Test of film developers Rodinal, D-76, Pyrocat and FX-1 / Vlog #59 

A day that starts with a new Borut video is automatically good!

you are the mad scientistic of photography that I have been searching for. Thank you for making these videos! subscribing to your patreon.

That's Helmut Newton on your mug. Very nice VLog. I've always been a fan of Rodinal no matter what other soups I've used in the past. It's very forgiving and I loved Ilford FP4 in it. I see that you don't 'blind out' your filmperforation out of your prints. I think this could give lightreflections in your tests? It's amazing that you do this work in this time and age. Keep it up.! Will check your other videos too. Just getting back into (digital) photography again and your inspirational work might very well stimulate me to go back to the Real Work as I've still got all the gear for the analogue technique.

How come you only have 14.7k subscribers? You are the best photographic channel on youtube, you deserve 1.47m subscribers ... please keep doing what you are doing

Every time I see a new video from anyone besides you in your country I always leave a one word comment...... TOPSHIT..... so far nobody knows what the hell I am saying.

I was excited to see you posted this, and quickly left an excited comment, but after watching it, in all seriousness Borut, your video production quality is excellent, and as an artist I'm sure that's no accident, you pride yourself on your aesthetic, but don't let it become too much, if it's becoming a source of extra stress for you. I really appreciate your videos, and I think I speak for everybody when I say that I'd watch these with just as much interest, if all you did was cut together videos with 2011 youtube production value, before the casey neistatification of the format, but again, thanks for all the effort you put into these

I've been using Rodinal for a long time and it was my favorite developer due to the reasons you've mentioned in the video. And additionally, it's very thrifty since the most usable concentrations, in my opinion, start from 1:25 which is quite important for hobby photographers who don't make living with photography. Great video as usual!

I have learned more in these three videos on 'test of film developers' than since I come back to film just over five years and only wish someone had shown me all this when I was student at Art collage thirty years ago. Thank you Borut.

You're doing amazing work with these videos. Keep it up!!

You took me back to 1996, when I had so much printing to do in one night for a university project, my developer was getting exhausted, blacks fading ect., and added just 100ml fresh developer because I didn't have enough for one litter,, waiting a bit longer till the right blacks came . The next morning I saw some of my most impresive prints with warm tonality and deep robust blacks. Cheap trick indeed, I kept doing it (expept when I was in a hurry or I had more high contrast needs. Thank you for bringing back those memories, I really miss the darkroom as nothing in the world.

Super grateful for this megaseries, thanks for sharing the hard work!

Thank you for this video, loved it!! That was some good shit!! Now I want to experiment some more with some developers!!

Always love your videos! I want to come visit you and learn large format!

And one more thing: I literally love your YT channel :D

Thanks for taking the time to make this. :D

Thanks so much for this Borut .. this is so informative :)

Some very interesting results. I have been using Fomadon Lqn recently, and love the tones and good sharpness. As to sharpness as a priority, I would prefer a degree of softness over too much contrast. Thanks for taking the time to explain how you found the different developers.

That FX-1 is just amazing. It's such an unknown developer, at least in the mainstream of film youtubers

I'm liking I found your channel as I'm getting back into developing. I ordered some Rollei Rodinal, HC110, TF-4 and Ilford Stop and Fix today. Everything should be here around May 9 (stupid COVID delaying my fun!). Already have a few rolls shot to try stand development shot the last two weeks (four with my 6x8 pinhole and two with my Holga!). I will shoot a few rolls with my Leica II and put them through HC110. I ran across one guy's channel here today and he said something interesting. He has one developer for low speed, another for mid speed and another for high speed. Interesting idea. So thanks for the motivation, Borut!

Great you are back！ Like your style alot!!!!!

This is really great! Timely for me. Getting my darkroom all ready.

I have done many such tests. Rodinal always comes out as OK, but never the best. But I always go back to it - because it is the only developer that keeps forever and is always ready to go! I am an ‘intermittent photographer’ - after I take a break, everything else ends up being thrown away :(

the name topshit is what grabbed my attention - nice channel

Top shit Topshit man! I’ve been doing my own for 20 years or more now in a very amateur but careful way, and I’ve used a few developer and film combinations, and always come to the same conclusion. Used properly, they can all provide you with a great picture. Yes, they are different, but not THAT different. Great inspirational channel, thanks for all your effort, it is very watchable and thoughtfully produced.

Thanks for documenting your hard work! Great info!

I have always enjoyed your printing videos. I want to spend more time printing.

This is the first time I comment. I really like your video in general! Some of your video inspired me. I shoot only film for my photography and like I said you inspire me. Thanks and have a nice day!!!

Thank you very much for all these usefull information!

Great video. You've worked a lot to make it. Thank you for sharing the results.

