Thoughts on Developers for Black and White film photography.
The current popularity of Black and White-almost a resurgence- has brought back some of the odd developers that we older workers will be familiar with- even if not exponents of their use in the modern world. We still have good old D76 and its associated formulae. Still a big seller and used in stock 1:1 and diluted 1:2 it will cover all my needs in 35mm and 120 roll up to 6x9. I do not use larger film.
On the other hand we have the growing popularity of the revived Crawley formulae and the good old Rodinal type in many packages. I contend that these are best kept for those needing a special effect on sheet film. It is true that many present day users of 5x4 have adopted developers from these niche ranges. Possibly not what was intended when the chemicals were launched.
Examination of my negatives going back 60 years show some awful results of faintness and low contrast obtained by use of special brews and acutance developer on 35mm film. So much so that I find them of little use as so difficult,or time consuming, to print.
I have now decided that little increased contrast is not a bad thing with latest emulsions and should appreciate any views, under comments, below.
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