Chemical advise BW development

[hoanpham]

I need some advise about chemical for BW film development - film only, no paper.

100+ rolls and bulk magasines BW still waiting to be used, tmax/ilford 50/125/400, but I went empty for chemical years ago.
I used to buy locally, mixed ready, but the regular stores are now gone. Now only available in webstores.

Is there any package/type in powder form or concentrate that I can order to reduce weight?
Any recommendation of chemical brand/type?

Developer, stop, fix, softener.

Thanks.

[ForenSeil]

Kodak Xtol would be a very good choice as developer.
It's one of the cheapest developers, it comes as powder and it's very versatile, it produces high sharpness, good speed, low grain and very nice tonal range.

Check this thread:
http://forum.mflenses.com/best-film-developer-t52202.html

Stop bath: Buy solid citric acid am make yourself! Stop baths are nothing else than overpriced citric acid solutions. Acetic acid will also work.

Fixer: I have no special recommendation. I had no bad experience with any. I'm currently using "AGFA FIX AgPlus" which is plain ammonium thiosulphate solution with a few (not really necessary) additives like EDTA and it works wonderful.
You could buy sodium- or better ammonium thiosulphate powder on Ebay and make it yourself - should be the cheapest way.

[Orio]

About powder developer, I heard great things of Fomadon EXCEL - W27
about powder fixer, I recommend Ornano Superfix, excellent and very fast fixer. If you can't find it, then Foma also offers powder fixer, called FOMAFIX P - U1
For stop bath, I never heard of a powder stop, but if ordering liquids is a problem, you can do with normal wine vinegar to buy at your local groceries
or order acetic acid at a pharmacy

[iangreenhalgh1]

Forget stop bath, not needed, water does the job perfectly.

Sodium thiosulphate is what you want for fixer, it's dirt cheap as it's sold for treating pool water.

I dissolve 500g of lab grade sodium thiosuplate crystals in 2 litres of water.

I tried the agplus fixer and it was crap imho, didn't last many rolls before it was shot.

[ForenSeil]

[peterqd]

Hoan, after trying out various developers and finding I was wasting most of it due to the expiry time, I tried Ilford Ilfotec LC29 and I'm loving it. A small bottle goes a long long way. Speed Graphic in UK will deliver to Norway.

http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/bw_chemicals/ilford_ilfotec_lc29_500ml/5921_p.html

[Nesster]

Plain old D-76 is cheap, widely available (and from many companies under many names) and you will always find development times for just about any film ever.

Orio, if I remember correctly EXCEL is Xtol, only is available in sizes smaller than 5 gallons Generically the Xtol clones will mention ascorbic acid. I really liked using Excel, I would dump the developer back in the stock... you get 12 rolls through 1 liter.

[hoanpham]

Thanks everyone, very useful info.

I used to have Rodinal developer and Tetenal fix in concentrate form.

The X-tol powder is sold out here, but D-76 is available -
I need fine grain, X-tol sounds good.
Also count on PP after scanning. 'High dynamic range' developer preferred, but i think i can mix it.

What about Ilford ID-11 ?

The only powder fix I can find here is Tetenal Vario Fix.

[Bob van Sikorski]

i use only ID11 or D76 for developing those films: fomapan100, fomapan200, ilford hp5+, ilford P4, kodak trix .... and i am happy with results. there are probably better specialized developer for each of those films, but D76/ID11 are cheap universal developers in powder form. if you dont want to store several types of developers, try on of those two.

[ForenSeil]

Xtol is the D-76 successor and they have a very similar character and behavior, with the main difference that Xtol produces finer grain.
If you can't find Xtol, D-76 is an good alternative.

Bye the way you can freeze the Xtol (and I guess als D-76) stock solutions in plastik-water bottles (Volvic bottles etc.) in the freezer if normal 6 months shelf life for the stock solution is not enough for you. I'm currently using nearly 1 year old Xtol without any problems.

[Bob van Sikorski]

i can speak only for ID11: i have it stock-diluted for exactly 6 months now. in bottle, at room temperature, in dark. about 50% of time with small amount of air inside (and that is totally NOT recommended) - still working very fine. so "6months" in manual neither means that you cant use it 7th or 8th month, nor you will destrou your photos by developing film in this old developer. so i can say, dont worry about 5l amount of stock ID11

[Kram]

As a 30 year pro, I agree on Xtol. Fantastic developer. Works great 1:1 (w/distilled water).
Some people get very good results at 1:2 and 1:3, although some have experienced developer failure at 1:3 so Kodak no longer recommends it.