This a really exceellent -and useful-- demonstration, examples and explanations.. Thanks so much. By the way, about your use of exhausted developer combined with fresh- that's a technique that old-timers used to do (although in smaller quantity than youre doing). It's called "seasoning" a developer.

Thank you again for your topshit videos!! I've tested recently d76 and rodinal with some fomapan 400 exposed at..400.. (a mistake ^^) with a longer development the results were so much better with rodinal than with D76, it was sharper of course but the tonality were also better. Perhaps because I used D76 in stock solution. Anyway keep on this great work ;)

Glad to see some old fashioned developer comparisons. Did you do any variation in exposure for the tests? If you’re going to be using a tripod anyway, a slight drop in film speed isn’t a big deal. I loved shooting FP4 in my Yashicamat around ISO 80 for shadow definition in Pyrocat HD. Loved the fine grain, extended highlight detail, and general tonality. I did a lot of shooting in the snow so maybe highlight separation was a bigger deal to me. Always wondered if it would pair well with platinum printing.

Really great series Borut, many thanks for your efforts! I use Rodinal for 5x4 sheet film (ISO 100) and Kodak's HC-110 for all roll film. I've always been really happy with HC-110 but I admit I haven't experimented with other developers. I love the shelf life, being able to use a very small amount to create a one shot batch and the wide variety of solutions possible with it. What do you think of HC-110?

I use Rodinol. I like simple. Works on X-Ray film and real film. I will take your advice about pushing. Good video!

Thanks for all your hard work! I wonder if you could boost shadow detail with Pyrocat by bumping up the exposure?

Gordon Hutchings PMK with hypo fix so you don't strip off the stain. What fixer did you use for the pyrocat hd ? If you use a rapid fix it'll reduce the stain which is part of the beauty of pyro developers. Cool channel cheers from Australia :)

when you first showed your negatives the RODINAL strip looked very 'Thin' compared with the others - maybe you lost some film speed with it -- that is why on enlargement comparisons you say the D76 had more detail in the blacks.

Thank you very much for this test, Borut. Probably Rodinal is easier developer to use. I always use it to introduce new photographers to film develop. But off course, it doesn’t mean it is the best . FX-1 looks good, we will must to try. There are some other recipes in the book I want to try, but I never decided to buy the chemicals.

I love your videos! I started developing and printing my own film at the end of last year and hooked now. I use ID11 1+1 mainly with Kodak 5222 Double X or Tri-X. Will have to try it 1+3 next time as the results in your other videos looked great

Greetings from Italy love this channel 😎😎😎

Great video series, very entertaining as always. I have some insight regarding pyrocat HD I can share with you. First off I have never gotten full box speed out of it, tri-x I expose at 320, fp4 at 100 otherwise I get similar results as you do in the shadows. I have not tried stand(cos I don't like the extreme effects), but I have developed 120 film using Steve Shermans technique for 2 years now and it is without a doubt the best negativs I've ever had(compared to my results using d-76, xtol, rodinal, pmk, hc-110). Crazy good shadow separation and highlights on point. But it is very sensitive to agitation technique, especially at higher dilutions and with roll film, and it took quite a while before I got rid of all streaks and unevenness. If it interests you I'll elaborate. That said it's a pain in the because you can only develop one roll at the time and one roll takes up to 40 minutes till its in the wash. I've gotten a bit tired of the process if I'm honest so I'm back at using it pretty normally, developing more rolls at the same time, although the result is not as good. A compromise. I might go back to hc110 for a few rolls just to see how I like it compared to my compromise.

I love FX-1 on tri-x 120. Really easy to source the ingredients in my country and very economical

I love this video. I may have seen it tree or four times. I going to try id-11 1+2. Hc-110 have been my go to developer and I think I never got a bad negative from it. No matters what film I used.

Rodinal is my favourite developer. However, I've never used it to push film. If I had to, would it be better to use it as 1:25 or 1:50? Or in stand development the ratio of which I don't recall without resorting to web search? For me, the best parts about Rodinal are mixing fresh developer every time and seemingly eternal shelf life.

Thanks again for a really informative video! I will definitely become a little more adventurous with my developers! And great to hear you are a fellow vegetarian ;)

Really interesting video. Thanks for going to so much effort in making it. Really hard to find fx1 where I am at least, so I stick with Adonal/Rodinal. Sometimes Ilford DDX but it's pricey.

"Lower toxicity" might be the words you were looking for.

Wonderful channel, thank you!

Hi great vlogs, information and techniques - oh good pictures too. I'm in Ljubljana for the weekend, where should I go to see some photography - exhibitions, galleries and so forth. Your devoted follower.

Xtol for box speed. HC110 for 1 stop push, i.e. 100 box speed at 200, or 200 box at 400. Diafine for 2 stop puch, i.e. doing 400 box speed at 1600 - or accidental 3 stop push - to recover some black detail without completely blowing out the high lights..

