What if I do daily videos? I am seriously thinking to make 5-10 min video on a photo-book review on daily basis. I just don't know if I should start a new channel for this. Topsheet Photography. What do you think?
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography Photobook reviews would be very interesting! There seems to be not a lot of content about this on TH-cam (although this applies to most of your videos). At least as far as I can see most Photography videos are reviews of digital cameras, not that this is neccessarily a bad thing, but art-related content is much more scarce. As you have already reviewed photobooks I don't think a new channel is absolutely necessary for this.
I've been using Rodinal for a long time and it was my favorite developer due to the reasons you've mentioned in the video. And additionally, it's very thrifty since the most usable concentrations, in my opinion, start from 1:25 which is quite important for hobby photographers who don't make living with photography. Great video as usual!
I have learned more in these three videos on 'test of film developers' than since I come back to film just over five years and only wish someone had shown me all this when I was student at Art collage thirty years ago. Thank you Borut.
Ha! I've studied at FAMU Academy in Prague in the golden age of film 94-98 and I wish someone would thought me that too! Ha, ha, ha... Luckily Kodak engineers have wrote many books so we can go back to school and learn again :-)
I was excited to see you posted this, and quickly left an excited comment, but after watching it, in all seriousness Borut, your video production quality is excellent, and as an artist I'm sure that's no accident, you pride yourself on your aesthetic, but don't let it become too much, if it's becoming a source of extra stress for you. I really appreciate your videos, and I think I speak for everybody when I say that I'd watch these with just as much interest, if all you did was cut together videos with 2011 youtube production value, before the casey neistatification of the format, but again, thanks for all the effort you put into these
You took me back to 1996, when I had so much printing to do in one night for a university project, my developer was getting exhausted, blacks fading ect., and added just 100ml fresh developer because I didn't have enough for one litter,, waiting a bit longer till the right blacks came . The next morning I saw some of my most impresive prints with warm tonality and deep robust blacks. Cheap trick indeed, I kept doing it (expept when I was in a hurry or I had more high contrast needs. Thank you for bringing back those memories, I really miss the darkroom as nothing in the world.
How come you only have 14.7k subscribers? You are the best photographic channel on youtube, you deserve 1.47m subscribers ... please keep doing what you are doing
Every time I see a new video from anyone besides you in your country I always leave a one word comment...... TOPSHIT..... so far nobody knows what the hell I am saying.
Terry, this is my true intention behind it. To spread the topshit across the world. Forget the photography part, that's just a camouflage, my real purpose of life is to get topshit into people's life. But nevertheless let us not forget... Topshit happens!
Some very interesting results. I have been using Fomadon Lqn recently, and love the tones and good sharpness. As to sharpness as a priority, I would prefer a degree of softness over too much contrast. Thanks for taking the time to explain how you found the different developers.
Yes, Nikolai Gabriel in the comment bellow is sharing his experience. In the Darkroom Cookbook is mentioning how developers are effecting film speed. Obviously I should expose FP4 not at 125 ISO, but at 80 ISO.
I'm liking I found your channel as I'm getting back into developing. I ordered some Rollei Rodinal, HC110, TF-4 and Ilford Stop and Fix today. Everything should be here around May 9 (stupid COVID delaying my fun!). Already have a few rolls shot to try stand development shot the last two weeks (four with my 6x8 pinhole and two with my Holga!). I will shoot a few rolls with my Leica II and put them through HC110. I ran across one guy's channel here today and he said something interesting. He has one developer for low speed, another for mid speed and another for high speed. Interesting idea. So thanks for the motivation, Borut!
Xtol for box speed. HC110 for 1 stop push, i.e. 100 box speed at 200, or 200 box at 400. Diafine for 2 stop puch, i.e. doing 400 box speed at 1600 - or accidental 3 stop push - to recover some black detail without completely blowing out the high lights..
I know this video is a bit dated but I wanted to know what your thoughts are on monobath type developers? I want too get into pinhole photography and was wondering if one could develop direct positive paper and also paper negatives with Cinestill DF96 like how you would develop a print from a negative? I'm sort of a newbie when it comes too developing any kind of film.
Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going too just do it like everything else...trial/error of which I can't really afford too do. :( Tried researching it here on TH-cam but can't get anywhere, apparently there aren't very many topics associated with it. Thanks anyway!
I have done many such tests. Rodinal always comes out as OK, but never the best. But I always go back to it - because it is the only developer that keeps forever and is always ready to go! I am an ‘intermittent photographer’ - after I take a break, everything else ends up being thrown away :(
Glad to see some old fashioned developer comparisons. Did you do any variation in exposure for the tests? If you’re going to be using a tripod anyway, a slight drop in film speed isn’t a big deal. I loved shooting FP4 in my Yashicamat around ISO 80 for shadow definition in Pyrocat HD. Loved the fine grain, extended highlight detail, and general tonality. I did a lot of shooting in the snow so maybe highlight separation was a bigger deal to me. Always wondered if it would pair well with platinum printing.
This a really exceellent -and useful-- demonstration, examples and explanations.. Thanks so much. By the way, about your use of exhausted developer combined with fresh- that's a technique that old-timers used to do (although in smaller quantity than youre doing). It's called "seasoning" a developer.
Ha! I didn't know that somebody is doing that too. It's based solely to my observartion and my behaviour habit of general disbelief in instruction manuals. It's simple to try this technique.
Or perhaps not enough agitation, because that might be in my case. I went for stand development process, but then I realized that my concentration was too high, so I finished the development at 20 min. Foma 100 was perfect, also FP4 is having a great density, but with streaks.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography makes sense. This is my formula, see if its a good fit for you. Dilution 1+1+100, Temp 22c, 18 minutes, agitate for the first 30s, 2 invertions every 4 minutes. Its been working great for me.
Rodinal is my favourite developer. However, I've never used it to push film. If I had to, would it be better to use it as 1:25 or 1:50? Or in stand development the ratio of which I don't recall without resorting to web search? For me, the best parts about Rodinal are mixing fresh developer every time and seemingly eternal shelf life.
Great video series, very entertaining as always. I have some insight regarding pyrocat HD I can share with you. First off I have never gotten full box speed out of it, tri-x I expose at 320, fp4 at 100 otherwise I get similar results as you do in the shadows. I have not tried stand(cos I don't like the extreme effects), but I have developed 120 film using Steve Shermans technique for 2 years now and it is without a doubt the best negativs I've ever had(compared to my results using d-76, xtol, rodinal, pmk, hc-110). Crazy good shadow separation and highlights on point. But it is very sensitive to agitation technique, especially at higher dilutions and with roll film, and it took quite a while before I got rid of all streaks and unevenness. If it interests you I'll elaborate. That said it's a pain in the because you can only develop one roll at the time and one roll takes up to 40 minutes till its in the wash. I've gotten a bit tired of the process if I'm honest so I'm back at using it pretty normally, developing more rolls at the same time, although the result is not as good. A compromise. I might go back to hc110 for a few rolls just to see how I like it compared to my compromise.
I might also add(in no defense of pyrocat, whatever floats your boat etc) that if I assume you have exposed each roll the same. The only thing you can really take out off evaluating the shadows is which developer gives you the highest speed(iso) from a given film. Since it doesn't seem like you worked out what speed you are getting out of each of the developers with your development technique and with each given film, which would need to be done to be able to evaluate the different shadow qualities of the developers. Easily done with a stepped gray scale, but time consuming and boring. I would like to add that this does not take away from my enjoyment of your videos. Top shit!
@@nikolaigabriel5793 Yes, I exposed the roll and then I cut it in four pieces. Good point. Yes, obviously Pyrocat is at least 1/3 of f-stop slower developer. Thank you for your comment. It is very true.
Gordon Hutchings PMK with hypo fix so you don't strip off the stain. What fixer did you use for the pyrocat hd ? If you use a rapid fix it'll reduce the stain which is part of the beauty of pyro developers. Cool channel cheers from Australia :)
I love this video. I may have seen it tree or four times. I going to try id-11 1+2. Hc-110 have been my go to developer and I think I never got a bad negative from it. No matters what film I used.
