Hello forum, I recently discovered this forum and Its just the moment to ask this Question. For a long time, since I started with photography I used Agfa's Neutol paper developer, just b/c its the one your teacher uses the first time you print, its time to get a developer for me! For some time now I have been shooting on Medium format and love the high detail and low grain on big enlargments. I use Ilumitol for negatives and delta 100 film (for now Im still looking) I would like a developer that aint to much of a pain to use (mixtures, critical temp.. etc.) I have enough with the ilumitol. I dont have a favorite paper either, for big print I use 50X60 ilford grade 4 paper RC (sorry dont remember the name, I have it in the lab) for smaller photos I dont have a regular paper so sugestios are welcome. altough FB papers are a pain to dry w/o a press (my case) so a good quality RC paper will be fine.

thank you in advance for your help.

Diego K.

-- Diego K, (heuristica@mailcity.com), July 01, 2000

Answers

Hmmm, it depends what you are after. Do you want cold, neutral or warm tones? It also depends on what type of paper you are going to use. Some are cold bromide papers and some are warmer chlorbromide papers... Neutol is a good developer, and comes in different versions. There is a warmtone Neutol.

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), July 01, 2000.

You are right I forgot to menion that, I want cold tones, high definition, RC paper if there is any of high quality, or a good homemade method to flatten the FB ones, about bromide and stuuf, I dont really know to much about that a short clarification would be handy. thanks

Diego K.

-- Diego K. (Heuristica@mailcity.com), July 02, 2000.

For a change, try Ilford Multigrade paper in Kodak Dektol developer. These products are widely available, I believe. I find they work well for the variety of stuff I do. Some photographers say they prefer a double-weight, fiber-base paper for portraits. However, I don't like to stock a variety of papers because my volume is too low to use a lot of any one type.

-- Keith Nichols (knichols@iopener.net), July 02, 2000.

For a great print developer, that is quite multi purpose, I use Ethol LPD. Using this straight, it is a cold toned developer. With dilutions, you can get some nice warm tones also (1:4 or 1:8) and it is also a long lasting developer especially good for batch printing!!! As far as film developers, being that I don't care for the T-grained stuff of Kodak or for that matter, Ilfords also, I use Diafine and Divided D-76 for alot of my stuff. I do use the older emulsions like TXP, PX, Ektapan, HP5+, PanF and Agfa APX 25 and 100. If you want extremely fine grain, from 35mm-4x5, try Technipan by Kodak. I would advise you to process this in either the Technidol or a POTA developer. Ilford papers have always been my preference. Cheers, Scott

-- Scott Walton (scotlynn@shore.net), July 03, 2000.

Scott;

try tech pan in diafine! The only change is to develope in the "B" solution for 45 to 60 seconds depending on how much contrast you want.

E.I of 80 to 100 as an added bonus! turns TP into a good general use film.

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@worldnet.att.net), July 05, 2000.

FOR FILM, D-76 IS THE STANDARD ALL OTHERS ARE JUDGED BY. I HAVE TRIED ALMOST EVERYTHING IN THE PAST 40 YEARS BUT KEEP COMIMG BACK TO D-76 DILUTED 1 TO 1.

MY FAVORITE PAPER IS AGFA MULTICONTRAST BOTH IN RC AND FB DEVELOPED IN DEKTOL. I PREFER THE PEARL SURFACE FOR RC AND GLOSS FOR FB.

-- WES MARTINSON (WESMARTINSON@USA.NET), July 10, 2000.

Thank you all for answering, I think Ill go with dektol, and try some of the Agfa MC. reagarding D76, Its is a very good developer but with Ilumitol (PMK) I get negs from which I can print 30x40 (delta 100) with almost no grain, D76 never did that for me!

Thanks again.

DIego K.

-- Diego K. (heuristica@mailcity.com), July 11, 2000.