Developer life

I am not new to photography, but have taken a long break from the darkroom. I used to discard my developer after processing a roll of black and white film. So I never experimented with just how many rolls I can actually develop in one batch of chemistry. For this question let me say that if I process a single roll of 36 exposure film in a single reel Nikor tank, which holds about 8oz of chemistry. If I use the developer again how many rolls can I process before I have exhausted the developer?

I think a single roll of 36 exposures in a single reel tank is about it, especially if you use higher dilutions. Even if you could do more, the correction factor would be more than I'm comfortable with. IMO, one-shot is the way to go.

the developer

should be known and named....

Many of them came with manuals. Some of those might have been specific about all imaginable ways to use the soup; i.e.

• with replenishing
  
• one shot (as you did)
  
• multiple times (In that case longer times for consecutive rolls might have been suggested.
  

I believe Ilford recommended 100ml of Microphen per roll and it did not matter if you reused your stock solution or diluted it to 1+3 or 1+1. - Times varied of course but who cares? - Just let the Jobo run until it is done.

I'm no math wizard, but 8 oz(UK) of undiluted Microphen should be enough for 2.25 rolls. - Others surely dabbled with different soups and might recall different figures.

As said, the developer datasheet is your friend.

 

I've stretched E6 chemistry, for example, probably to the limits of reasonableness but always within 24 hours or so of diluting it. The instructions with the chemistry I used stated to add 10% to your developing time for each time the chemistry was re-used.

 

B&W developer-on the whole-is so inexpensive that I'd prefer to use it one shot. The datasheets will typically specify a minimum amount of stock solution for a given film surface area(usually 35mm-36, 120, 4 sheets of 4x5, and 1 of 8x10 are considered to have about the same surface area) and in many cases with a developer like D76 you're going to be pretty darn close to that number with an 8oz tank. If you drop below the minimum amount specified, you can SOMETIMES extend the developing time to compensate, but that also only goes so far.

 

The short answer is that I'd probably not do it unless I was using fairly concentrated solutions of something like HC110(which carry their own problems-like short developing time for most films).

The particular developer makes a difference:

 

Here is the data sheet for D76- https://imaging.kodakalaris.com/sites/uat/files/wysiwyg/pro/chemistry/j78.pdf

 

Look up whatever you are using. I still say "Google™ is your friend"

It is very different for different developers.

 

My favorite, since I learned about it from my grandfather about 50 years ago,

is Diafine, which lasts pretty much forever as long as there is still enough left.

(You lose a little for each roll, soaked into the film, or leaked from the tank.)

 

Above you find the data sheet for D76, which I have read before. Unreplenished

capacity is one 135-36 roll for 8oz or 250ml stock, or for 16oz diluted 1:1.

 

With a little extra time, you can do one roll in 8oz 1:1, though.

 

My favorite for older (20, 30, or even 50 years old) is HC-110 dilution B, which is

also one 135-36 roll for 8oz, which means over 100 rolls for a 1L concentrate bottle.

(Other dilutions are for proportionally more or less rolls.)

 

More recently, I got some TMax developer, which is needed for the highest speeds

push processing of TMax films. I believe for this, with normal dilution, it is

six rolls in 16oz/500ml with appropriate time increase for later rolls.

For this question let me say that if I process a single roll of 36 exposure film in a single reel Nikor tank, which holds about 8oz of chemistry. If I use the developer again how many rolls can I process before I have exhausted the developer?

 

If it's D76, you would likely get a second film from the 8oz if you use the developer within a few days and if it's been well sealed from air. You may want to add 10% to the developing time

 

I once experimented with Neofin Blue one-shot developer, a 500ml mix (17.5 oz), and kept adding extra time to successive films. The developer completely exhausted at the seventh roll of 120 size Shanghai GP3. The sixth and seventh rolls, while scannable, were extremely flat, nearly every tone in the images was pretty much the same tone. The developing times of the films ranged from 6 mins (film No 1) to 1hour 20mins (film No 7). This experiment lasted a week, exposing and developing one film per day in that same 500ml of developer. The end result was that I liked film No 5 most of all, and even posted some images from it on various Photo.net boards. No 5 film had very fine grain and quite good acutance

(snip)

I once experimented with Neofin Blue one-shot developer, a 500ml mix (17.5 oz), and kept adding extra time to successive films. The developer completely exhausted at the seventh roll of 120 size Shanghai GP3. The sixth and seventh rolls, while scannable, were extremely flat, nearly every tone in the images was pretty much the same tone. The developing times of the films ranged from 6 mins (film No 1) to 1hour 20mins (film No 7). This experiment lasted a week, exposing and developing one film per day in that same 500ml of developer. The end result was that I liked film No 5 most of all, and even posted some images from it on various Photo.net boards. No 5 film had very fine grain and quite good acutance

 

Production line developers are "seasoned", so that the production line rate of adding development products,

such as bromide. In use, replenisher is added at an appropriate rate, such that the right equilibrium

value of development products is reached.

