8 Film Developers, Field Tested Over 6 Months 

Thank you Joseph!

Thanks man. Yeah the videos about film never do as well as videos about Fuji gear, but there are a few out there who appreciate them ;) But I mostly do it to push myself.

@@AndrewGoodCamera I hear you man. The gear vids seem overly emphasized on here. I am working on a video now that I hope works out. I had the bright idea to try using the PC sync on my RB67 to an AD200 strobe for OCF macros on Ektar 100, haha. I have a feeling I probably underexposed half the roll, but that's part of the fun of film I think.

Thank you for your kind words, Nathy

That's high praise! Thanks for watching

Pablo Inirio also claimed this with paper developer, very interesting.

How do you store it and replenish it?

@@digitalcake Replenishment involves maintaining two solutions, one solution is your working solution, the other your replenishment solution. You mix xtol up following the directions and the result is both the working solution and the replenisher. If just starting out, split that 5L in half. One is your working solution, the other your replenisher. If you already have working solution, then you just mixed up 5L of replenisher. You store your working solution in a large airtight bottle, preferably glass. It should be at least one liter, preferably two to three. I store my replenisher solution in wine bags made by astro-paq. They come with a box and spigot. Once filled, you can draw off replenisher without exposing the rest to air. To replenish, you pour your working solution into the bottles you use for your tempering bath, and process your film with that developer. The used developer goes back into those same bottles at the end of the processing time. Then, for every roll of film that you processed, you draw 70ml of replenisher solution from the wine bag and put it in the large working solution bottle. From there, you top off the working solution bottle with the used developer that you just used and discard the left-over developer. For the next batch of film, repeat the same process. If just starting out, for the first 5-10 rolls, you effectively have fresh xtol, so use the fresh non-diluted xtol times noted in the xtol data sheet, and as you process more film, transition to the replenished times in the data sheet. Depending on the size of your working solution bottle, this could be as few as 5 rolls, and as many as 15 or more, but you will start to notice a difference in the negatives after just a few rolls and it will get progressively better until the working solution bottle reaches steady state. Once there, it's just a matter of maintaining that. A few recommendations: 1. you should use distilled water when mixing up the xtol. 2. DO NOT DILUTE. Replenished xtol is meant to be used undiluted. Diluting 1+1 (or any other dilution ratio) will kill your bottle of working solution. Don't do it. 3. If replenishing, it's recommended to monitor the working solution activity level with control strips. You can either make your own, or you can buy them from Ilford. XTOL is pretty stable so this isn't 100% necessary, but it's useful to know where your working solution bottle is at so you can modify how much you replenish per roll.

@@AdrianBacon Hey wow, thanks for the detailed reply. I will get some Xtol when I've used up my D76 and give this a go. Cheers!

@@digitalcake 👍

Thanks Nigel. Regarding new HC-110, I saw someone with early access post a comparison and they looked extremely close to me.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Agree. Caffenol is indeed the final frontier in this case.

Really great tip. Thanks!

Adox fx-39 works really well with tmax400 and Fuji Acros

Rodinal is a really great developer for getting started. I just used mine about halfway trough but now got the Ilford DDX because I wanted to try something new. Rodinal works with nearly everything though - and experimenting with 1+25/1+50 gives you a fine but interesting difference too, where I found the 1+25 to be a little bit on the rougher, contrasty side, and the 1+50 working better for a lot of shadow detail and a wide range of grey (correct me if I'm wrong though!). Especially the combination of Ilford FP4 and Rodinal at 125 hinted at by Andrew already is really great. I'd say that it handles low speed films better than high-speed or T-Grain films but if you have to do it it does its job there too.

splitting powder is not a good idea, because: you don't know if the powder remained homogeneous in the bag after preparing powders developers they need some time to dissolve very fine solid cristals. I wait a minimum of 24 hours. dissolving powders has to be made in hot water to be efficient and you cannot just refresh it quickly without interrupting the dissolving process. The best way is to store stock solutions in foldable bottles, pressing out all the air on top of them

I should definitely make some :)

I always follow Massive Dev chart with stock mixes

@@AndrewGoodCamera Thanks!

Thanks Sandra

Best on 120 Tri X film. Rodinal is fantastic.

Hc-110 works great for pushing

@@AndrewGoodCamera Perfect, I already use it. Would you recommend thinner dilutions like 1+79 for reduced grain or just standard 1+31?

It's actually one of the reasons I stopped using DF96, next to the cost. I'm pretty happy with rodinal, although it can get grainy at high iso's

Stirring presentation! ;)

Thanks for the advise, im new to film photography and planning to shoot delta 3200 cuz i like grain and to achieve moody look, should i go with hc110 or rodinal?

@@gr3ndizer97 Rodinal will give you big grain try that

Most developers have a short shelf life. Not Rodinal. That stuff will last for decades if you've got it sealed correctly.

@@AndrewGoodCamera Yeah thats a problem aswell, i have it in the little bottle it came in but its not airtight, and if i turn the bottle it will leak, so i put the bottle in a plastic zip lock bag, do u have any tips on containers to store it in??

I think you just have to make sure you're right on with exposure. Less room for over-exposing. When in doubt, maybe slightly under-expose (which is usually the opposite advice as I'd usually give). And also make extra sure you are using proper temperatures and times to develop.

@@AndrewGoodCamera thank you Andrew!

I have been using Ilfosol 3 for a long time now and I am very fond of this developer. Very high acutance (very sharp results, more grain - which I like) and very nice tonality. Never had issues with blown highlights, even if I overexpose the shot several stops over. I use it in 1+14 dillution, but if you don't shoot often, go with 1+9. And also, people say this dev is only for low speed films, but I shoot ilford hp5+ 90% of the time and I am very satisfied with the results.

@@brankokosteski Thanks for your input! I was about to try 1+14, but then I learned about the shelf life and didn't want to risk it. I ended up buying a bottle of Rodinal and I'm experimenting with stand development. I'll probably revisit ilfosol in the future.

Hadn't really considered that. C-41 developers don't tend to have as big an impact on color film as do B&W developers do on B&W

Haha. Actually, most of our subscribers just want more Fuji gear reviews. :)

Well this makes me happy! I was just thinking we need to plan one!

I make my videos for folks needing a sleep aid and film geeks alike. :)

It's not for me either. And yet, I can't stop. :)

Haha. Awesome. You know, I've honestly thought about trying to resell it, after leveling up the packaging a bit. :)

@@AndrewGoodCamera I thought the same thing. Maybe I can be their Canadian distributor 🤔

In London, I would suspect.

I don't disagree. But some are more forgiving for schmucks like me than others. :)

This was not the "scientific" evaluation. It is just anecdotal, as I said. However, it is a follow up to the video that is more scientific of you'd like direct comparisons.