Best film developer

BKSPicture · Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 426 Location: Sverige

Which developer do you find the best??

I have almost only used the Kodak D76 1+1 water and its very easy to use and hard to get wronge.
Can I expect much better resoults from other developers or what do you prefer?

ForenSeil · Joined: 15 Apr 2011 Posts: 2726 Location: Kiel, Germany.

My favourite developer was Rodinal for a long time (because it was easy to use, compatible with every film, cheap and very durable in softpacks), but after making some more developments with Kodak Xtol 1+1 I really don't wan't to use Rodinal anymore. Simply everything is better with Xtol. Resolution, grain, speed, clarity, sharpness and tonality. And it's also one of the cheapest developers here (8.-€/5l; that's used @1:1 effectilly even sligthly cheaper than Rodinal 1+25 (13€/500ml)).

Yes you can expect slightly better results with Xtol than with D76
Xtol is the D76 successor and very similar to D76 in character, but overall a tack better, especially in grain.

(Source is Kodak.com)
The first column is shadow detail/speed, the second is grain and the third is sharpness

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

I can give you a definitive answer to which developer is best:

There is no 'best' developer, no such beast exists, sir!

There are many good developers, you have to pair them up with suitable films and find combos that work well for you.

For instance, I like Paterson FX-39 very much, it gives me excellent results with Kodak TMAX. However, it gives me poor results with lots of grain with Kodak Vision2 films.

berraneck · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:25 pm Post subject:

BKSPicture · Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 426 Location: Sverige

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

themoleman342 · Expire: 2013-01-24

I'm a big fan of xtol too. I use it at 1:2 for slightly higher acutence. It's never given me anything but superb results. Disregard any sources that say it will "unexpectedly fail." Because of good mixing technique (using distilled water) and good storage (glass or non-breathable plastics and no trapped air in the container) I've had no problems with storing up to 8 months. I say 8 months because that's the longest I've had a batch before using it up. It was consistent throughout.

That chart is great! It gives me confidence that I've been using the right product all these years.

ForenSeil · Joined: 15 Apr 2011 Posts: 2726 Location: Kiel, Germany.

Like most devlopers Xtol contains EDTA that catches very most dirt which influences with development, so as long as you have good tap water (not ozonized, not chlorinated, etc), destilled theoretically shouldn't be a must at all.
but otherwise +1 Smile