B&W Developer Advice: Branching From My Norms

[appletree]

Hi all,
A young man here needing some more advice from you seasoned and experienced folks.

Backstory:

• Have about 35 rolls backed up needing to be developed
• And 25 sheets of 4x5 to develop (mostly Ilford HP5)
• Always used D76 1:1
• A few times I have used Microphen to push rolls
• My method is fairly consistent in all of my developing for past 5ish years
• Hoping to a) make sure my process/methods are acceptable and b) improve my knowledge and the quality of my negatives

Materials Used:

• Developer: D76 (1:1 68 deg, developer is tossed out if not used within 6 months of mixing, mixed/made with distilled water)
• Fixer: is Kodak's Fixer (powder form, made with tap water, full strength)
• Stop: Ilford Ilfostop (1:50, 50mL chemical, 950mL tap water)
• Tank: Patterson 3 Reel Tank (3 35mm, 2 120, or 6 4x5 sheets)
• Hypo Clearing Agent (1:4, I think this lasts for 3months...whatever the bag indicates, tap water)
• Rinse: 3 drops of Photo-flo and bath of distilled water (recently given a bottle of something used for color developing that was suggested instead of Photo-flo, since I told my lab I often have problems with spots and streaks drying)
• Chemicals (mainly fixer, developer, and hypo) stored in glass amber bottles, either 1L or 500mL bottles, all filled to the brim leaving as little air gap as possible

Example Method:
This example is for TriX400 in D76 1:1

• Initial rinse in tap water: 3mins (tank is filled, left to sit, then dumped out)
• Develop: 9mins 45s (agitated right at start for ~10s, 45 deg left and right, not fully upside down or aggressive. then lightly agitated every 30s for ~5s, tank is tapped on hand or sink to dislodge bubbles. the aggitations at minute intervals are sometimes done a bit more aggressive. so every other is swaps off).
• Developer dumped, not ever reused.
• Stop: 30secs (will agitate)
• Stop dumped, not ever reused.
• Fixer: 1min with Fixer Bath #1, then poured back in plastic container and number of rolls marked off (won't exceed 25), agitated similarly to developing...every 30s.
• Fixer: 5mins with Fixer Bath #2, then poured back in plastic container (once Fixer Bath #1 has 25 rolls it becomes Fixer Bath #2 and Fixer Bath #1 is made fresh), agitated similarly to developing...every 30s.
• Hypo Clearing Agent: 2mins (agitated consistently)
• Wash: 4mins (top is off and with hands agitate consistently, water is dumped out very often, every 20s or so)
• Wetting Agent: 30s (not much agitation, just light up and down)
• Rolls are hung in a bathroom that does not get used. Shower is turned on beforehand to get room steamy. Squeegee film between wet fingers and hung to dry on clothesline.

Results:

• I wouldn't say my negatives are horrible, but on the rare occasions the lab develops B&W for me, it is clear how much nicer they are from the lab. Now this could be because of the negative itself and not the developing, but theirs feel so much more consistent, contrasty, sharp, etc.
• Even when using distilled water during certain parts of my developing and for the final rinse, and using photo-flo, I often end up with negatives that have drying marks or spots.
• Edges of my negatives are often not very clear (I guess not fixing long enough)
• I feel as if my negatives are fairly flat. Not much pop or real appeal to them.
• Sometimes get rolls that are insanely noisy and grainy, to where it is not worth scanning anything from the roll. Not sure if this was because of the lack of light in the photo, the photo itself, the developing, the chemicals, or what.

Questions:
I know there are many many many different ways and each photographer/artist has maybe their own method. I know there is no, "one way, best way" to developing. Nor is there a method that works for everyone. I do own Ilford's Multigrade Papers: A Manual for the Darkroom and Rudman's Master Printing Book. Also, Barnbaum's Art of Photography. Maybe I need to crack these open this week and go over some more stuff.

1. Does my method seem correct, anything glaring I need to change or be better about?
2. What about my chemicals and developer? Should I try something different? Maybe something for LF that works better? Maybe something that works better with my inconsistent developing habits (timing wise...no developing for months then a month of developing non-stop)
3. To squeegee or not? The lab, to my surprise, does squeegee.
4. The mystery bottle I was given was, I think stabilizer. Should I try it instead of photo-flo?
5. Temperature...the lab uses dip and dunk, which was better explained to me a week or two ago when I was there. They develop at like 72-75 degrees or something really high. I was shocked to hear that as well.

