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Anonymous
Su/p/

I'm interested in doing my own b&w developing, mostly 120 film.

After doing research(wasting time on photo.net) I decided that I wanted to buy some bricks off Fuji Acros 100 and Neopan 400(for the price point) and develop in F76+(just because).

I'm planning to experiment alot and probably waste some rolls.

Now, question: Do you have any alternate suggestions? Besides T-max in T-max. I would like to know /p/'s favorite b&w film and developer by experimentation, not because that's what you used in your photo class.
>> Anonymous
Agfapan 25 in Rodinal, Tri-X @1600-2000 in Diafine, and Plus-X in D76.
>> Anonymous
Delta 100 in D76, Plus-X in D76.
>> Anonymous
>>227622
Why use a fine grain developer like d76 on already fine grain film like Delta 100?

I heard that diafine is a general purpose developer that is not very temperature or time sensitive. I checked hvmnd and it seems that it pulls deeper blacks than d76 or even rodinal, but it might just be post processing?
>> thefamilyman !!rTVzm2BgTOa
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Ilford HP5 pushed 2 stops in D76 (why D76? because its cheap and readily available where i live)

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>> Anonymous
>>227639
I want to get away from 35mm for a while because I'm not a fan of the grain, but I would like to find a developer that produces nice tones, and scans well, as well as has good sharpness.

Is that too much to ask for?
It's hard to search on photo.net for developer+film combos that scan well.
>> Anonymous
Ilford XP2-400 cross developed in HC-110 using ratio 1:63 for 6 minutes.

Wash the XP2 prior to development.
>> Anonymous
Uh, not a film fag here, but can someone explain to me the difference between different developers?

thanks
>> Anonymous
>>227736
They have different characteristics...some make the grain in the film more apparent, some make it smoother, some have higher contrast, some lower, some make your film effectively faster, some make it seem sharper, some have glowing highlights, some can save over-or under-exposed film...

Each combination of developer, film, exposure, development time, temperature and agitation has a specific look. Getting the look you want is part of the voodoo of darkroom chemistry.
>> Anonymous
>>227742
Yes, but do you know where I can find a list or repository of which developers do what?

There's all this crap about pyro and d76 and ID-11 and everything is different. How can I know what my film is going to end up looking like without wasting my precious frames?
>> Anonymous
>>227745

There isn't one. If you search, you'll find people who talk about this developer doing that for them, but you'll have a hell of a time duplicating it. Two things you should learn:
- don't be cheap with film if you're trying to learn the whole process; you may lose frames or screw up rolls, but it's part of learning ("well shit, I shouldn't do that again")
- most of the differences between developers are subtle, and can only really be appreciated in large prints of exceptional quality. You may see extra contrast with some, but you can change that with VC paper or in Photoshop. Get some D-76 and try everything in it to start -- you may find that you don't use anything else. I love Plus-X in D76 for almost everything; I only use Rodinal for APX25 because I need extreme sharpness with that stock, and I use Diafine with Tri-X because I can shoot in near-darkness.
>> Anonymous
>>227745

You can use Google.

But I find that the best results are obtained when you spend time in the darkroom. You can pick up bricks of film at $2 a roll, and then get your darkroom technique worked out.

Then you can begin to experiment with different developers, until you find one that you like that produces the look that you're after.

If you don't do enlargements in your darkroom, you can be fully set up and have enough left over for a couple of rolls without breaking $100.
>> Anonymous
>>227748
Are you shooting 35mm or larger?

I was thinking about starting with F76+ because of it's generousness how easy it is to push films with it(apparently).

I thought Tri-x was 400 speed. Do you push it with diafine? The impression I got was that it was hard to work with.
>> Anonymous
>>227754
I shoot 135. My enlarger doesn't do bigger films.

And Diafine sort of auto-pushes certain film stocks. You know that you can't control the development with diafine, right? It just goes and then stops. Tri-X gets a 2-3 stop push when you develop it in diafine, so you shoot it at 1600 to 2000.
>> Anonymous
>>227757
Oh wow. Diafine sounds like a mess.
Just checked the massive dev chart. Don't you loose contrast when pushing though?

http://www.digitaltruth.com/chart/search_text.php?Developer=Diafine

Why do they write 3+3 or 5+5 instead of just 1+1? Isn't it the same thing.
>> Anonymous
>>227624Why use a fine grain developer like d76 on already fine grain film like Delta 100?
D76 isn't a particularly fine grain developer, it's fairly middle of the road. I use it because it's extremely cheap, easy to use, is readily available locally, and delivers nice contrasty negatives.

>>227758Don't you loose contrast when pushing though?
You do, but the degree to which you lose contrast depends on a lot of factors. Diafine is kind of a neat developer because you just dunk and go, but it's definitely a compromise. In my opinion it doesn't produce results as good as any other developer I've ever tried, so it comes down to whether or not the convenience is worth it.


If you're new to developing, I'd recommend starting out with either d76 or a one shot developer like Ilfosol S. They're cheap, readily available, and easy to use. Plus that will give you a good baseline to which you can compare when you start experimenting with more exotic stuff.
>> agfa apx 100 flashboxx
my favorite film, far and away, is agfa's apx 100. i have the only stock that i know of in the south jersey region. i cleaned the basement of the local photo shop in exchange for 30 rolls of 120. best barter i ever made. i usually develop it in rodinal, but since that's going the way of the dodo, i don't know what i'm going to do. here's a sample shot with apx. hope you enjoy. it was part of the documentary project i did in new orleans last summer.

alex

www.flashboxx.net
flashboxx.deviantart.net

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>> apx100 flashboxx
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sorry, had the wrong version of the file...enjoy

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>> apx 100 flashboxx
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one more for the road...enjoy...

apx 100 in rodinal
hasselblad 500c/m

also taken in new orleans in the summer of '07

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>> thefamilyman !!rTVzm2BgTOa
>>D76 isn't a particularly fine grain developer, it's fairly middle of the road. I use it because it's extremely cheap, easy to use, is readily available locally, and delivers nice contrasty negatives.

what i really like about D76 is it uses non-confusing ratios, in fact i use 1:0
>> film/developer artatlarge
Ilford HP5+ is a great film (400 ASA). T-Max is just horrible; Kodak wanted a way to use less silver for making film. Ilford makes fine-grain developer too, although D-76 will work too. For more detailed info, you can email me directly.
>> Anonymous
>>227786
OH Jesus fuck you must be new here. You posted your website with your real name and contact information AND DeviantAssholery profile? On 4chan?
>> Anonymous
>>227810

Oh cut him some slack. This isn't /b/, and what's the worst that can happen? He's a photographer; where's career suicide for them?

>>227789

I like Agfa APX 100 as well, and the 400 isn't bad either.
>> flashboxx
i'm not new here. i actually don't mind having people see my work:P i'm a pro, so having my website on photography posts isn't really suicide for me. besides, like anon said, this isn't /b/.