Topic: Film developers--what are you using?

[outofcontxt]

Microdol? Wow! I completely forgot about that stuff. I used to use it ages and ages ago. Gives nice results.

[lauraburlton]

I generally use t max and sprint but I might give accufine a try again, I generally tend to stay away from powdered developers.

[eyecaramba]

Rodinal is my regular habit but I'll use most anything in a pinch.

Gordon

[outofcontxt]

Just got a supply of Aculux from B&H. Sweet stuff! Plus, I really love the fact that I can push the hell out of Delta 3200 with it, too. Gonna have to try that before I head on the road trip next month to the Big Easy.

[katie]

HC-110 because it seems remarkably well behaved. And I ran out of Rodinal. Damn.

I keep almost ordering a bottle of pyro from silverprint. It's the PMK recipe, made by speedibrews: do any of you have experience with that one? Would it sulk with continuous agitation? (I develop sheet film in a Patterson orbital. It's mostly FP4+ or Classic Pan and it's almost all pinhole.)

[CarlRadford]

HC-110 because it seems remarkably well behaved. And I ran out of Rodinal. Damn.

I keep almost ordering a bottle of pyro from silverprint. It's the PMK recipe, made by speedibrews: do any of you have experience with that one? Would it sulk with continuous agitation? (I develop sheet film in a Patterson orbital. It's mostly FP4+ or Classic Pan and it's almost all pinhole.)

Shouldn't be a problem Katie - I have been advised by Kerik that Rollo Pyro is very good and that is supposed to work best in tanks. I use pyro for nearly everything - especially the pinhole stuff! Order the raw chemicals from silverprint and make up your own pmk, rollo or pryocat hd

Take care, Carl.

[Rogerrr]

what's the appeal of pyro? I've never used it...but since I'm having fun experimenting with homemade developers..it might be worth a try

I hear homemade coffee/tea developers have a similar look ( the chemicals in coffee & tea are similar to pyrogallol )

[LT]

what's the appeal of pyro? I've never used it...

I've never used pyrogallol so cant comment there, I I have used most of the commercially available pyrocatechol developers (DiXactol. Exactol Lux, Precyscol an Pyrocat HD).  I've now settled on homebrewed Pyrocat HD as my standard.

What's the appeal?  well, where do I start?  Many of the claims for these developers seems to be the stuff of snake-oil trickery, excellent compensation from the tan and stain, scalpel like edge effects, very fine grain due to the stain mask, amazingly smooth and delicate highlight tones/ seperation, full or close to full film speed; but they are all true in my book.  Negs from catechol are very easy to print, they look brown,thin and wafty, but dont be fooled, they work like a dream.  Is that enough?  And, if you mix it yourself, the cost is extremely low indeed (as compared to the commercial available preparations).   

[Rogerrr]

what kind of paper works best?...I thought I read something about the stain interfering with multigrade papers

[LT]

some poeple say that the stain can interfere with contrast in MG, so fixed grade papers are better ... I always use MG papers and have no problems with them at all with my catechol negs

[Rogerrr]

do the negatives curl up at all?

my tea/coffee negs curl up a lot...some are pretty badly curled

[LT]

no more than the film type would do in any developer.  for exapmle, I find ilford films dont curl at all, but rolls of Efke/ Adox/ ClassicPan etc all curl very badly.

[Rogerrr]

OK....curious because I got extreme curling from coffee/tea...I get the impression the tanning of the film shrinks the emulsion

Anyway...my next experiment is developing film with the extract from Dandelion Root
...apparently it has Caffeic acid in it ( also in Coffee )

I hope it works....it would be so funny to be able to turn weeds into developer

I want to do a series of images...a photo of citrus fruit developed with Vitamin C...Teapots developed with Tea...Coffee mugs developed with Coffee..Dandelions Developed with Dandelion extract...etc

I did get an image with Pomegranate juice--but very faint

[latinbob]

do the negatives curl up at all?

my tea/coffee negs curl up a lot...some are pretty badly curled

I always thought it was the particular film too.  Ilford never curls on me and is extremely well behaved.  Same with Fuji.  Kodak, however, always curls up on me.

[Rogerrr]

KODAK told me curling mostly depends on how dry the emulsion gets....
but...since I got rather extreme curling from unusual chemicals I think there must be other factors

btw...my next developing experiment is with dandelion extracts...if it works out I could develop pix of dandelions with dandelion extract developer ( caffeic acid, also found in coffee) then tint the flower yellow with dye also extracted from dandelions

[Janet_P]

I want to do a series of images...a photo of citrus fruit developed with Vitamin C...Teapots developed with Tea...Coffee mugs developed with Coffee..Dandelions Developed with Dandelion extract...etc

I did get an image with Pomegranate juice--but very faint

I really like this idea Rogerr - can't wait to see your results.