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  #1  
Old 23rd January 2015, 02:38 PM
Jimmy Jimmy is offline
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Default cheaper chemicals

Im just thinking about ordering my first batch of chemicals for b+w film developing.

ill be using kodax tri x tmax alot and experimenting with other films less so.

Im starting off with rodinal as a developer, (itll keep for ages and i like what ive read)

I was going to stick with kodak chemicals for stop,fixer and wetting agent, just because they are well used generally and matches my film stock.

but trying to keep costs down, are the cheaper chemicals from silverprint (tetenal for wetting agent,formafix for fixing and Fomacitro for stop) just as good? is it like tesco own brand beans and heinz? both just as good!


ill only be using them for film developing, ill be using my local darkrooms in house chemicals (which come with the cost of using it) when i print.

thanks for all your help recently!
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Old 23rd January 2015, 03:02 PM
paulc paulc is offline
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Champion Amfix (5 litre) is probably one of the cheapest liquid fixers at £14.24 - I've been slowly working my way through a bottle and it works fine.

For stop, you can't get much cheaper than a teaspoon of citric acid per litre of water - Available from most good chemists and home brewing suppliers.

Wetting agents are used in high dilutions, so even a small bottle lasts a very long time. I use Ilfotol for no other reason that it was fairly cheap when I purchased it a few years back.
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Old 23rd January 2015, 04:32 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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As Paul said, Amfix is a fine fixer, and one of the cheapest around from Silverprint, Tetenal wetting agent is again fine, I use both of them, as far as a stop bath,The cheapest they have seems to be the foma stop bath, which is as good as any, I have a litre bottle of Champion, which was very good value. I say get the cheapest you can find, they all do the same job, or simply use water, three rinces in plain water with 10 inversions will work fine, also, Rodinal is a great developer, my favorite, but also Kodak D76 used at stock is also very good indeed and around £2 per litre pack, but it is a powder and needs mixing, The Champion stop bath is still available from Silverprint, around £4 a liter, which will last a long time, and Champion is a maker of photochemistry for many other firms,including untill the recent Kodak chapter 11 Kodak, and I think they still make some of Ilfords range, so go with them for fixer/stop
Richard

Last edited by Richard Gould; 23rd January 2015 at 04:38 PM.
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Old 23rd January 2015, 04:54 PM
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MartyNL MartyNL is offline
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It's good to stick to just 1 film/developer combo to start off with.
But I find the developer has the greatest impact on the look and feel of negatives rather than stop and fix. So you may wish to decide on other factors rather than price for which film developer you wish to use. While saving on stop and fix won't have as much influence on the qualities of the final image/negative.
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Old 23rd January 2015, 06:49 PM
Jimmy Jimmy is offline
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Default hi richard

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Gould View Post
As Paul said, Amfix is a fine fixer, and one of the cheapest around from Silverprint, Tetenal wetting agent is again fine, I use both of them, as far as a stop bath,The cheapest they have seems to be the foma stop bath, which is as good as any, I have a litre bottle of Champion, which was very good value. I say get the cheapest you can find, they all do the same job, or simply use water, three rinces in plain water with 10 inversions will work fine, also, Rodinal is a great developer, my favorite, but also Kodak D76 used at stock is also very good indeed and around £2 per litre pack, but it is a powder and needs mixing, The Champion stop bath is still available from Silverprint, around £4 a liter, which will last a long time, and Champion is a maker of photochemistry for many other firms,including untill the recent Kodak chapter 11 Kodak, and I think they still make some of Ilfords range, so go with them for fixer/stop
Richard

thanks for the advice!

i clicked on your blog link and really liked the pictures from your latest post, can i ask what/how these photos were taken, and what print techniques you used. I am interested becuase they have a print style i was looking to capture, almost like etchings!

thx
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Old 23rd January 2015, 07:00 PM
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I think all chemical manufacturers products are decent enough these days.
There are however differences in price and the biggest deciding factor is the grain structure they create. That is subjective and you can only know which you prefer by trying them.
The other thing (which bugs me) is the amount of dichroic fog which chemicals seem to produce these days. Fixer is the main culprit I think buts its hard to nail down without extensive testing.

I haven't tried it but XTol is very highly rated by many people for 35mm film. When you move to medium format and up the fine grain isn't so important. But if you are going down the rodinal route then fine grain isn't your thing so any standard developer will work for you I think.
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Old 23rd January 2015, 08:03 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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I would endorse water for stop. I have rinsed film with water after the developer for years now and have never had a problem. Water is very cheap and I use about 4 rinses on the Ilford post fix wash principle of the 5 inversions and dump then 10 inversions and dump, then 15 and 20.

This might be overkill but it's cheap and takes only a minute or so to do

Mike
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Old 23rd January 2015, 08:13 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy View Post
thanks for the advice!

i clicked on your blog link and really liked the pictures from your latest post, can i ask what/how these photos were taken, and what print techniques you used. I am interested becuase they have a print style i was looking to capture, almost like etchings!

thx
I don't have any special printing techniques, I just kind of print them, I don't do anything special, I use Foma film, either 200 or 400, depending upon the light, MF is developed in Rodinal and 35mm is developed in either D76 at stock or Rodinal, but I do use old/classic cameras, from 1938 (My Voightlander Baby Bessa MF Camera) to a 1961 Rolleicord, many old folders, both 35mm and MF, and personally I think the old lenses help with my style of photography. I gave up using ''Modern'' cameras a few years ago, also, all of the cameras bar 2 are fixed lens, the only two that aren't are my Agfa Ambi Sillette that has a 90 and a 35mm lens plus the standard 50 mm, and a Werra, that has a 100 and 35mm lens plus the Tessar 50mm, that is all I can tell you, about what I do, I would say mostly I use Fomapan 400, my personal favorite,and the old cameras, also, with my older cameras, they do not have built in metering, so I use a Weston Euromaster meter, which gives me more freedom in my choice of exposures, Weston's have long been my favorite meters, and the one I would advise anyone to get,
Richard

Last edited by Richard Gould; 23rd January 2015 at 08:17 PM. Reason: bit more to say
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Old 23rd January 2015, 08:49 PM
Jimmy Jimmy is offline
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what papers do you use, or are these scans? if you dont mind me asking.
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Old 23rd January 2015, 09:31 PM
Jimmy Jimmy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
I would endorse water for stop. I have rinsed film with water after the developer for years now and have never had a problem. Water is very cheap and I use about 4 rinses on the Ilford post fix wash principle of the 5 inversions and dump then 10 inversions and dump, then 15 and 20.

This might be overkill but it's cheap and takes only a minute or so to do

Mike
hmm so if you really wanted to get back to basics rodinol stand development, water, fixer, water+drop of detergent?

Im pretty lazy and tight, so this inrests me alot lol
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