film + developer combi usage?

[medaman]

hi,
i'm just wondering if there's a list of films and the kind of chemicals used to process them for the best quality. Like a combination kind of list. I just bought a bulk of Ilford HP5, was wondering wad's the best developer to use for them. As well as a load of tri-x. Anyone has experience in this area?

thx

 

[canturn]

There's no such thing as one size fit all. It's a all a boils down to subject matter, taste, personal preference, etc, etc.

If you're talking about HP5, you might want to pick up Adrian Ensor's book on B&W printing. Quite a few examples of what kind of effect you'll get when you soup the neg in Rodinal; how Microphen can be used to develop pushed neg w/o while retaining grain fineness, etc.

As for tri-x, I do recommend either d76 or rodinal... if you've rated your film at iso1000, Diafine is quite a good developer to use.

 

[CaeSiuM]

Agrees with canturn that D76(stock not 1:1) is very good for Tri-X especially when pushing Tri-X beyond ISO 400. Gives very good sharpness and contrast with medium grains(I actually kind of like the grains when developing with D76). Comparing Tri-X@1600 in D76 and Rodinal, the one developed in Rodinal is horribly grainy for my taste even when I tried less frequent agitation.

 

[medaman]

thanks for replying. With regards to the HP5, any suggestions on developer for it? not looking for overly grainy stuff. that's why i bought more hp5. prefer more tonel and slight contrasty prints ultimately.

I'll be doing a pretty good deal of street as well as potraits stuffs, flying offf on wed. =) thnx for input so far.

 

[CaeSiuM]

Try HC-110 for a start if you are not intending to prepare the developer from powder by yourself. Rodinal and HC-110 are commonly available in liquid form for mixing with water in appropriate dilutions.

$18 for a 500ml bottle of HC-110 from CP and $16 for a 500ml of Rodinal from Konota IIRC. Good luck for your development work.