Pennie wise or pound foolish?

[garrylewis747]

If a man came to you and said,"I have a formula that makes any film

come out the finest grain, long tonality,and high acutance possible-

even Tri-X. The only drawback is that it must be mixed fresh and is

only good for one roll at a time." Would you take it and thank him,

or would you send him because "quantity is better than quality"?

[jeff_lu]

i'd take it and hardly use it because i happen to like grain in most of my work

[lowell_huff1]

Why would you buy a developer that was not satisfactory when there are several that perform that well or better even on TriX with out he "draw back" ?

[jay_de_fehr]

As the first poster illustrated, there is no all-encompassing developer, because we all have our own preferrences which often conflict with others' preferrences, or even from one image to the next. That being said, if I found a developer that performed flawlessly in a particular application, but had to be mixed fresh for each roll, I would mix it fresh for each roll and be grateful for it.

[al_kaplan1]

No. I'm happy with D-76 1:1.

[alexis_neel]

I think the point Garry is trying to make is that given certain considerations, would you go to the trouble and expense of mixing each batch as needed. I have always used developer 1 shot, so IMO its the best way to go, and I don't mind the consistant results. Luckily I've been able to mix 100 liters at a time and so don't need to mix from scratch before each run. For any reasonable amount of film, that would be prohibitive. But if it can be mixed in advance, and was my "general purpose" developer, sure, why not. I could always use "grainy" developers when the situation/client called for it.

 

Alexis

 

www.alexisneel.com

[david_goldfarb]

I don't see what the big deal is about using a one-shot developer. With the exception of Acufine and occasionally Perceptol (stock), most of the developers I've used on a regular basis, I've used as one-shot developers--D-76 (1+1), Microdol-X (1+3), ABC pyro, PMK, and a few others. While not universal, this is a pretty widespread and common practice.

 

What is "mixing fresh"? Does it not count if you have a 1, 2,or 3 part stock solution? I suppose that when I mix amidol developer for paper I go straight from powdered chemicals to working solution, which I discard at the end of a printing session, but this doesn't seem that much more involved than mixing a working batch of ABC or PMK pyro from 3 or 2 stock solutions, respectively.

[robert_davis2]

I make both my B&W and my C-41 developer up just before I need it.

 

It's not exactly a hassle.

 

OTOH that bit about only one roll at a time might bother me-)

[rowland_mowrey]

It sounds great in theory. One thing bothers me.

 

If it is so good, why isn't the guy rich? ;-)

 

Many developers that were or are popular are one shot. That isn't the problem, the problem is designing what is clamed in your post.

 

I hope it performs as described. You could ruin some good pix before you find out the best conditions etc...

 

Good luck.

 

Ron Mowrey

[jimvanson]

"<I>I have a formula that makes any film come out the finest grain, long tonality,and high acutance possible- even Tri-X...</i>".<P>And every frame of every roll would exhibit that sameness that makes McDonald's burgers so popular.<P>Thanks, but no thanks.

[eric rose]

I do mine in Pyro-Cat HD. It's a one shot developer.

[lee_shively]

There is a film available that is sold with a small vial of developer attached to each roll. Gigabit? I forget.

 

I agree with those who use one-shot developers. D76 1:1 or 1:3 does a great job. So does Rodinal 1:whatever.

[garrylewis747]

Let Me rephrase--

 

If you had to;

mix from scratch( investing extra time and money),

develop only one roll per batch of mixture(investing extra time and money),to get the best negative from a give emulsion.

 

WOULD YOU?

 

or

 

Would you go for an easy to use, pre-mixed off the self developer, that lasts a long time, and does a mountain of rolls per liter, and be satisied with an almost best negative?

[lex_jenkins]

I'd give the miracle developer a try. But I'd expect some compromise.

 

For example, last year I bought a box containing a few vials of Neofin Blue concentrate. The concentrate could be mixed to various dilutions for one or two rolls, 35mm or medium format, but each vial was essentially a one or two shot deal.

 

The results were outstanding, especially on Efke R100 film, but the developer concentrate was expensive.

 

Would I keep buying the stuff to get such good results? Maybe. But my budget would probably force me to try other solutions.

[eric merrill]

Garry:

 

Is this purely a theoretical question?

 

My answer would be a qualified yes. Depends on how toxic the developer is.

[david_goldfarb]

I do in fact mix one shot developers from scratch.

 

I don't develop one roll at a time, but I don't see why that would be a relevant factor in general. Why would the number of rolls in the tank make a difference as to the quality of the result, if they are all being processed for the same time?

 

I do know people who use brush development for sheet film and develop one sheet at a time to use this particular agitation technique. If I had a problem that could be fixed by brush development, I suppose I might do it, but I don't, so I don't.

[daniel_smith6]

Nothing at all wrong with mixing before using the chemistry. The roll film part may be difficult in this hypothetical though... would it work as well for 8x10 sheet film?

Some of us still mix our own chemistry & it works well. The ability to tweak things a bit as well as the assurance of fresh chemistry each time is nice. And the cost factor... way lower than buying packaged chemistry. Last time I checked the cost for a litre of film developer that I mix is a fraction over 12 cents. A lot lower than the pre-packaged stuff & it gives good results. There is a lot more to processing than The Yellow Peril.

[klix]

Is it free?

[garrylewis747]

>Is this purely a theoretical question?

 

yes

 

>Depends on how toxic the developer is.

 

you can even use it as a party mixer.

 

>Is it free?

 

of course! But you can't tell anyone else. }:^)

[glenn_thoreson]

I'm lazy, I guess. D-76 1:1 and PMK Pyro is all I need. Come to think of it, as much solution as one can make with PMK and the fact it will almost outlive me in storage, what else could I need?

[raczoliver]

I even find making stock solutions of powder developers a hassle when there are very good liquid concentrate developers available. I used D-76 for a while, but then I got better (to me) results, faster with Lucky HB-17 (which might not be very well known outside China). The "finest grain, greatest acutance......" stuff sounds good, but what if I just don't need it? I'm not the first in this thread to make the point that I might be 100% satisfied with my slightly grainy, but quite sharp developer. I think there are so many good commercially available developers, even at a low cost, that I couldn't justify the hassle of mixing up my own stuff right before developing every roll of film, if not for the sake of fun, which I did a couple of times.