 

Small packaged developers are supposed to be properly seasoned and ready

to use, though. I am not sure what that says about your No. 5.

I have a friend who shoots expired film on old & antique cameras he's collected over the years. He develops all his own images in expired chemicals and prints them on his "Frankenprinter" which he built from 3 old printers he pulled out of the dump.

 

The point being that anything is possible, everything is usable.

Yes, for extra fun with old film, use old chemistry, too.

 

I now have some "Kodak Direct Positive Film Developing Outfit", which are not the more

recent, but still out of production TMax versions.

 

I suppose one could mix them from separate chemicals, as the formulae for many

are available, but otherwise, if that is what you want, there isn't a lot of choice.

 

As far as I know, it depends on how well sealed the original containers are.

 

Kodak used to use bottles and cans, but more recently pouches.

I haven't done much developing lately since I've been using Ilford C41 chromogenic B&W.

 

I do have a lot of film in the 'fridge' and packets of Kodak chemicals, so one of these days...

 

However, I intend, in future, to use 1:1 dilution on my D76 and discard the developer after one use (one shot).

(snip)

However, I intend, in future, to use 1:1 dilution on my D76 and discard the developer after one use (one shot).

 

The recommended capacity for D76 1:1 says 16oz/roll. If you add time, you can do 8oz/roll.

 

In that case, you are close to capacity even with just one roll, so one shot use makes sense.

 

Many, though, have more capacity with increased times according to the official data sheets.

(Not counting use beyond capacity, especially when you don't need the best results.)

 

I now have some TMax developer, which says 6 rolls (135-36 or 120) in 16oz,

so I mark on the (diluted) bottle how many rolls I have done in it.

 

HC-110(B) says on roll in 8oz, but at 1:31 dilution that is about 128 rolls/liter of concentrate.

 

TMax developer is diluted 1:4 and does 3 rolls (135-36 or 120) per 8oz, with increased

times for later rolls. That is 60 rolls/liter of concentrate, but it costs less than HC-110

per bottle.

 

One that I might have known, but is also in the TMax data sheet. For push processing,

use it fresh and one shot. I suppose you could reuse it for non-pushed rolls,

but they don't suggest that.

 

TMax developer is one of the few for TMZ at the highest EI values.

(Maybe for TMX and TMY at the higher EI values, too.)

 

https://imaging.kodakalaris.com/sites/uat/files/wysiwyg/pro/chemistry/j86.pdf

I always use B&W developer one-shot-I know some can be reused or replenished after use, but it's cheap and plentiful enough that I prefer to not.

 

BTW, Kodak does say 6 months for a full bottle of D76 stock, and 2 months for a partial filled bottle. I needed to develop some test rolls from a new-to-me camera this past week, and grabbed a nearly empty gallon bottle of D76 that I have no record of when I mixed it. It's at least 6 months old, and probably older. It poured out to a pale straw color, which is what I expect, and worked perfectly(I diluted it 1:1). I'd done nothing special other than store it in the sink cabinet of my bathroom/darkroom.

 

Just today, I was in the local used camera store, which can be a dangerous thing. Last week they got a nice little pile of money from me, but this week I got off fairly light. There was a tub full of SS reels, and I went through and picked out all the Nikor 120s along with a couple of unbranded 220s. I also grabbed one of the giant(8 roll?) tanks with 3 Nikor 120s in it. Along with that was an ancient unopened bottle of Rodinal. I'll use it without much thought.

 

Sitting on a shelf, I have an old square plastic bottle of HC-110 that I'd guess is from the 80s(it came with a bunch of film that expired then). It's a dark red-brown color, and I've not opened and used it but expect it would work fine if I did. I don't trust diluted HC-110 for more than a few hours, and in fact generally mix it immediately before use.

Pale straw color sounds pretty good. Fully oxidized, most developers are very dark.

 

Concentrate HC-110 is a somewhat dark yellow color. Is the one you have factory sealed?

 

I would judge the color after diluting the dark red-brown concentrate.

I believe that dilution B is normally a very light yellow color. Even a little darker it is probably

fine, but it might not hurt to increase the development time as it gets darker.

 

I have mixed HC-110, and stored some in full bottles for use days later.

Not months later, and not large bottles.

When I shot a lot of B&W film commercially I used HC 110 in the way Kodak suggested--dilute the pint of concentrate to make 1/2 gallon of solution that was then diluted 1:7 for Dilution B. This always kept well for a month, by which time I had usually used it up. There was one bad batch of HC 110 in the late 80's, that I avoided by cleaning out a year's worth of old stock at a camera store. After that it always worked well over thousands of sheets of 4x5 and lots of roll film. +1 on one shot developer usage--replenishment only makes sense if you're doing a large film of processing on a regular basis.