Your thoughts on a reasonable developer for initial use with 35 mm FP4, Fomapan 200 and some expired HP5 + some other random sheets...

Y

YorkshireBloke

Popular Poster
Registered User
Joined
Dec 20, 2017
Messages
109
Hi,

So now I have been reminded of how to load dark slides and achieved 6 X sheet loading into a Patterson 5x 4 holder (result!) I want to dev some 35 mm FP4, some expired HP5 and some undeveloped sheets in a box of dark slides from eBay (what a mystery...).

What's a reasonable 1st choice of dev, emphasis on convenience rather than cost - all comments appreciated!

I used to like the accutance effects of Accutol and Acculux, back in the day...

Robert
 
For convenience go for a liquid developer. So Ilford DDX is a good choice but there are of course hundreds of opinions. Obviously the most convenient option is just buy whatever your local camera shop has in stock.
 
Last edited:
For the mystery sheets a long stand dev with Rodinol could be a good approach as as far as I understand it works to exhaustion so less guesswork.
I found it to be great for grain if you are a bit loose with time and iso and HP5 with standard short dev times .
As per the others a liquid dev in one shot mixes is very convenient.
 
Cheers all,

Thanks for all your thoughts - I am trying to buy the Euro HC kit that Nic & Trick used to list but may now be sold out...

Dev, Stop, Fix and wetting agent at a bundle price...

I am paused for a few days now - currently on a train to London for the Large Format photography course I keep banging on about - last session of 4 this time - scanning megs and inkjet printing, I think...

Robert
 
I develop all my sheet film in ID11, at a dilution of 1+2. It gives excellent results. A 5 litre pack, when mixed, lasts for ages. You do have to mix it from powder, but if you can make a cup of instant coffee you should manage...:)
 
Ilford’s Ilfotec HC is much the same as Kodak 110 and presumably Euro HC. In concentrated form they have enormous shelf lives.
D76 and ID11 are, in a way, standard “default” developers. I believe they are used to test film speed.
 
Yes, you get full film speed with ID11. And the stock solution, or 1+1 dilution gives a good balance of film speed, fine grain and sharpness. At a dilution of 1+2 or 1+3 you get noticably more sharpness. Ilford say it gives the sharpest results of all their developers, at 1+3, with FP4 and HP5.
What I especially like about ID11 at 1+2 or 1+3 is the tonality. If you give reduced development to control high contrast, you get no compression of the mid-tones. In fact the mid-tones always look nice and bright, unlike Rodinal which I have found darkens the mid-tones slightly, and XTOL which noticably darkened the upper mid tones, when I ran it as a test against dilute ID11.
And with large format, tonality is everything. You don't have to worry about grain or sharpness, at least with normal sized prints.
 
Everyone's mileage varies, of course, but the only good results I've ever gotten for HP5+ (and they were, indeed, very good results) was with PMK Pyro. In other developers, I found HP5+ to be dull, lacking highlight brilliance and mid tone separation.

In my experience, FP4+ works well with pretty much every developer I've thrown at it including D-23, D-76, HC-110, Pyrocat-HDC, and PMK Pyro.

Again, these are not laws of nature, just my own experience.
 
thronobulax said:
Everyone's mileage varies, of course, but the only good results I've ever gotten for HP5+ (and they were, indeed, very good results) was with PMK Pyro. In other developers, I found HP5+ to be dull, lacking highlight brilliance and mid tone separation.
Click to expand...
I'm very surprised at this. I love HP5. It comes alive in dilute ID11 and dilute Perceptol. Here's one, of a silver birch tree, from a 5x4 sheet of HP5 developed in ID11 diluted 1+2.silver birch.jpg
 
Alan Clark said:
I'm very surprised at this. I love HP5. It comes alive in dilute ID11 and dilute Perceptol. Here's one, of a silver birch tree, from a 5x4 sheet of HP5 developed in ID11 diluted 1+2.View attachment 6319
Click to expand...

In some degree, it's a matter of taste and personal aesthetic. It may be a "me" problem, but I've never gotten anything out of HP5+ I loved with anything other than PMK, noting that I've not ever used Perceptol. It's also worth pointing out that I am strictly a silver printer and how I approach split VC printing is also a factor here.

Here is one example of my preferred rendering. This is from 3x2 HP5+ shot with a 101mm f/4.5 Ektar, processed in PMK Pyro, scan of silver print:


1782317283439.png


Honourable mention goes to HP5+ in Crawley FX-1
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top