ( you mix it 1:9 ) and i've never had
trouble with blocked highlights like i might with other developers. there's also a slew of them
( developers ) you buy the chemistry for and mix yourself as needed, d23 being pretty simple ( 2 or 3 ingredients besides water )
depending on which one you use .. i'm fond of coffee based developers, you can buy the ingredients locally and use them for other things if you aren't processing film.
have fun
john
Have used a lot of D76 and then pyrocat-hd... now I'm using XTOL and loving it, especially with Kodak films... Kodak will be around.
xtol is a lot more likely to become extinct than d-76 which is in public domain and made by various companies under other names.
I use D-76H with constant agitation but I'm about to give Ansco 17 a try. Nothing wrong with D-76H just searching for the golden bullet!
Pete.
If you want a great developer for scanning, the best I've found are Xtol and Pyro, IMO.
D-76 has too much solvent action, there isn't any reason to break up the image like that. The other obvious choices like ID-11 or HC-110 are similar. Rodinal is generally a disaster...
Lenny
Last edited by Lenny Eiger; 3-Jul-2014 at 11:54. Reason: typo
EigerStudios
Museum Quality Drum Scanning and Printing
There are several good compensating developers that help avoid blocked-up highlights.
My favorites are:
Rodinal (the real one is back in production), usable at dilutions of 1:25 to 1:100. Yields beautiful results.
Diafine (two-bath, does not care about time or temperature).
Diafine is particularly good for tray development because of its tolerance of temperature changes and no critical timing. It's a two-bath developer, but uses no pre-soak, so the number of steps is unchanged.
Those two are my favorites, and most often used. There's also Ilford DD-X, which is like Microdol-X.
- Leigh
If you believe you can, or you believe you can't... you're right.
I use either Xtol or Pyrocat. If you don't develop that often, Pyrocat in glycol will stay good for years.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
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