Really great series Borut, many thanks for your efforts! I use Rodinal for 5x4 sheet film (ISO 100) and Kodak's HC-110 for all roll film. I've always been really happy with HC-110 but I admit I haven't experimented with other developers. I love the shelf life, being able to use a very small amount to create a one shot batch and the wide variety of solutions possible with it. What do you think of HC-110?
I also used hc-110 when i shot film. Sometimes 3 or 4 months would go by before developing another roll and the concentrated hc-110 would work just like new. I switched to rodinal and some point but didn't really notice much difference in negative tonality. I used to shoot fujipan 1600.
I didn't made a serious research with HC-110, although I have used the developer long time ago. I can't give you any credible first hand advice. Perhaps you can share it with me, I would appreciate it.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography When I first started developing film in 2012 I had to choose my first developer to try. I read that Ansel Adams liked HC-110 (not a bad endorsement) and then I read about all the advantages of the concentrated, syrupy stuff that made it an obvious choice and I haven't looked back. I believe it provides a really good balance between sharpness and tonal range. There are so many dilutions all with their own advantages. I usually use dilution B (1+31), which means I only use a low volume of developer (one shot) per roll. My first bottle lasted a really long time! There is a brilliant resource that goes into more details, including stand development: www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/ Maybe you could test it against FX-1 to see how it compares!?
when you first showed your negatives the RODINAL strip looked very 'Thin' compared with the others - maybe you lost some film speed with it -- that is why on enlargement comparisons you say the D76 had more detail in the blacks.
Top shit Topshit man! I’ve been doing my own for 20 years or more now in a very amateur but careful way, and I’ve used a few developer and film combinations, and always come to the same conclusion. Used properly, they can all provide you with a great picture. Yes, they are different, but not THAT different. Great inspirational channel, thanks for all your effort, it is very watchable and thoughtfully produced.
Thank you very much for this test, Borut. Probably Rodinal is easier developer to use. I always use it to introduce new photographers to film develop. But off course, it doesn’t mean it is the best . FX-1 looks good, we will must to try. There are some other recipes in the book I want to try, but I never decided to buy the chemicals.
This is the first time I comment. I really like your video in general! Some of your video inspired me. I shoot only film for my photography and like I said you inspire me. Thanks and have a nice day!!!
Thank you, good to hear. I am doing this because I believe it will serve as a good source of information for a decade or so and today old masters aren't present online while many people who just started with film are making tons of content that is basically their own first impressions, not really in depth. I want to have both, I want to share what I know really well amd I want to learn something too. Topshit happens.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography Keep sharing, as I am tired of watching the same safe basic developing techniques on TH-cam. Don't get me wrong as they were good starting points for me when I switched from being a professional digital photographer to a fine art film photographer. You make film photography n developing so fun n cool. I believe your videos are inspiring new photographers n you are teaching us how experiment safley with darkroom chemicals. Now I want take my darkroom out of my bathroom closet n move it to one of my rooms in my house n make it into a cool fun darkroom. It's my project this summer! :-) keep sharing!!!
I thought that pyro developers had a very broad soulder, meaning that the density curve is rather flat in the highlights and didn't give much separation. Could you clarify why you say that it is good in the highlights to separate "white subject from white background"? Thank you and great video once again, I really enjoyed this series!
Thank you again for your topshit videos!! I've tested recently d76 and rodinal with some fomapan 400 exposed at..400.. (a mistake ^^) with a longer development the results were so much better with rodinal than with D76, it was sharper of course but the tonality were also better. Perhaps because I used D76 in stock solution. Anyway keep on this great work ;)
Really interesting video. Thanks for going to so much effort in making it. Really hard to find fx1 where I am at least, so I stick with Adonal/Rodinal. Sometimes Ilford DDX but it's pricey.
FX-1 is not on sale, you need to mix it by yourself. Check the previous vlog. Thank you, I hope the vlog will serve its duty for generations of young photographers.
