Amateur darkroom questions

Can I use the same developer for film and paper? If not, which ones can be

recommended?

 

Are the stoppers and fixers suitbable for both purposes?

Film and paper developers are made differently with the later having a lot of sodium carbonate and the former little or none.

Also remember that although the fixer is of the same type for film and paper it is not best to use separate batches.

 

The film leaves some residue in the fixer that could contaminate the paper if same bath is used for both.

Some decades back some people used the same developper (in different concentrations) for both film and paper processing.

 

You can use the same fixing chemicals for film and paper. I do not think that film or paper leaves residues in the fixer. But there is another point: fixer for papers is used in open baths and therefore collects a lot of dust. Tiny dust particles do not matter too much on paper but will be visible on film negs. So you should use separate storage bottles for film fixer and paper fixer even if you make them from the same chemicals. It's the same with stopping bath.

 

If you don't want to do anything wrong and don't want to use high speed film the good old Agfa Rodinal might be a good choice for a starter. Paper developper is much more forgiving and you can use anything you find. Do NOT use any paper developer which is used for copying documents (they usually have something like "doc" in their designators).

Depending on where in the world you live, Kodak or Ilford chemicals are pretty common.

 

For starting up, Ilford MG developer for paper and ID11 powder for film. Water works fine instead of stop bath. or dilute white table vineger 1 part to 4 parts water for stop bath. Ilford liquid Rapid fixer for both film and paper, Mix two separate containers, one for film, one for paper.

 

Ilford Photo's web site has all the info you need to start b&w darkroom work.

 

Have fun,

 

Bob

Theoretically you can use the same developer for both but you'll get better results more easily by using the appropriate one for each. The time-honored standard Kodak developer for film is D-76 and for paper it's Dektol. Stop bath is the same for each. Kodak Fixer can be used for both. Kodak Rapid Fixer can be used for both but gets mixed differently for film and paper. It you're using Kodak T-Max film you're probably better with T-Max developer than D-76. If you like ILford, ID-11 is identical to D-76.