Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Copied from another thread---




Thanks ofermod, I started a new thread here...

What do you mean they say not to start out with that? Do you mean the one-shot D76?

Where is a good place to buy chemicals? Henry's? Online? I'm in Markham, and I think there's a Henry's in Scarborough which is about 20 minutes away...

If you use it and throw it away it is one shot. There's a contention among people that use one shot (from powder not mixed) d76 and those that don't. From experience and talking to people that do it works well. People that say it doesn't work consistently are saying it without evidence.

On the other side is people that say that d76 once in solution ages well here again they are wrong as after a month one of the components starts to break down and by 3 months d76 is not really d76.

Now days I usually mix up a 5 litre batch of kodak xtol and use it as one shot developer. If stored correctly it lasts over 6 months. It is one of the safest developers being as vitamin C is the active ingredient. Ilford makes some nice developer in concentrated liquid form.

It is the contention that I am referring to -- you can't physically guarantee that you have an even mixture in a powder unless you are mixing the components yourself. I'm also told that it all starts off in a giant vat anyway, so even each package may not be made up accurately.
I'm just blabbering on theoretically. Both Metrix and I have had decent results despite the theory. It's fine if you're just messing around. If you're running a film developing business, I'd follow the directions.

My deciding factor was really whether or not I would be doing a lot of development, and whether or not the chemicals would last. Powder will last the longest, liquid concentrate next. Stock solutions will oxidize fastest. When you get a feel for how much film you will be shooting/processing, then you can get a feel for what works best for you.

I use one-shot HC-110 Dilution H by syringing out 4-7mL of concentrate (depending on the tank). The literature says never use less than 6mL, but I've been ignoring that and haven't had an issue.

I seem to treat a lot of the rules like they're guidelines.

There is yet another thread about where to get chemicals and stuff. I've picked up a few from Henry's Scarborough (they're hiding in a corner) -- of course being a smaller location they may not have everything you need in stock.

I got my idea for using d76 from a rather famous person on apug who use it in the field to develop large format. Keep it in a large Maison jar and stir the powder well before you use it the first time only. After every use gently rotate/ tumble it a few times and put it back on the shelf. I think Kodak palletized the mix so you couldn't separate the powders even if you wanted to.

A slide show of my d76 stuff (early days of film development)
http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=d7 ... 0N00&s=int

some reference material I put together (bottom of the page):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrix_feet/3284317135/

Thanks Ryan!

I have a quick question, in one of your pages (http://blog.metrix-x.com/2010/03/odds-a ... pment.html) you say not to use a stop bath for film as it's only for paper, but in the summaries of how to develop you say to rinse with water stop several times. Is your current procedure to not rinse? Thanks.

You have to rinse with water to stop the development and prevent developer carry over into the fixer. But it is plain water not with an acid stop bath. With paper it's harder to get the developer out of the paper so an acid stop bath is used. If your developing times are shorter then lets say 5 minutes then an acid stop bath should be used to try to keep developing time equal for all parts of the film.

The only chemicals that are worth paying for are the developer and fixer.

The stop bath can be plain water, or you can add some household acetic acid (that's vinegar).

Plain water again for the wash -- I've seen cool vortex devices to help make the process faster. Never looked up what's in the chemical wash or what the cheap alternative is. Ilford has an inversion method that's pretty simple to do.

Lastly, a wetting agent to prevent water spots can be just a dilute mixture of dishwashing liquid -- tho' I bought some PhotoFlo since I don't know what other crap in dishwashing liquid might do. I hear hanging your negs at an angle also helps. I just need to find a way to do that in my laundry room.

Geez, my picture made it into Ryan's example post. Is it just the three of us in here or what?

Keep it coming. It's all useful info

I just started bw home processing myself. I'm using rodinal developer and kodak brand for stop bath, fixer & wetting agent. I just got some D76 and Ilfosol developers for further experimentation.