Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2017/06/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I treat ALL developers as one-shot. You get the most consistent results always using fresh developer, and developers are so cheap that trying to save money by reusing is silly. I keep four developers in stock at all times, and choose depending on the film and look I want. Rodinal, D-76, Tmax Developer, and PMK. When asked by a newbie to recommend one developer, I always say this: D-76, diluted 1+1 is probably the best all around developer. Its easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and gives good results on damn near every film made. If the person says: ?I don?t want to deal with mixing powdered chemicals!? I then recommend either Kodak Tmax Developer or Ilford DDX. I like them because they give good results on most films and are easy to mix (no need to accurately measure a few tiny ML of stock solution the way you do with highly dilute developers like Rodinal or HC-110). The standard dilution for both these developers is 1+4. I recommend diluting 1+7. The 1+4 times for most films are pretty short (5-6 minutes), and I like longer times to avoid uneven developing (with any developer not just these two), and Tmax and DDX are relatively expensive. The higher dilution saves money if that?s an issue. To get 1+7 developing times, multiply the times the manufacturers give for the 1+4 dilution by 1.5x. (so if the 1+4 developing time is 6 minutes, give 9 minutes with the 1+7 dilution). This formula has worked for every film I have tried. -- Chris Crawford Fine Art Photography Fort Wayne, Indiana 260-437-8990 http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 Become a fan on Facebook On 6/14/17, 6:05 AM, "LUG on behalf of Gerry Walden" <lug-bounces+chris=chriscrawfordphoto.com at leica-users.org on behalf of gwpics at me.com> wrote: >I don?t want to start and wars here, and I know this is a minefield in >which I will get a thousand and one answers, but is there any consensus >of opinion these days on a one-shot b&w developer? > >Insanely I am thinking of doing my own processing of film again. > >Gerry > >Gerry Walden LRPS >www.gwpics.com >+44 (0)23 8046 3076 or >+44 (0)797 287 7932 > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information