Can someone give me a crash course on developers

[mfratt]

I know there are a million different developers out there, and I know that each does things differently. I've only used D-76 and HC-110, and I'm fairly happy with them, but I really have no frame of reference to compare to.

I was wondering if theres a resource where I could get the run down of how the most popular developers tend to behave. I'm someone who likes to have as much control as possible over my pictures, and if a different developer might suit me better, I'd like to give it a try without having to try each one and compare side by side.

[Armin Seeholzer]

Here you can see thad XTOL from great yellow father is the best compromise:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/profe...?pq-path=14053

Cheers Armin

[Bruce Watson]

Crash course in developers? Sure: The Film Developing Cookbook is aimed right at you.

[Ken Lee]

Some things to consider:

1) Expect many forum members to recommend their favorite, and give you no reason whatsoever. They will also fail to provide any sample photos.

2) With developers, we consider

Ease of use
Speed of use
Safety of use
Ease of mixing
Shelf life
Cost
Availability

3) It's never really a developer on its own. It's the developer/film combination in which we're interested. Each combination has its own personality. Therefore, what do we look for in a particular developer/film combination ?

Speed
Accutance
Grain
Linear response to exposure (reciprocity)
Linear response to development
Linear response to color

4) The "best" film/developer combination may be SuperXX + ABC Pyro (or whatever) but if the film is no longer made, or unavailable in the size you want to shoot, or too expensive in the size you want to shoot, then that's a show-stopper.

[Heroique]

I'm someone who likes to have as much control as possible over my pictures … without having to try each one and compare side by side.

As your darkroom experience grows, I think you’ll recognize the contradiction here.

Oh, nevermind.

Here’s my personal “crash course” for you: TMax-100 + TMax rs.

[Brian C. Miller]

I like what Arthur Fellig said about developers: don't become a chem-head. Find something and then stick with it.

Xtol is only available in the 5L packet sizes. I mix it up in a 2-gallon plastic bucket, and then I store it in jugs. It lasts a really long time. If the solution is clear, it's good to go. Lately I have been using Ilford Ilfosol-3 which is a general-purpose one-shot developer. No, I haven't been keeping strict track of all of the characteristics of film-developer combo.

[Bob McCarthy]

I may be breaking the thread but,

the developer is the least important link in the chain of shot to print (by far actually)

Far more important is:

-get the right amount of light on the film (exposure) to insure the shadows have information that contributed to the quality desired in the shot.

-the development the film to creat depth in the shadows and to generate the proper density in the negative to provide for palpible highlights in the print exposed/scanned from the film.

-to understand the contrast ratio of the light on the subject and to make decisions in the above statements to compensate

-to have an artistic eye and compose a beautiful subject.

Then and only then will the choice of developers have a "small" impact in the output on this chain of events.

There is no magic bullet. With tiny negatives (35mm) there can be an impact, with a largish piece of film, not so much.

Find one you like and adjust your process to it. You're currently using developers that are used by the vast majority of photographers and are perfectly usable for virtually all photographic circumstances.

I know I'm reading between the lines to a large degree, but it is a very common question asked by those new to film development.

bob

[mfratt]

As your darkroom experience grows, I think you’ll recognize the contradiction here.

Oh, nevermind.

Here’s my personal “crash course” for you: TMax-100 + TMax rs.

Yes yes yes I know. The only way to actually figure out what is right is to get experience with it. I'm just looking for a starting point. I was looking at all the developers I can buy and have no idea where to start.

[mfratt]

I may be breaking the thread but,

the developer is the least important link in the chain of shot to print (by far actually)

Far more important is:

-get the right amount of light on the film (exposure) to insure the shadows have information that contributed to the quality desired in the shot.

-the development the film to creat depth in the shadows and to generate the proper density in the negative to provide for palpible highlights in the print exposed/scanned from the film.

-to understand the contrast ratio of the light on the subject and to make decisions in the above statements to compensate

-to have an artistic eye and compose a beautiful subject.

Then and only then will the choice of developers have a "small" impact in the output on this chain of events.

There is no magic bullet. With tiny negatives (35mm) there can be an impact, with a largish piece of film, not so much.

Find one you like and adjust your process to it. You're currently using developers that are used by the vast majority of photographers and are perfectly usable for virtually all photographic circumstances.

I know I'm reading between the lines to a large degree, but it is a very common question asked by those new to film development.

bob

And I do agree. I'm pretty new to LF photography, but I've been diving into the zone system for exposure, trying to figure out correct push/pull times, and so on, so as to control exposure, contrast, light, etc.

Even if the developer isn't all that important, its still a link in the chain, and every time I mix HC-110, I kind of grind my teeth since I'm only using it because thats what I was told to use when I began.

I guess, for me, its important that every part of the process is a conscious decision. That is one of the things that I love about LF in general; the amount of control it provides and the fact that the medium itself pushes me to think through what I'm doing much more so than with smaller formats and infinitely more so than with digital (which is what I used up until recently)

[Bob McCarthy]

I'm not nearly as old as some of these guys, <G>, but I have been in the darkroom since the early 70's. I started with D76 in school lab, have used just about every developer known to man, and currently use D23 and HC110.

HC 110 works well with damn near any film. Why do I use it? It is amazing convenient to mix 30 ml of HC110 drawn directly from the syrup bottle with a turkey syringe and squirt it into a (just short - then top off)) liter of water and be ready to go in 10 minutes.

With excellent results to boot.

bob