I love your videos! I started developing and printing my own film at the end of last year and hooked now. I use ID11 1+1 mainly with Kodak 5222 Double X or Tri-X. Will have to try it 1+3 next time as the results in your other videos looked great
Thank you Borut for your effort to compare these 4 developers . . . very useful to me. I recently got into to Analog Photography after I retired a few years ago. I have used mostly D-76 1+1. I will be trying 1+3 next time I process my film. I use mostly Ilford Pan F 50 and Tri X 400. I use Hasselblad 500CM and shoot 6 x 6 and 6 x 4.5. D-76 is indeed reliable and versatile. I recently acquired a considerable amount of old Kodak Microdol X recently . . . I think around 20 or so cans which mix up to one gallon of stock solution. What is your opinion of Microdol X?? Once again, thank you for your effort.
Hi Borut, at 18:34 you are talking about "a streaks" or a stains on a expired Ilford FP4, it comes not from a developer ,this is caused by a black backing paper,commonly known problem on this 120 film.Cheers
Very interesting approach to print development with exhausted developer topped up with fresh. Could expand this approach with twin bath development. Process for the blacks in the first tray with fresh developer, then for the highlights in the second tray with exhausted developer.
Hi great vlogs, information and techniques - oh good pictures too. I'm in Ljubljana for the weekend, where should I go to see some photography - exhibitions, galleries and so forth. Your devoted follower.
Wonderful! Google galerija fotografija and photon.si also in Kresija is an excellent exhibition at the moment. I've just came from the woodland of Kočevski rog.
Great! Thanks for getting back to me and so quickly. I’m going to try your recommendations. Hey this international cooperation really works, us Brits ought to try it.
How did you agitate Pyrocat-HD? First full minute then 3-5 inversions every 3 minutes? I read somewhere that this was preferable so that shadows would develop better.
About the relativity. When I examined your Pyrocat vs Rodinal prints on a huge screen sitting close to it, I liked Pyro. The impression drastically changed when I removed myself a couple of meters :(
Thanks again for a really informative video! I will definitely become a little more adventurous with my developers! And great to hear you are a fellow vegetarian ;)
I tried Pyrocat HD with Fomapan 100, Fuji Acros, HP5@400 and @800, Ilford Delta 400... from my point of view Pyrocat HD is best with Fomapan 100 (1:1:95)
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography Hi, on your video timeline from around 14.50 to 18.20 - the background on the right and back walls you have framed photographs, seems like metal frames, I'm looking for something similar but without any luck. Could you post a link to the brand or source for these frames! Thanks.
Hi, I enjoyed this epic trilogy on film developers and hats off to you for all the work you did. I don’t have a darkroom yet as there are some very strict environmental laws where I live and I don’t want to get in trouble with the US justice system. You said that Rodinal was safe in this regard but can you comment on the relative toxicity of all the developers? This would be of great importance to me if/when I have my own darkroom. Right now I am using XTol and HC-110 for film development. Also, do you have any experience with mono bath developers? If so, what do you think about them?
Let me just give you some advice as a fellow novice to darkroom: Paperdeveloper and the fixer are your main concern for toxicity. You will typically reuse these, as you may not make 200 prints per session. Get good glass bottles in pharmacy quality with wide openings (convenience) and try to get rid of air(conservation), there are multiple ways of doing that(there is also special gas you can use). If you cannot use it anymore put it in large canisters (mark them as toxic) and once a year dispose of it professionally (you can call your water provider, they will point you the way). The main problems are hydrochinon in the paper developer which is carcinogen, and there are quite a few developers without it which i would prefer if you have no ventilation, and silver in the fixer , which poses problems with the biological recycling of water.
No I haven't used the monobath developers, but it sounds surreal. Pyro is the most dangerous since pyro acid is cancerogenic, that said I used it a lot in collodion photography process in not the most appropriate ways and I can live to tell. The FX-1 and D-76 are containing metol that can cause dermatological skin rush plus. I've developed literally thousands of films with D-76 without gloves and I an still alive. That said, I am wearing gloves now, because why not. You may use caffenol as a very safe alternative to all the chemistry.
