Ilford HP5 PLUS processing

**Canon4me** · 15-Apr-2021, 17:12

New member 1st post here.....65 year-old here....have been away from film processing since 1975 when I was in college. I had a little Beseler 23C enlarger in my home back then. I used to shoot Plus X and Panatomic X, not so much Tri X. I developed film in Microdol X and my paper in Dektol. Anyway, I became a professional portrait and wedding photographer for 25+ years and sold my RB67 equipment when the bottom fell out with film and went digital. I regretted it ever since and just a couple months ago bought a used, but mint RB67 body, 120 back and waist level viewfinder. Had an eye level prism finder and a 90mm lens. Just ordered some Ilford HP5 today and tanks, beakers, etc to process my own film. Cross another item off the bucket list. Anyway, I went out on Youtube and watched a video by Ilford in processing HP5. It showed during the washing process the guy demonstrating this washed the film with about three separate tanks of fresh water and that was it. When I was processing film years ago, we used to run a constant bath of water for about 20 minutes. Apparently, this has all changed. Is this the standard practice now on the wash? Also, I live in the country and on well water. I have a small water distiller in my home and maybe I ought to be mixing my chemicals with distilled water rather than use well water with all it's impurities? Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide. I'm pretty happy to be getting back into this. Probably won't do the enlarger thing, but will be shooting some black & white and scanning it in. 120 film was always my first love. Shot a ton of Vericolor in my time.

**BrianShaw** · 15-Apr-2021, 17:22

The Ilford wash... very economical on water. I applaud their conservation goals but I can’t bring myself to use that technique. I was 20 minute duration with about 10 changes of water.

**Oren Grad** · 15-Apr-2021, 18:17

You can download the HP5 Plus data sheet here:

https://www.ilfordphoto.com/amfile/f...3/product/695/

Pages 5-6 have a detailed description of recommended processing procedures, including wash.

**Dugan** · 15-Apr-2021, 18:22

If you have a distillation setup, that'd be the way to go for mixing your chems.

**Drew Wiley** · 15-Apr-2021, 19:12

You can generally wash film in well water if there's an appropriate line filter in place (preferably gently running water that gets continuously exchanged for ten minutes or so), and if you give a final tray rinse in distilled water containing a tiny bit of PhotoFlo or equivalent. So a single gallon of store-bought distilled water might last you many sessions. You need only a small amount in the tray, which you discard after each session. The total amount of water used will be tiny compared to watering a single fruit tree, or hosing off a front porch .... believe me, I know a thing or two about rural wells and hard water.

**Ulophot** · 16-Apr-2021, 05:48

Welcome back to film and processing!

On questions of water quality, hardness, etc., I defer to Drew and others with vast knowledge of all sorts of technical information beyond my knowledge. There have been various questions about washing over time, and both here and on other fora, the Ilford method has been generally substantiated. Temperature, of course, is important (not too cold), and the total time in the three fresh water exchanges is sometimes specified, though Ilford simply gives numbers of inversions. A number of us give one "rinse" of several inversions after the fixer to remove surface/tank fixer before the three changes, and I often leave the film in the last bath an extra minute while pouring fixer back into its container. As Drew says, a final bath for 30-60 seconds or more n distilled water with a wetting agent will save you spotting problems.

**Tin Can** · 16-Apr-2021, 06:39

Water usage depends on location and chems used

Congratulations for buying RB and not RZ, I like the RB 127 KL a lot. NOS RB was available 15 years ago, when I bought

If you are on a personal well, that matters... more

I suggest you do exactly what you used to do, then adapt

Look for Beseler 23CIII, I bought eBay NOS in box for $125 delivered last decade