HP5 in Kodak chemicals?

[brian steinberger]

I'm thinking about trying out some Ilford HP5 or Delta400. Can I use D-76 for these films? And if so how do I know the times? Thanks

[Brian Ellis]

I've been told that D76 is one of the oldest if not the oldest developers on the market, it's supposedly been around for something like 75 years so it's been used with all sorts of different films. It's an excellent general purpose developer and can be used with either of the films you mention though I've only used it with HP5+ myself. For development time you can start with the manufacturer's recommended time for your method of development, then do your own tests. D76 can be used straight or 1--1, I've always used it 1-1 but recently somebody here made a good case for using it straight. FWIW at 1-1 with constant agitation in BTZS tubes my normal development time at 75 degrees with HP5+ is 6 mins 15 seconds.

[Joseph O'Neil]

I use HP5+ and Kodak HC-110 all the time. Used D-76 a nd Xtol in the past too, worked just fine.

As a rough starting point, take development times for Ilford's ID-11 for using D-76, and experiment from there.

joe

[Janko Belaj]

ID-11 is sometimes described as (not exact) copy of D-76, so it will work without problems (just as Joseph noted - little experimet/test is needed).
btw, from all developers I know, Rodinal is the oldest. from 19th century, I think, but I'm not 100% sure.

[David A. Goldfarb]

ID-11 is almost identical to D-76. You can just start with the times for ID-11 on the Ilford technical data sheet and experiment from there.

Rodinal isn't the oldest developer formula, but it's certainly one of the oldest brands of developer. Some say the formula has changed since the earliest version, and that developers like R-09 are closer to the original formula.

I'm not sure how Kodak's formula numbers work--whether they are just sequential or whether there is some other system--but I'd guess D-1 (ABC pyro) would be Kodak's oldest developer formula.

[Oren Grad]

Ilford's data sheets include times for D-76. In some cases they're different from the recommended times for ID-11. I've found Ilford's recommended D-76 times to be right on target for HP5 Plus sheet film intended for contact printing and given rotary development in Jobo Expert drums.

You can download the Ilford data sheets from here:

www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html

[John Cook]

The short answer is “yes”. But I would gently suggest using Ilford’s version of D-76, called ID-11 (after you have used up your present supply of D-76.

I left my turban in the other room, which inhibits my ability to make predictions about the future. But I don’t think anyone here believes Kodak’s analogue photo products are long for this world. So put your testing efforts into something which has a better chance of being there when you need it.

Just about any developer will work with these films. And we all are secretly rooting for our personal favorites.

D-76 and ID-ll have two interesting advantages. Both are general, middle-of-the-road developers which will not yield unusual results which some may dislike.

Second, while more work to mix from a dry powder, they both have an excellent pre-mixed shelf life. And both ship well, bouncing along in the back of a UPS with boiling summertime and below freezing wintertime temperatures. Liquid developers may be more vulnerable to this treatment.

Print out all the PDF files on the site that Oren just gave you. Go to the Staples back-to-school sale and get a nice plastic binder to keep them neat in your lab. They will completely and correctly answer 99% of the questions re-asked every day on photo.net.

[dan nguyen]

Yes... I agrese with other's posts....you can use D-76 with HP5 plus...

as Oren Grad mentionned it's "right on target" I agree, but for my taste I backdown from hafl a minute to one minutete in development time...I suggest that you do some testing....

[Andrew O'Neill]

HP5+ in D76 straight or 1+1 is very nice.

[Scott Davis]

Historical note- as a class, pyro developers are older than Rodinal or D-76. They've been around since the 1850s in one form or another, and were commonly used for wet-plate collodion development. The metol developers like Rodinal and D-76 came about much later (1930s), with the introduction of celluloid film-based negatives.