I haven't used them myself but maybe look into EcoPro darkroom chemicals. They make a film developer, paper developer, stop bath, fixer and hypo wash. They claim to be more environmentally safe than traditional darkroom chemicals.
Razvijanje je kot kuhanje, vsak ima svoj okus in zahteve. Nisem poznavalec niti tega filma, niti razvijalca. Jaz bi na primer, raje na id-11, stock ali 1+1 najprej pomislil, a, če ti je všeč kako razvijes, je to, to. PS: Rodinal, še posebej razredčen, ni najboljši za iso 400 in višje. Potrebuje močnejši razvijalec.
Why the rodinal is not for pushing i get very nice results of super strong grain and punchy negatives when i push hp5 or trix at 1600 with rodinal at 1:50
If I'm honest, this information is from The Darkroom Cookbook. I am not a specialist in Rodinal, but my assumption would be that the absence of Sodium sulfite in Rodinal, would cause very limited tonality scale in comparison with other push-process-developers plus yes, the grain would appear much larger. But back to my theory that photography is much more similar to cooking then to science. If you like an effect, then this is the way to go. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Well, looks like it works but not for every film. I tried Neopan 400@800 in Rodinal − it was a huge mistake. Negatives are barely usable. Depends on what are you lookning for, I guess.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography yes i know sometimes its not the best for tonality purposes , i mean we do different photography , i want the extreme contrast and the huge huge grain . I love your theory thought
Hello how are you? Love your channel I wonder if you can help me. I'm just about to start testing ilford multigrade paper Pearl in my rolling Cord camera. Just wondering if you could help me with some developing figures using rodinal, I want to use room temperature water of 26° could you give me a recommended starting developing time for something like this? I know it's not that simple. by the way I know a lot about film developing I actually did a tutorial on my channel a few months ago. Any help is appreciated.
If you desired output at the end of the process is a wet print from the darkroom the way it's done here is certainly the right one and the video is much more informative than any other I found on TH-cam. (From my perspective at least, I only use scans as a replacement for contact prints and to share with friends)
I agree, especially as an enlarger with a condenser gives a different result than one with defusion (which I use most of the time). Same with the exhausted developer on steroids (I love it) with 3-4min developing time. Seeing the scans from negatives would make it easier to judge some of these variables. Nevertheless, it is always wonderful to see prints and someone else process and tests. Love the videos and would love a follow-up on your experience with FX-1. Maybe you have done this already?
I hate to contradict you, Borut, but here goes: You don't recommend Rodinal with faster film but look at the results of Steven O'Nions with those th-cam.com/video/jSt17Yq1TLM/w-d-xo.html. Love your work though :)
you are the mad scientistic of photography that I have been searching for. Thank you for making these videos! subscribing to your patreon.
A day that starts with a new Borut video is automatically good!
What if I do daily videos? I am seriously thinking to make 5-10 min video on a photo-book review on daily basis. I just don't know if I should start a new channel for this. Topsheet Photography. What do you think?
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography Photobook reviews would be very interesting! There seems to be not a lot of content about this on TH-cam (although this applies to most of your videos). At least as far as I can see most Photography videos are reviews of digital cameras, not that this is neccessarily a bad thing, but art-related content is much more scarce. As you have already reviewed photobooks I don't think a new channel is absolutely necessary for this.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography But do you really have enough photobooks to do this daily 😉
@@romanhartmann3337 the real question is, if we have enough time to watch it all.
I've been using Rodinal for a long time and it was my favorite developer due to the reasons you've mentioned in the video. And additionally, it's very thrifty since the most usable concentrations, in my opinion, start from 1:25 which is quite important for hobby photographers who don't make living with photography. Great video as usual!
I have learned more in these three videos on 'test of film developers' than since I come back to film just over five years and only wish someone had shown me all this when I was student at Art collage thirty years ago. Thank you Borut.
