B & W developer, what's yours ? .....

[Stephen Baker]

I am a huge fan of Rodinal for my black and white it never seems to let me down and pretty well always gives me good results, I quite often use it a 1 +50 and 13.5 mins for my acros 100.. but my real preference is 1 + 100 and stand develop it for an hour..

Here is a few examples...

But what do you use, and find works well for you, post some examples if you can.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Beautiful, Stephen! I can see why you like it. I start a course tomorrow night which includes learning to develop B&W film. So hopefully I will know what you mean by 1 + 50, etc, soon

 

[Pete Askew]

I have used Ilford ID11 for as long as I can remember either for one-shot manual, in deep tanks or for machine (Jobo ATL1500) developing. I always develop at 24ºC and use it for Ilford Delta 100 and 400 as well as HP5. I rarely shoot much else but on the occasions I have used Delta 3200, I have used DDX.

Many people are put off by it being a two-part, powder-based developer from which you must make the final solution. I run a laboratory and so this is not an issue but in Germany, where there is only a studio and darkroom, it causes me no issues either. I keep the stock in 2.5 litre glass bottles and, when filled completely, it keeps for about 6 months.

These examples of prints made from 120 film developed in ID11 in a deep tank (Ilfostop and Ilford Rapid Fixer). Fims are rinsed for 15 minutes in running water in a film washer after fixing and then rinsed with either distilled (UK) or de-ionised (Germany) water before drying in a drying cabinet.

Here are some examples that have been shown here previously - I really must scan some more!

Sorry about the small size of the last one, it's the only scan I have handy.

 

[Brian Moore]

I haven't been developing my own for very long,...maybe a year or a year and a half. I started with Rodinal. Why? I'm something of a Luddite and I find satisfaction in old things. Rodinal is a very old developer I once read, so Rodinal it was for me. I've developed 102 rolls of film. All with Rodinal. (R09 One Shot--which I gather is a formula made to the original Rodinal spec.) Lately I've been doing a lot of 1:100 stand or semi-stand developing.

Shot the below image with my Superheadz Blue Ribbon toy camera and Tri-X film at the Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego on a misty early morning. Developed 1:100 semi-stand.

 

[Hamish Gill]

This time last year I discovered ddx ... I was pushing hp5 all over the show and loving the results ...

 

[Stephen Baker]

Beautiful, Stephen! I can see why you like it. I start a course tomorrow night which includes learning to develop B&W film. So hopefully I will know what you mean by 1 + 50, etc, soon

How did you get on with your course Rob..?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

It went really well last night, although it was just an intro, with little in the way of hands-on stuff. I'll do a write up when I get a moment. Quite inspired by it, though.

 

[Nihat Iyriboz]

Hi Stephen, Pete, Brian - Thank you for sharing your experiences. I like them all. I think Acros 100 and Rodinal is a good combination. I'll try that. I too use Jobo and develop at 24 C. I have been developing mostly with DD-X and some with Rodinal. It is good to hear that Jobo is back in business.

 

[Brian Moore]

I've changed direction a little since this post was first put up. I told myself that if I ever run out of Rodinal I'll try coffee. I ran out in January, and was unable to get to ther Rodinal shop. So I develped a couple of rolls in Caffenol. I had mixed results but at first, but I soon got the process dialed in a wee bit better.

Here one I shot with my Mamiya C33. It's expired TMAX 400 and I processed it in Caffenol C-M.

 

[Grant Young]

Having only developed my first roll...I used HC110.