powder or liquid

[colindoust]

I am just looking to get into developing films at home and have not yet decided

on a developer. I would like to know if i chose a developer that comes in powder

form and i only develop a couple films per month then does any developer that i

have mixed need to be discarded after some time. Or if i chose a liquid

developer could i not just use what i needed each time and leave the concentrate

as it is.

[ronald_moravec1]

Powders last 6 months if you put them in small bottles and keep out air. You will know when to start the clock by when you mix them.

 

Liguids last longer, but the clock starts when thay are made and runs while they sitting on the store shelf. You also do not know when the clock started and some give no visual clue they are bad.

 

Rodinal is a liquid that last almost forever. It makes a somewhat grainy image with enhanced edge boundries best used with slow films.

[nickc1]

For most stuff I use either rodinal or HC110 - both seem to keep for ever in concentrate form.

[chris_waller]

I use Rodinal. Its keeping qualities are legendary and so it suits my intermittent working.

[tim gray]

XTOL has been a pleasure to use. Relatively easy to mix with room temp water, and then just

divide the solution into a bunch of half liter bottles. I use clearly labeled water bottles.

Seems to keep quite a long time for me this way.

[luke_ballard]

Everything said here is true, I for one have been using the powder.

I use D-76, I have been for 2 decades, its easy to mix, and its cheap as heck, 5.49 for a bag that makes a gallon., which I then transfer into 1 liter bottles. I can put those up in a dark place sealed well and each will last a min of 6 months and be ready to go anytime you are. Also it is a very standard developer, it covers a huge range of applications and is probably one of the developers with the most information on it. When you get more and more experienced, you can read more about dilution, agitation, and such to make different things you want to do with your film. Like for example, if you want to build contrast into a film that has very muddy qualities, then you can use stronger agitation to help do that. It is just one of the great tricks you can do with D-76. There are so many books about that developer and so many techniques that can be applied to get certain results. Basically to the point, it is just an all around wonderful developer and you have decades of information about it to read and do some amazing things. I just like the fact that it is cheap, makes a lot of developer, and if stored properly it will last a very long time. So my advice would be, buy a dark brown gallon container and 4 or 5 brown 1 liter containers and then a bag of D-76 that makes a gallon and then give it a try. Just mix it all in that gallon, then pour into all the 1 liter containers, all the way to the top so no air is in them, store themin a cabenet, and use one of them to start processing. I can almost always (and I have been doing this for YEARS) get at least 8 to 10 rolls developed out of 1 of the liter bottles before I throw it out. I will filter it after about 5 rolls, then after 5 more just throw it away and grab a fresh liter. You won't have to worry about mixing for a long time.

But anyway, just my 2 cents. Iflords ID-11 is about the same and its a liqued, but I like D-76 a bit better.

Good Luck and Happy shooting!

 

Luke

[norman_valentine]

ID 11 is exactly the same and is a powder.

[luke_ballard]

Sorry, I was thinking and had on my brain Ilford Rapid Fix, the small bottles of concentrate fixer. My apologies, it is a powder, not a liqued, I don't know why I was thinking of the fixer for some reason, I just had this mental picture of the bottle in my head when I was writing and it was the fix, not the developer. I never use ID-11, but I do use ilfords washaid, and stop which are both liqueds. I guess I just was thinking about the bottles and translated that into my messege as a result. Just one of those brain farts. lol. Sorry bout that and thanks Norman for the correction!

 

Luke

[rothelle]

They only liquids I have on hand from 1999 is HC-110 I have not had any problem with any of my films and yes I have use updated HC-110 to see if anything has changed. No. Another liquid I use is PMK. I mix both as time to process my film. I use as a one shot and toss. D76 is another good one but I don't keep more than 6 months. I process just about every other day.

[bill_clark___minnetonka_mi]

One nice feature about powered products, especially Ilford who puts the powdered stuff

into sealed plastic bags then into a cardboard box, is the life of the powder versus the

liquid.

 

I find it is easy to mix the powders into stock which has a somewhat limited life although

I'm still using ID-11 stock I mixed in May 2006 and I find it still works for me. I keep the

stock in 5 liter plastic soda bottles, stored in a cool, dry and dark cabinet. That's the

same place I store my old sockes so maybe that's why it last so long!