Ha! I've studied at FAMU Academy in Prague in the golden age of film 94-98 and I wish someone would thought me that too! Ha, ha, ha... Luckily Kodak engineers have wrote many books so we can go back to school and learn again :-)
You're doing amazing work with these videos. Keep it up!!
I was excited to see you posted this, and quickly left an excited comment, but after watching it, in all seriousness Borut, your video production quality is excellent, and as an artist I'm sure that's no accident, you pride yourself on your aesthetic, but don't let it become too much, if it's becoming a source of extra stress for you. I really appreciate your videos, and I think I speak for everybody when I say that I'd watch these with just as much interest, if all you did was cut together videos with 2011 youtube production value, before the casey neistatification of the format, but again, thanks for all the effort you put into these
Thank you! My basic aethetic values are my basic values no matter what I do.
You took me back to 1996, when I had so much printing to do in one night for a university project, my developer was getting exhausted, blacks fading ect., and added just 100ml fresh developer because I didn't have enough for one litter,, waiting a bit longer till the right blacks came . The next morning I saw some of my most impresive prints with warm tonality and deep robust blacks. Cheap trick indeed, I kept doing it (expept when I was in a hurry or I had more high contrast needs. Thank you for bringing back those memories, I really miss the darkroom as nothing in the world.
Super grateful for this megaseries, thanks for sharing the hard work!
How come you only have 14.7k subscribers? You are the best photographic channel on youtube, you deserve 1.47m subscribers ... please keep doing what you are doing
My parents are rich and famous, so I don't have to be. 😜
Every time I see a new video from anyone besides you in your country I always leave a one word comment...... TOPSHIT..... so far nobody knows what the hell I am saying.
Terry, this is my true intention behind it. To spread the topshit across the world. Forget the photography part, that's just a camouflage, my real purpose of life is to get topshit into people's life. But nevertheless let us not forget...
Topshit happens!
Always love your videos! I want to come visit you and learn large format!
Check the link: www.topshitphotography.com/
Some very interesting results. I have been using Fomadon Lqn recently, and love the tones and good sharpness. As to sharpness as a priority, I would prefer a degree of softness over too much contrast. Thanks for taking the time to explain how you found the different developers.
Thanks for documenting your hard work! Great info!
That FX-1 is just amazing. It's such an unknown developer, at least in the mainstream of film youtubers
Thank you for this video, loved it!! That was some good shit!! Now I want to experiment some more with some developers!!
Great you are back！ Like your style alot!!!!!
Thanks so much for this Borut .. this is so informative :)
Thanks for all your hard work! I wonder if you could boost shadow detail with Pyrocat by bumping up the exposure?
Yes, Nikolai Gabriel in the comment bellow is sharing his experience. In the Darkroom Cookbook is mentioning how developers are effecting film speed. Obviously I should expose FP4 not at 125 ISO, but at 80 ISO.
I'm liking I found your channel as I'm getting back into developing. I ordered some Rollei Rodinal, HC110, TF-4 and Ilford Stop and Fix today. Everything should be here around May 9 (stupid COVID delaying my fun!). Already have a few rolls shot to try stand development shot the last two weeks (four with my 6x8 pinhole and two with my Holga!). I will shoot a few rolls with my Leica II and put them through HC110.
I ran across one guy's channel here today and he said something interesting. He has one developer for low speed, another for mid speed and another for high speed. Interesting idea.
So thanks for the motivation, Borut!
Xtol for box speed.
HC110 for 1 stop push, i.e. 100 box speed at 200, or 200 box at 400.
Diafine for 2 stop puch, i.e. doing 400 box speed at 1600 - or accidental 3 stop push - to recover some black detail without completely blowing out the high lights..
Thanks for taking the time to make this. :D
And one more thing: I literally love your YT channel :D
Great video. You've worked a lot to make it. Thank you for sharing the results.
I know this video is a bit dated but I wanted to know what your thoughts are on monobath type developers? I want too get into pinhole photography and was wondering if one could develop direct positive paper and also paper negatives with Cinestill DF96 like how you would develop a print from a negative? I'm sort of a newbie when it comes too developing any kind of film.