[Tin Can]

I'll let others critique your method. I use only RO9(Rodinal) either 1-50 for tiny tanks or 1-100 for large tanks. I mix distilled water for develop. Chicago tap for stop 1 minute. TF5 mixed with distilled water. Chicago tap for 10 minute wash. No photo flo, no soap, no wash aid.

Air dry and do not squeegee.

No streaks.

[appletree]

Hmm. Interesting. Thanks Randy for the information.

Thanks in advance for the critique and advice...sorry for the lengthy posts.

One of the things I loved about my trip to Portland was just spending a few hours with Zeb, not only a photographer himself, but works at a camera store/lab for the past 15 years.
It was nice to tap into his knowledge and ask questions. Why underexpose here? Why develop longer there? How you know that film has that reciprocity? Etc, etc.

[Michael R]

appletree:

No glaring problems. I'm not crazy about your agitation method (I'd recommend more initial agitation time, more vigorous agitation overall, and full inversions for tanks) but as long as you are getting good uniformity you don't need to change what you're doing.

Some other notes:

-I don't pre-soak and generally don't recommend it, but if it is working, no reason to stop

-D-76 is an excellent developer. No need to mess with it unless you want to experiment with other formulas.

-If you find your negatives don't have enough pop, develop longer to increase contrast. Increased agitation will also do this.

-Using a regular fixer such as Kodak Fixer, I'd fix more toward the longer end of the time recommendations (ie closer to 10 minutes). But your time is probably ok. A typical rule of thumb is to fix for 2-3x the time it takes for the film to clear. Don't worry about marks on the edges where the film was in contact with the reel.

-Kodak Fixer is a hardening fixer. With current Kodak films there is no need for a hardening fix. This gives you additional options, such as using a non-hardening and/or rapid fixer

-HCA isn't really necessary if you wash a little longer. Nothing wrong with using a HCA, but just noting the option to do without it if you want to eliminate a step. When using a HCA, a water rinse between fixer and HCA should really be used even if you aren't reusing your HCA.

-You don't indicate whether or not your temperature is maintained throughout the process including wash, but that is something to try for if possible. It matters much less with current well-hardened films (Kodak, Ilford, Fuji) than it once did, but keeping everything within a small temp range is just good processing practice

-Nothing wrong with processing at 75F. Again, just try to keep all the steps close to that temp.

-My final rinse is 1-2 minutes in distilled water with Photo-flo added, no squeegee or wiping. No water marks or streaks ever. But it is a matter of personal preference mostly. Some people prefer to squeegee, or use their fingers. I just don't like anything touching the film. If you squeegee, just make sure the squeegee is clean. Air dry. I'd skip the steam.

Most of this is meant as a "FYI" and won't change anything about image quality. That is determined largely by exposure, development and most of all, printing/post-exposure.

I've attached a copy of Kodak's tech pub O3 for reference. I'm a firm believer in beginning with good information from Kodak and Ilford.

[Tin Can]

Your lengthy post IS appreciated.

Far better than death by a thousand partial questions.

[appletree]

Thanks Randy, good point. That was my goal. Try to include all details and information, in a clear non-jumbled manner.

And thanks Michael, I appreciate the advice. That is all VERY helpful.
Interesting about me getting marks, etc. I am overly protective when wearing cotton gloves, handling negatives, loading film, etc. I used to have problems with dust, but I keep a rocket blower thing handy and take better care of my negatives, this has pretty much eliminated dust (which helps a TON in scanning/editing phase).

For the fixer. I guess the opposite of hardening fixers is non-hardening fixers? I used Ilford Rapid fix years ago and loved how easy it was to use, but the local photo store (I use to try and support every-so-often, since closed down) ran out and I just started buying everything in powder form since it lasts on my shelf forever. Nowadays I buy everything on B&H.

For chemicals. The local lab, said my problem was not using fresh chemicals. He would only use stuff mixed within the past 2-3 weeks. That was interesting to me, as I often go longer than that. If I get close to my 3 month or 6 month mark, I usually don't "risk" it and just make new chemicals. I always believe in the negative being the all-important source, not worth reusing chemicals or extending past their shelf life to continue using to save a few bucks.

