The other day I was out shooting with a friend of mine, and, lo and
behold, when it came time to put film in the camera, I discovered that
I had none in my kit. (Upon my return home, I found several large
bags of film sitting on my counter, right where I'd left it.)
Fortunately, my friend is a believer in bringing abundant supplies of
film (as am I, usually), so she was able to help me out. Alas, she
usus completely different films than I do. My usual choices are T-Max
100, developed in T-Max developer, the venerable Tri-X in D-76, Delta
400, also in D-76, and Ilford Delta 3200 in Ilfotec DD-X . I don't
claim to have arrived at these film/developer combinations by any
scientific process, but the results seem fairly good, at least within
the limits of my picture-taking ability.
Here's what my friend gave me: Ilford FP4 Plus, Delta 100, HP5, and
some T-Max 3200, which I exposed at 800 because that's what I tend to
do with Delta 3200. I shot several roles of each for the for the day.
I'd like them to come out, but it's not the end of the world if they
don't.
Now, my next step is processing, and I'm curious as to what folks
would suggest. My friend is no help because she sends her stuff to a
lab rather than doing it herself. On hand I have D-76, T-Max, Ilford
DD-X and an unopened bottle of Ilfosol S, which bought by accident and
have never used. I'd prefer to use up what I have on hand, but if all
my choices are clearly unsuitable, I'd be willing to purchase
something else.
Obviously, what I ought to do is to go out and shoot test roles which
I could then cut up and in several different developers, perhaps even
with different dilutions, time and temperature combinations, etc. But
I have neither the time nor the patience for such a detailed
scientific analysis. I was hoping that perhaps I could find sage
advice from somebody more energetic than myself.
To reiterate, the exposed films I have are:
Delta 100
FP4 Plus
HP 5
T-Max 3200.
All were exposed at the box rating, except for the Delta, which I shot
at 800.
Oh, and since I'm asking, I currently use D-76 for both Delta 400 and
Tri-X, largely since that's what I've used since I was kid. My
results seem fairly good, so part of me doesn't want to change.
However, I must admit that I prefer liquids to powders, so I was
wondering if anybody knew of a liquid developer that would work well
with these two films.
Thanks in advance for the wisdom which I'm sure will follow.

Signature
Pete McCutchen
Francis A. Miniter - 29 Oct 2004 19:22 GMT
When I am not using PMK, I would use D-76 for these films. (I have not
used PMK on T-Max 3200, but I have on the rest with good results.)
Francis A. Miniter
><snip>
>To reiterate, the exposed films I have are:
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
>Thanks in advance for the wisdom which I'm sure will follow.
Nicholas O. Lindan - 29 Oct 2004 20:05 GMT
> Ilford FP4 Plus, Delta 100, HP5, and T-Max 3200 ... what developer
D-76, same developer as Ilford's ID/11. Use mfg's times & temps.
I have never seen a photo where the choice of developer either
made or broke the image(with the exception of extremes - and
then the photo would have been better off w/o the monkey
business, IMHO).
> I have neither the time nor the patience for a detailed
> scientific analysis
Same here.

Signature
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
Remove spaces etc. to reply: n o lindan at net com dot com
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/
LR Kalajainen - 29 Oct 2004 20:49 GMT
May be some help with the Delta films. Don't know.
I use a simple developer made of 1 tsp. Sodium Metaborate (Kodalk), 1/2
tsp. Vitamin C powder (with or without rose hips) from the health food
store, and 4 ml. of 1% Phenidone stock (1 g. Phenidone dissolved in 100
ml of 90% alcohol). The times are roughly equivalent to those for D-76
stock times which you'll find on your film info sheets--maybe 30 seconds
longer.
Although I usually rate my Delta at half the recommended speed, I'd
suggest increasing the development a bit and try the following (either
with my formula or D-76 stock.)
Delta 400 --- 7 1/2 minutes at 70 degrees.
Delta 100 --- 10 minutes at 70.
FP4 + --- 7 1/2 at 70.
This may not be perfect, but will be close enough to give you decently
printable negs.
>The other day I was out shooting with a friend of mine, and, lo and
>behold, when it came time to put film in the camera, I discovered that
[quoted text clipped - 48 lines]
>
>Thanks in advance for the wisdom which I'm sure will follow.
John - 31 Oct 2004 15:29 GMT
>Delta 100, FP4 Plus, HP 5
\/\/\/\/\/
T-Max developer 6 min. @ 70F
>T-Max 3200.
T-Max developer 7 min. @ 70F
Regards,
John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.puresilver.org
Vote "No! for the status quo. Vote 3rd party !!
Frank Pittel - 31 Oct 2004 19:28 GMT
: Delta 100
: FP4 Plus
: HP 5
I've had very good luck with Ilford's DD-X diluted 1:9 at 75 degrees
: T-Max 3200.
Use Tmax diluted 1:9 at 75 degrees

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Anonymous - 01 Nov 2004 22:55 GMT
I've had good luck with all those films with Ilfosol-S (It's a
one-shot, so don't re-use it.) The recommended times work fine.
Jim