I'm sorry I haven't done that,but other people did and it did worked.
Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going too just do it like everything else...trial/error of which I can't really afford too do. :( Tried researching it here on TH-cam but can't get anywhere, apparently there aren't very many topics associated with it. Thanks anyway!
I have done many such tests. Rodinal always comes out as OK, but never the best. But I always go back to it - because it is the only developer that keeps forever and is always ready to go! I am an ‘intermittent photographer’ - after I take a break, everything else ends up being thrown away :(
Glad to see some old fashioned developer comparisons. Did you do any variation in exposure for the tests? If you’re going to be using a tripod anyway, a slight drop in film speed isn’t a big deal. I loved shooting FP4 in my Yashicamat around ISO 80 for shadow definition in Pyrocat HD. Loved the fine grain, extended highlight detail, and general tonality. I did a lot of shooting in the snow so maybe highlight separation was a bigger deal to me. Always wondered if it would pair well with platinum printing.
Good point. I haven't read the information that pyrocat takes 1/2 f-stop of film speed. It makes a perfect sense. THank you.
I have always enjoyed your printing videos. I want to spend more time printing.
Thank you very much for all these usefull information!
I hope it will stay on TH-cam for a long time and serve the community of analogue photographers
This a really exceellent -and useful-- demonstration, examples and explanations.. Thanks so much. By the way, about your use of exhausted developer combined with fresh- that's a technique that old-timers used to do (although in smaller quantity than youre doing). It's called "seasoning" a developer.
Ha! I didn't know that somebody is doing that too. It's based solely to my observartion and my behaviour habit of general disbelief in instruction manuals. It's simple to try this technique.
This is really great! Timely for me. Getting my darkroom all ready.
I use Pyroca HD with hp5+ and fp4+. I found that streaking comes from over agitating.
Or perhaps not enough agitation, because that might be in my case. I went for stand development process, but then I realized that my concentration was too high, so I finished the development at 20 min. Foma 100 was perfect, also FP4 is having a great density, but with streaks.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography makes sense. This is my formula, see if its a good fit for you. Dilution 1+1+100, Temp 22c, 18 minutes, agitate for the first 30s, 2 invertions every 4 minutes. Its been working great for me.
@@barbaaovento Will try that! Thank you!
I use Rodinol. I like simple. Works on X-Ray film and real film. I will take your advice about pushing. Good video!
Rodinal is my favourite developer. However, I've never used it to push film. If I had to, would it be better to use it as 1:25 or 1:50? Or in stand development the ratio of which I don't recall without resorting to web search? For me, the best parts about Rodinal are mixing fresh developer every time and seemingly eternal shelf life.
When I push to 1600 hp5 1:100 90 or 120min stand dev
the name topshit is what grabbed my attention - nice channel
As Forrest Gump would say:
"It happens..."
Great video series, very entertaining as always. I have some insight regarding pyrocat HD I can share with you. First off I have never gotten full box speed out of it, tri-x I expose at 320, fp4 at 100 otherwise I get similar results as you do in the shadows. I have not tried stand(cos I don't like the extreme effects), but I have developed 120 film using Steve Shermans technique for 2 years now and it is without a doubt the best negativs I've ever had(compared to my results using d-76, xtol, rodinal, pmk, hc-110). Crazy good shadow separation and highlights on point. But it is very sensitive to agitation technique, especially at higher dilutions and with roll film, and it took quite a while before I got rid of all streaks and unevenness. If it interests you I'll elaborate.
That said it's a pain in the because you can only develop one roll at the time and one roll takes up to 40 minutes till its in the wash. I've gotten a bit tired of the process if I'm honest so I'm back at using it pretty normally, developing more rolls at the same time, although the result is not as good. A compromise. I might go back to hc110 for a few rolls just to see how I like it compared to my compromise.