Top shit Borut. Hvala za take videe. Upam da bodo take stvari večno vklesane na internetu. Adrijan

Just found your channel, oh man so much to go through! Could you do one comparison with XTOL and Foma LQN?

I thought that pyro developers had a very broad soulder, meaning that the density curve is rather flat in the highlights and didn't give much separation. Could you clarify why you say that it is good in the highlights to separate "white subject from white background"? Thank you and great video once again, I really enjoyed this series!

I use Pyroca HD with hp5+ and fp4+. I found that streaking comes from over agitating.

very amusing! and informative! inspiring!

Great work 👏👏

About the relativity. When I examined your Pyrocat vs Rodinal prints on a huge screen sitting close to it, I liked Pyro. The impression drastically changed when I removed myself a couple of meters :(

could you make a video to compare fresh developer versus exhausted developer "on steriods"?

Very interesting approach to print development with exhausted developer topped up with fresh. Could expand this approach with twin bath development. Process for the blacks in the first tray with fresh developer, then for the highlights in the second tray with exhausted developer.

Really great videos. Thank you for doing them. Do you ever use xtol? If so do you like it, what about it do you like? If not, why not?

I know this video is a bit dated but I wanted to know what your thoughts are on monobath type developers? I want too get into pinhole photography and was wondering if one could develop direct positive paper and also paper negatives with Cinestill DF96 like how you would develop a print from a negative? I'm sort of a newbie when it comes too developing any kind of film.

You inspire me soooo much!

Thank you Borut for your effort to compare these 4 developers . . . very useful to me. I recently got into to Analog Photography after I retired a few years ago. I have used mostly D-76 1+1. I will be trying 1+3 next time I process my film. I use mostly Ilford Pan F 50 and Tri X 400. I use Hasselblad 500CM and shoot 6 x 6 and 6 x 4.5. D-76 is indeed reliable and versatile. I recently acquired a considerable amount of old Kodak Microdol X recently . . . I think around 20 or so cans which mix up to one gallon of stock solution. What is your opinion of Microdol X?? Once again, thank you for your effort.

Hi Borut, at 18:34 you are talking about "a streaks" or a stains on a expired Ilford FP4, it comes not from a developer ,this is caused by a black backing paper,commonly known problem on this 120 film.Cheers

I use D76 and Rodinal for stand dev and push, for everyday use box speed mostly d76 👍🤘🏻

I tried Pyrocat HD with Fomapan 100, Fuji Acros, HP5@400 and @800, Ilford Delta 400... from my point of view Pyrocat HD is best with Fomapan 100 (1:1:95)

Have you tried the newer 510 pyro and semi stand development?

"How much? Nobody knows"

How did you agitate Pyrocat-HD? First full minute then 3-5 inversions every 3 minutes? I read somewhere that this was preferable so that shadows would develop better.

Hi, I enjoyed this epic trilogy on film developers and hats off to you for all the work you did. I don’t have a darkroom yet as there are some very strict environmental laws where I live and I don’t want to get in trouble with the US justice system. You said that Rodinal was safe in this regard but can you comment on the relative toxicity of all the developers? This would be of great importance to me if/when I have my own darkroom. Right now I am using XTol and HC-110 for film development. Also, do you have any experience with mono bath developers? If so, what do you think about them?

Hi! great darkroom! by the way, what brand of frames you have in the background at 15min? will appreciate your info. thanks

Great video! Where does HC-110 fall inbetween all of these?

helllll yea

I love this video

Can you mix this stuff?

I just use Xtol, no idea if its the best but its what my local darkroom has.

When I grow up I wanna be like you 😎

Rodinal is not toxic, it´s corrosive because of the hydroxide

Hello how are you? Love your channel I wonder if you can help me. I'm just about to start testing ilford multigrade paper Pearl in my rolling Cord camera. Just wondering if you could help me with some developing figures using rodinal, I want to use room temperature water of 26° could you give me a recommended starting developing time for something like this? I know it's not that simple. by the way I know a lot about film developing I actually did a tutorial on my channel a few months ago. Any help is appreciated.

kaj pravis na Ilford delta 3200 v Rodinalu, 1+50?

Whats up with the low video res?

Why the rodinal is not for pushing i get very nice results of super strong grain and punchy negatives when i push hp5 or trix at 1600 with rodinal at 1:50

I think the guy is completely drunk, it's funny

Can´t see ANY yellow stain in your Pyrocat negatives. Something is wrong there

I hate to contradict you, Borut, but here goes: You don't recommend Rodinal with faster film but look at the results of Steven O'Nions with those ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jSt17Yq1TLM.html. Love your work though :)

Direct film scans for comparison would be a much better way to judge the effectiveness of the developers. There are too many secondary variables here.

You don't drink coffee or alcohol? What the hell is the matter with you?