Tri-X film processing with no powder chemicals?

[michael_davies2]

<p>I want to make things easy on myself this first time (in 20 years) out so I want to use all liquid concentrates to mix my working stock. Any suggestions?</p>

[maury_cohen]

<p>Is Kodak HC-110 still available? This was a liquid concentrate that could be diluted out of the bottle.</p>

[SCL]

<p>Also the old standby - Rodinal (in its various reincarnations) as a developer, you can use liquid fixers as well, I've had good success with TF-4 from Photographers' Formulary.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p><a href="http://ilfordphoto.com/products/producttype.asp?n=6&t=Film+Developers"><strong>Ilford</strong></a> has a few liquid concentrates, including Ilfosol-S and Ilfosol-3, LC29 and others.</p>

<p>Kodak T-Max and HC-110 liquid concentrates are still available. I still keep HC-110 around because the concentrate lasts forever in storage.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.digitaltruth.com/products/clayton.php"><strong>Clayton</strong></a> offers several liquid concentrates.</p>

<p>Rodinal would be my last choice unless I was making traditional optical enlargements in the darkroom. The grain is a pain in the neck to scan and the grain aliasing doesn't look like natural film grain. Even then I would use Rodinal or other acutance enhancing developers only for certain films and certain looks. It's not a good all purpose developer, especially for scanning.</p>

[jean_yves_mead]

Even though it comes as a set of powders, Diafine would make it about as easy as you could possibly

get.

[Mike Gammill]

Tri-x in HC110 works well for me. And I use Ilford Rapid Fix.

[robert_landrigan]

<p>HC-110 and Tri-X is a classic combo for a reason - if the dev times seem to short, you can got to crazy dilutions with 1-2 rolls in the tank to get longer dev times. See http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/HC110/index.html for all sorts of info, great page! <br>

For fix, I prefer the Ilford rapid fix, and no need for a dedicated stop bath, water is fine. </p>

[michael_davies2]

<p>I'm leaning toward HC-110 due to the shelf life. I also looked at Ilford Rapid Fix but I'm going to be scanning the negatives so I'm looking for a hardening fixer.<br>

I have heard before that water will do instead of a stop bath. I live in an extreme drought area, however, so I wonder how much water might be saved by using a stop bath.<br>

No one has mentioned a liquid hypo clearing agent.<br>

<br />Thanks for the replies thus far.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>There are several opinions on rapid fixer vs. hardening fixer. <a href="http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?82553-hardening-vs-non-hardening-fixers-(for-film)"><strong>This thread</strong></a> on another forum covers the basics pretty well. Personally I've never found any need for hardening fixer with Kodak or Ilford films, for optical enlargements in the darkroom or scanning. These emulsions aren't fragile and rapid fixer is generally recommended by the manufacturers. There may be a few exceptions for special materials or techniques.</p>

[dave_redmann]

<p>Personally, I think I like Tri-X best in Ilford DD-X, which is a liquid concentrate, but Kodak HC-110, which comes as a syrup, is surely a good choice too. I tend to use Ilford stop bath, rapid fixer, and wash aid, all of which come as liquid concentrates, but there are many good options.</p>

 

[owen_omeara]

<p>HC 110, The best.</p>

<p>-O</p>

[chris_waller]

<p>My film chemical line-up is Rodinal, Kodak Indicating Stop and Ilford Hypam fixer..</p>

[rick_jones5]

<p>HC-110, Kodak Indicator Stop Bath (liquid stop), Kodafix (liquid fix w/ hardener), PermaWash (liquid HCA) and Kodak Photo-Flo 200 (liquid used to minimize water marks and streaks as film dries). These are the same chems I used when developing bulk loaded Panatomic X in the 60's. The Covington site already mentioned is a must read especially the section on extending developing times. I have tried to keep my developing times around 10 minutes by varying the dilution of the developer of choice. Much easier to control the process at 10 min. as opposed to the 3 1/2 possible with certain HC-110 dilutions.</p>

[mendel_leisk]