For temperature. No, I do not maintain 68 deg. I generally mix 50/50 and stick in my thermometer. It usually is too hot, around 72ish or whatever ambient temperature in my house is. I stick it in the fridge for 30mins or however long it takes to reach 67-68deg. All other chemicals are at the same temperature (ambient of my home). I never even measure these. My understanding is temperature for those baths is not important, unless really cold or really hot. Tap water is generally on the cold spectrum that I use. Never measured the temperature or have an exact setting for my tap water.

[Michael R]

I agree that using most chemicals one-shot is the best way to go for consistency. The more consistent you can be regarding everything from agitation to timing to temperature, the better, generally speaking. Regarding keeping properties, it depends on the chemicals and storage conditions. Throwing a D-76 stock solution away after 2 weeks seems a little premature unless it is abusively stored. Perhaps since the guy is from the lab, he's talking about a replenishing system. I don't know.

Re fixer, yes the opposite is non-hardening. Ilford Rapid Fixer is an example of a non-hardening, rapid fixer, Kodak Rapid Fixer is also a non-hardening formula if you don't add part B. There are lots of others. Again though, this all has more to do with fixing times and wash times, not image quality. So if it ain't broke don't fix (no pun intended).

Re temperature, you really should monitor this - including the pre-soak. However a difference of 4 degrees F between solutions (68 to 72 in your example) is small enough that it won't have any effect on Tri-X image structure so that's not too bad. What you want to avoid are bigger swings and/or sudden big changes. I suggest monitoring the wash water during washing to see what temp it is at. If it's close to the temperature of the rest of the process you're ok. The tighter your control, the better (within reason).

[Peter Lewin]

Appletree: Nothing really jumps out at me from your process description, but I do have thoughts about two of your points re developers.

The first has to do with the working life of pre-mixed developers, such as D-76 stock solution which you then dilute for your 1:1 working solution. Kodak says the shelf life of stock solution is 2 months in a half-filled bottle, six months in a full bottle. So with half-filled bottles, you are conceivably approaching the end of shelf life if you don't develop for a couple of months. One obvious approach, which I use, is to store the stock in the smallest bottles as you can find, so that most of your stock solution is in full bottles (which allow much less air for oxidation.)

While D-76 is an excellent developer, and still my favorite for 35mm film, there are a number of liquid concentrates which keep pretty much indefinitely, and which you dilute (a lot) to make a one-shot working solution. Rodinal is one, but I have never used it. I have used HC-110 (concentrate seems to last forever!), and my standard developers for 120 and 4x5 are PMK and Pyrocat-HD (in glycol), both of which have very long shelf lives in glass bottles.

Other than shelf-life, the only reason to move away from D-76 to another developer would be for a particular characteristic. PMK, for example, is a compensating developer which tends to preserve highlight detail, in situations where a standard developer like D-76 might block up. Also the pyro developers (including the two I use) are known for high accutance and edge effects/local contrast. All commercial developers work very well in the vast number of occasions, their differences are on the margin, and you have to experiment a bit to see if the differences are noticeable to you, and/or important to you. There is probably no one "perfect" developer. PMK, for example, has many virtues, but is also a bit more finicky to work with in terms of even agitation, than say D-76. I find that Pyrocat comes very close to PMK and is that little bit easier to work with. So just like cameras, we hunt for the combination of "compromises" that fits each of us best. And if cost is an issue, the more exotic developers like the pyro ones do cost a little more (although they are used in such dilute form that without doing the math, it may even out in the end).

Oh, your comment about the lab negatives having more "pop" or contrast. Flat negatives are typically under-developed. Either you should extend your time a bit, or check your temperature, since developing at a few degrees higher or lower will impact contrast. Or, as someone pointed out, your developer might be outdated (although you wouldn't expect this consistently, i.e. sometimes you would be using fresher developer.)

[Peter De Smidt]

D76 has quite a bit of sulfite in it. You can use the spent developer in place of the wash aid.

Whether you need Photoflow (or similar) depends completely on the quality of your final rinse water.

[Ken Lee]

You only need a Hypo Clearing Agent if you use a fixer with Hypo. Not all fixers contain Hypo (Sodium Thiosulfate).

If you use a non-Hypo-based alkaline fixer you have shorter washing times and no need for Hypo Clearing agent. You might find this article helpful Favorite Fixer: Alkaline.

You might also like the short article above it, entitled Odorless Stop Bath: Citric Acid.

Of course you can use plain water for Stop Bath - especially if you use an alkaline fixer. One reason for acidic stop bath is to prolong the life of acidic fixer. If your fixer is alkaline, you don't need an acid stop bath.