How many people Replenish developers vs. One Shot

[Duolab123]

I'm one of the many that once I got past my Dad's Microdol-X phase was an ardent user of HC110 DILUTION B. I would mix a gallon of developer and replenish it after ever use, sheet or roll. I would always store the solution in a brown glass gallon jug, I never left it stand in open tanks etc. I used a gallon for over a year sometimes. Then when XTOL came along I got wooed into the 1&1 one shot camp.
I recently purchased genuine Kodak Rapid access C41 chemistry and I'm going to do the same only use a liter for my "tank volume " and replenish all the solutions as I go.

I love Xtol 1&1but it can be replenished as well as long as it's used as stock.. I know a lot of people who say there's no substitute for a "seasoned tank"

Just curious how many folks still replenish, be it film or paper etc. Seems like it would be the right thing to do if you are careful.

What say you? Replenish or Toss???
Best Regards Mike

[LabRat]

I always used to groan when I sent B/W sheet film to commercial labs, when they developed it in over-replenished deep tanks, and I got mushy looking "soot & chalk" looking negs (no extra charge for slime & sludge marks)... Kinda sucked the magic out of them... (Don't even ask what 35mm ended up looking like....)

I prefer one shots, as it uses less stock, is more consistent, the dilute solutions will tend to go into partial exhaustion near the end of the development yielding edge effects, and hold the highlights from overdeveloping (nice compensating effect + microtonality!!!)

You can replenish color solutions for a while...

Steve K

[jp]

I like one shot for b&w because it's easy to get them temperature right quickly. If it's 1:1 I can average the temperature to have it perfect quickly. If it's liquid concentrate like pyrocat I can add it to the right temperature water from the faucet and it's good to go.

[djdister]

One shot, definitely. Replenishment is more suited to large volume and automated machine processing, which I don't do.

[ic-racer]

One shot for everything. My darkroom has to startup quickly but remain dormant for weeks. Concentrated stock solutions with long shelf-life are my preference. I mix just before use.

[Stephen Thomason]

I replenish XTOL at stock concentration, at the rate of 70ml per 80 square inches of film.

If unused for a couple of weeks, I add about 70ml per liter of working solution before developing. I then check for developer activity with a piece of undeveloped film and check how long it takes to reach what appears to be full development.

My current (also my first batch) of developer is still going strong after about a year.

I use the 5 liter powdered chemicals.

[Richard Wasserman]

Replenished XTOL is a wonderful developer and because you use XTOL itself as the replenisher it is very stable and long-lasting. It's useful to filter it every now and then to remove the nuts and bolts, and other detritus that accumulates in it. I chose to use Pyrocat over XTOL by a small margin, but if for some reason Pyrocat was not available I would not hestitate to use XTOL.

[Old_Dick]

One shot, for consistency.

[HMG]

Along with the one-shot vs. replenishment, and to help put the answer in perspective, I'm curious as to how many negs you process at one time and in what sort of tank.

[neil poulsen]

It's always been once for me. But for larger negatives, above 4x5 or 5x7, I may give replenishing a try. But single use discards quite a lot, even for Vinny's low volume 8x10 tanks. I may give a D76 replenishment system a try.