Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2017/06/14

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Subject: [Leica] B&W developers
From: chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com (Christopher Crawford)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2017 06:36:48 -0400
References: <1F63DC96-60A9-4639-9274-7E30C51F7FFE@me.com>

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
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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




Replies: Reply from dankhong at gmail.com (Dan Khong) ([Leica] B&W developers)
In reply to: Message from gwpics at me.com (Gerry Walden) ([Leica] B&W developers)