Ilford Delta Film, D-76 developer?
JSHawk
moons after taking--and enjoying--B&W photography classes in college and now
finally being able to have the time and the money to continue it.
The problem: I learned the darkroom developing process using what I assume
to be The Old Standby or a good beginner's starting point: Kodak D-76,
Fixer, HCA, Photo Flo, and Dektol for paper. And I've gotten pretty good at
figuring out how all of these chemicals interact together with the films I
use: primarily TMAX (occasionally Tri-X) and VC paper (though I've used
RC paper with some success--a topic for another thread at another time).
The question: I *love* the quality of Ilford Delta films, but I've been
told that I need to develop it in Ilford chemicals, not the Kodak stuff I
use. I wasn't given a good explanation why, though. [They told me the film
wouldn't last very long without fading.] Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid
to spend the time/money to learn the Ilford process if it'll provide
substantially better results, but I have to know if anyone has found it
possible to successfully develop Ilford film using the D-76 process? I
don't mind blowing through rolls of film if I know that it *can* work with
success (and no, I don't really need archival quality that will last for a
thousand years - I just need it to last long enough to out-live the
remainder of my coherent photo-processing life.) ;)
Thoughts/ideas/opinions?
Tanks in advance,
Hawk
--
jha...@mail.orion.org
Francis A. Miniter
"They" are wrong. Ilford ID-11 is virtually identical to Kodak D-76.
So, in this case, the brand name is not material. Also, there are
plenty other developers out there which will give you fine permanent
images with the Delta films. Pyro PMK is one. But learn a new film
with a developer your are familiar with first. Better one variable
instead of two at a time.
D-76 was invented in 1927. It has been such a standard that virtually
all films invented since then have been made so that they will process
in D-76. That is not to say that it is the best developer for every film.
Francis A. Miniter
John Hicks
wrote:
>told that I need to develop it in Ilford chemicals, not the Kodak stuff I
>use. I wasn't given a good explanation why, though. [They told me the film
>wouldn't last very long without fading.]
Whoever told you that is totally, ridiculously wrong. In fact,
Ilford's ID-11 _is_ D-76, closer to Kodak's published D-76 formula
than packaged D-76.
At any rate, try Delta 100 in D-76/ID-11 1:1 12'/68F EI 100 or 1:3
18'15"/68F EI 100. It's a good match.
---
John Hicks
Dave Beckerman
When Ilford Delta 100/400 first came out, I used Tmax developer without a
problem. Haven't seen anything fade yet. And the results were fine. I
thought it was a bit grainier perhaps than with Tmax films, but I never
really found out if that was the film or the developer.
Dave
--
_________________________________________
Dave Beckerman Photography
web site: http://www.DaveBeckerman.com
e-mail: ph...@DaveBeckerman.com
_________________________________________
"JSHawk" <jha...@mail.orion.org> wrote in message
news:Bjyx6.19369$Hd3.6...@news1.rdc1.ne.home.com...
Louie Powell
Hmm - who told you that? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in
a long time!
According to Ilford's Product Data Guide, the recommended time for Delta
100 in D76 1:1 is 12 minutes. Delta 400 is recommended for 10.5
minutes.
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Louie J. Powell, APSA
Glenville, NY USA
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Maison/7881/
"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Richard Knoppow
I will assume that this is not an April fools post (despite the Jay
Hawk) and answer it seriously. Even if meant as a joke there are folks
to whome it may be a serious question.
D-76 works fine on Delta films and Kodak, Agfa, or Ilford chemicals
will give you exactly the same degree of image permanence.
First, there is hardly any difference in brands of fixer. Ilford does
not include a hardener in theirs, Kodak does, except for Kodak Rapid
Fixer where the hardener can be left out.
For reasonable permanence (maybe 100 years with any care in storage)
do the following:
Develop in what ever developer makes the film look the way you want
it to. For best uniformity development time should not be shorter than
about five minutes, around 8 minutes or more makes it easier to
control.
Use a stop bath. Leave the film in it for 30 seconds. Longer will
not hurt.
Use two successive stop baths of whatever kind of fixer you decide
on. Fix in the first bath for half the total time, drain the film, and
finish fixing in the second bath. Two bath fixing insures that the
several step fixing process is carried out completely so that the
reaction products are water soluble and will wash out.
Using a two bath fixer is one of the most important things you can do
to insure image permanence of either film or paper.
Use a wash aid as instructed. Kodak wash aid for three minutes
followed by a five minute wash will result in long term permanence.
A final rinse in a solution of
Distilled water up to 1.0 liter
Isopropyle alcohol 25 ml/liter
(or 70% Rubbing alcohol 30 ml/liter)
Photo Flo 2.5 ml (Half the recommended strength)
This solution will prevent deposits of minerals on the film and
result in very clean surfaces.
Hang up to dry in a dust free place. If the rinse bath is used do not
squeegee, the water will run off the film.
That's it. The developer or brand of anything has no effect
whatsoever on the permanence.
BTW, Ilford ID-11 is nearly identical to D-76 and Ilford Perceptol
is nearly identical to Kodak Microdol-X.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, Ca.
dick...@ix.netcom.com
jha...@mail.orion.org
> I will assume that this is not an April fools post (despite the Jay
> Hawk) and answer it seriously. Even if meant as a joke there are folks
> to whome it may be a serious question.
No joke. That's what I get for being named Jeff and having a last name of
Hawk... You wouldn't believe how many Kansas fans envy me... ;)
[snip]
> That's it. The developer or brand of anything has no effect
> whatsoever on the permanence.
> BTW, Ilford ID-11 is nearly identical to D-76 and Ilford Perceptol
> is nearly identical to Kodak Microdol-X.
Thanks to EVERYBODY who chirped in on this question. I have plenty of
evidence to show my photographic friend and--more importantly--I can now
start rolling through some Delta film in the darkroom without worry...:)
Tanks,
Hawk
--
jha...@mail.orion.org
Richard Knoppow
If you need more evidence both Kodak and Ilford have MSDS on their
web sites which list ingredients (mostly). Also, some of the classic
developers have published formulae. The packaged versions of these are
not quite exactly the same as the published versions, usualy having
some sort of sequestering agent added and maybe other compounds which
become the same when dissolved.
I wonder where your friends got this idea. It is amazing to me that
there is still so much puzzlement and misinformation about plain old
silver-gelatin photography, which is now getting on towards a century
and a quarter old.
Of course, we are still learning about it. The recommendations for
image permanence have changed radically in the last twenty years and
there is still research into the nature of the latent image. Just
shows that often something can be practical where the scientific basis
is not fully understood.
Scott Daniel Ullman
> Thanks to EVERYBODY who chirped in on this question. I have plenty of
> evidence to show my photographic friend and--more importantly--I can now
> start rolling through some Delta film in the darkroom without worry...:)
I would be interested to know why that person told you what he did. Did he
have first-hand experience with his negatives fading? If so, why would he
have thought it was the developer?
Anyone, besides D-76/ID-11, one developer that you might want to try with
Delta films is Ilfotec DD-X, especially if you plan to rate them at a
higher-than-normal speed.
--
Scott Daniel Ullman
sdullman@i_hate_spam.stanford.ude
(Remove "i_hate_spam" and change "ude" to "edu" to send e-mail.)