<p>I picked up Kodak HC110 about 18 months ago, through B&H. Also KodaFix, but had to resort to non-Kodak for short stop. All liquid concentrates, handy for single use.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>HC-110 was what the newspapers I worked at used when they weren't using D-76. No stop bath -- a minute or so in running water is all it takes. Kodak Rapid Fix. It's a liquid and it comes with hardener. </p>

[lenny_eiger]

<p>HC-110 is a very mediocre developer. It doesn't hold a candle to Xtol or one of the Pyro variants. While Xtol is a powder, Pyro often comes premixed (Photographer's Formulary). Rodinal has a very special effect and if you like very large grain, its great. I don't like it at all. I want smooth. </p>

[glen_h]

<p>Acetic acid is liquid at 100%, so no problem there.<br>

I like the Ilford Rapid Fixer, but Kodak also has a liquid rapid (Ammonium based) fixer.<br>

There are a few good choices for developer, but I will second someone else recommending Diafine, even though it doesn't come as a liquid. It isn't hard to mix and, once mixed, lasts pretty much forever. (Or until you use it up, such as through spills or incomplete draining of the tank.)<br>

Not needing to get accurate timing or temperature more than makes up for the one time mixing.<br>

(Especially if your darkroom temperature varies a lot.) </p>

[dave_redmann]

<p><em>Acetic acid is liquid at 100%, so no problem there.</em></p>

<p>Uh, no problem? What you appear to be referring to is sometimes called "glacial acetic acid". Anciently photographers bought it and diluted it to make stop bath, but it's relatively more dangerous and corrosive stuff (as I recall, one of Ansel Adams' books discusses the hazards). Today you can buy purpose-made liquid-concentrate stop baths that are easier and safer to deal with, not to mention readily-available and inexpensive.</p>

 

[robert_landrigan]

<p>If you're using the chemistry one-shot, a 30 second water stop bath is fine - it's only if you are planing to use the fixer until exhaustion that an actual stop may be worth the effort(with film). So no more water either way. Ilford's Washaid is meant for hardening fixers,it's a liquid and ya, if you're worried about water usage a clear win.</p>

[michael_davies2]

<p>After reading <a href="http://lavidaleica.com/content/choosing-bw-film-developer">this</a> I decided to just use what I used when I was a kid. I'll buck up and mix up a batch o' chemistry from powders. However, I'm glad I asked and got some insight from you folks. I image this thread will be helpful to more than just me.</p>

<p>Cheers.</p>

[glen_h]

<p>Yes, one should always be careful with conc. acids, though acetic is one of the nicer of the acids.<br>

If you need a solid, there is sodium diacetate, which is solid. That is what was in tri-chem packs, and also what they put on salt-and-vinegar potato chips. <br>

But yes, bottled stop bath is also liquid, and reasonably priced.<br>

Diafine B has a lot of carbonate, which isn't so good when mixed with acid.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<blockquote>

<p>"Diafine B has a lot of carbonate, which isn't so good when mixed with acid."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>The maker of Diafine recommends against using an acid stop bath. No stop bath or water rinse should be used between Parts A and B, since the two parts must interact for Diafine to be effective. And a plain water rinse after Part B is fine because developing time isn't critical. There's no worry about excessive contrast or grain from not stopping development immediately. So I'd use a couple of fills of plain water in the tank, with agitation, before fixing. Seemed adequate to prevent contaminating and shortening the life of the fixer.</p>

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p>Today you can buy purpose-made liquid-concentrate stop baths that are easier and safer to deal with, not to mention readily-available and inexpensive.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br /><br />Or even cheaper, water out of the tap.</p>

[michael_davies2]

<p>If you don't live in a drought region it's difficult to understand what "water conservation" really is. I didn't either till a friend and colleague shared some insight. At the time I didn't live in a drought region so it seemed a bit academic but it did raised my awareness and I looked deeper. It still requires a bit of educating oneself to acquire the level of awareness necessary to understand the severity of the situation when you find yourself in it. It's easy to put on blinders and just let the tap run.</p>