As you guys could see in class today (for those of you who showed up) the chemistry while being a reasonably exact science, is not very difficult. I realize that there is a lot of numbers to learn but we just have to make sure we read the directions on the developers we use. The ILFORD DD-X developer we have there is a pretty small bottle and, once we’re done with it, we’ll have to change our dilution ratios depending on what the next developer we get suggests. The stop bath and fixer ratios will remain the same since we’ll be using the same exact chemicals. Another thing that we’ll be using almost consistently now is ILFORD film. It’s been a personal favorite of mine for quite some time and it’s cheaper than Kodak T-MAX film. We should hopefully start getting our new materials sometime next week.
Depending on what specifications are on the new developer we use are, it will require surely a specific (and possibly different) development time and, as you know, we discussed that the development times need to be adjusted depending on the temperature of the chemicals. In order to make this process easier for you guys to figure out, here is a film development time-to-temperature compensation chart that I found on ILFORD’s website. This should make it easy to figure out how to compensate for more or less development time if the chemicals are a different temperature.
Remember to keep your eyes on the clock, agitate for the last 10 seconds of every minute, and tap the tank to dislodge any air bubbles in the solution, during development, stop bath and fixing.
Have a great weekend and see you at Cowhide, troops! 😉
