What Developer

Finally getting my feet wet again with developing and printing. I Would like to
know everyones opinion on what film developer I should use to achieve the best
results with the following film. I would like to stay away from buying several
types of developer due to cash, space EXC.

The film is all 120

Ilford PANF- 50iso
Ilford FP4- 125iso
Ilford Delta- 100iso

thx

Mathew

 

ilford ddx

 

I use Rodinal for all low iso films and I'm happy with this. Also, you can't go wrong with HC 110, I heard d76 is the same but never tried it yet.

 

Be aware that DDX (which is really excellent) is probably the most expensive developper.

 

I like ilfosol-s with Panf

 

D76/ID-11 or Xtol for all of them. I think it would be D76 if I could only have one.

 

Xtol is a better developer than D76 marginally. It has some nasty suprise characteristics
so I gave up on it several years back after sending all kinds of it back to Kodak. Too
much trouble and wasted film. I mix a scratch batch of D76 as I need it. HC110 is a nice
commercial developer or maybe for people who do large format and need large volumns.

DD X is excellent, but expensive, and has a shelf life. The date of mfg is coded in the
batch number first two digits, but I stopped tracking the code. They will give you the
date if you call, but can you imagine getting the code at the store, going home to contact
Ilford, then going back to purchase it. Too expensive and too much trouble. Then if you
have to place orders, borders on insane.

When the date it the way milk is dated for all to read, maybe I will buy it. It images much
like Xtol.

 

Can't go wrong with Ilford ID-11 or Kodak D-76. You'll get great results.

 

If I were forced to settle on only one developer, it would be D-76 without a doubt. Though I've never had a nasty surprise with XTOL, I'm in agreement with him in that it is marginally better than D-76. Why D-76? Because I've used it for many, many years more than I have used XTOL, and it has never let me down. There is also a greater wealth of data for this developer in combination with many more different films than there is for any other commercially available developer currently on the market. In short, there's a lot less testing and guesswork involved.

 

All answers are good, but if you are going to process your film sporadically, then HC-110 is great, the concentrate lasts for years.

 

For Pan F+ Rodinal (I like 1:50)
For Delta 100 DD-X
For FP4+ either Rodinal or DD-X

 

Diafine with te Pan=F at 80 and Also Rodinal. Just getting your feet re-wetted D-76 and HC-110

 

thx everyone for the great answers.

 

Ilford films process nicely in PMK or Wimberly's WD2D+. I usually use FP4 in 35mm, 120, and 4x5.

 

I process all of the above in Rodinal.

 

If you use a silver solvent developer you lose sharpness with this film. As has been said earlier, use Rodinal or D76 1:1. Email me if you need Rodinal development information.

Lynn