|
I shoot black and white on Kodak TMax, either 120 roll film or 4x5" sheet
film. For developing the negatives I use:
a) Kodak TMax Developer (condensed liquid). Needs to be diluted 1 + 4 for
the working solution, I prepare only as much as I need every
time.
b) Kodak D76 (powder), needs to be prepared in large quantities in hot
water. Typically one bag of powder makes one gallon, and that will be sufficient
for about 30 rolls of films or 180 sheet film negatives. There are also
powder bags for one liter, but they are difficult to come by here in
Germany.
I use the developer only once.
Handling-wise I prefer the condensed liquid: you just prepare as much
as you need every time, and the concentrate will remain usable for a long time.
Powder is much more of a mess (my humble opinion). However, TMax
Developer should not be used for sheet film development (there is a risk of
staining the negative), and since I switched over to large format
I use D76 (you have those large quantities sitting in the bottles and
they should be consumed within 6 months, so I use it for roll films as
well).
For fixing I use Kodak TMax Fixer (condensed liquid), also needs 1 + 4
dilution. I typically make 540ml quantities. That is twice the amount I need for
rotary processing, and it also would work for small tank manual processing. This
is good for about 8 rolls of film - fixer can be reused.
I use only fixer and developer, no stop bath, no watering agent and
none of the other handful of chemicals that Kodak is suggesting. Instead
of a stop bath I do a 5 times watering between developing and
fixing (other list members are free to scream and yell here). Results are
fine.
So, summary is: if TMax concentrated liquid would work for sheet films I
would stick to that, since I shoot sheet film I use D76 instead and get
used to messing around.
I don't do darkroom processing of prints. I scan the negatives and go
digital from that point on.
Regards,
Thomas Greutmann (www.blackandwhitegallery.de)
|