I might also add(in no defense of pyrocat, whatever floats your boat etc) that if I assume you have exposed each roll the same. The only thing you can really take out off evaluating the shadows is which developer gives you the highest speed(iso) from a given film. Since it doesn't seem like you worked out what speed you are getting out of each of the developers with your development technique and with each given film, which would need to be done to be able to evaluate the different shadow qualities of the developers. Easily done with a stepped gray scale, but time consuming and boring. I would like to add that this does not take away from my enjoyment of your videos. Top shit!
@@nikolaigabriel5793 Yes, I exposed the roll and then I cut it in four pieces. Good point. Yes, obviously Pyrocat is at least 1/3 of f-stop slower developer. Thank you for your comment. It is very true.
Gordon Hutchings PMK with hypo fix so you don't strip off the stain.
What fixer did you use for the pyrocat hd ? If you use a rapid fix it'll reduce the stain which is part of the beauty of pyro developers. Cool channel cheers from Australia :)
I love this video. I may have seen it tree or four times. I going to try id-11 1+2. Hc-110 have been my go to developer and I think I never got a bad negative from it. No matters what film I used.
Really great series Borut, many thanks for your efforts! I use Rodinal for 5x4 sheet film (ISO 100) and Kodak's HC-110 for all roll film. I've always been really happy with HC-110 but I admit I haven't experimented with other developers. I love the shelf life, being able to use a very small amount to create a one shot batch and the wide variety of solutions possible with it. What do you think of HC-110?
I also used hc-110 when i shot film. Sometimes 3 or 4 months would go by before developing another roll and the concentrated hc-110 would work just like new. I switched to rodinal and some point but didn't really notice much difference in negative tonality. I used to shoot fujipan 1600.
I didn't made a serious research with HC-110, although I have used the developer long time ago. I can't give you any credible first hand advice. Perhaps you can share it with me, I would appreciate it.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography When I first started developing film in 2012 I had to choose my first developer to try. I read that Ansel Adams liked HC-110 (not a bad endorsement) and then I read about all the advantages of the concentrated, syrupy stuff that made it an obvious choice and I haven't looked back. I believe it provides a really good balance between sharpness and tonal range. There are so many dilutions all with their own advantages. I usually use dilution B (1+31), which means I only use a low volume of developer (one shot) per roll. My first bottle lasted a really long time!
There is a brilliant resource that goes into more details, including stand development: www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/
Maybe you could test it against FX-1 to see how it compares!?
when you first showed your negatives the RODINAL strip looked very 'Thin' compared with the others - maybe you lost some film speed with it -- that is why on enlargement comparisons you say the D76 had more detail in the blacks.
Greetings from Italy love this channel 😎😎😎
Top shit Topshit man! I’ve been doing my own for 20 years or more now in a very amateur but careful way, and I’ve used a few developer and film combinations, and always come to the same conclusion. Used properly, they can all provide you with a great picture. Yes, they are different, but not THAT different. Great inspirational channel, thanks for all your effort, it is very watchable and thoughtfully produced.
Thank you very much for this test, Borut.
Probably Rodinal is easier developer to use. I always use it to introduce new photographers to film develop. But off course, it doesn’t mean it is the best .
FX-1 looks good, we will must to try. There are some other recipes in the book I want to try, but I never decided to buy the chemicals.
This is the first time I comment. I really like your video in general! Some of your video inspired me. I shoot only film for my photography and like I said you inspire me. Thanks and have a nice day!!!
Thank you, good to hear. I am doing this because I believe it will serve as a good source of information for a decade or so and today old masters aren't present online while many people who just started with film are making tons of content that is basically their own first impressions, not really in depth. I want to have both, I want to share what I know really well amd I want to learn something too.
Topshit happens.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography Keep sharing, as I am tired of watching the same safe basic developing techniques on TH-cam. Don't get me wrong as they were good starting points for me when I switched from being a professional digital photographer to a fine art film photographer. You make film photography n developing so fun n cool. I believe your videos are inspiring new photographers n you are teaching us how experiment safley with darkroom chemicals. Now I want take my darkroom out of my bathroom closet n move it to one of my rooms in my house n make it into a cool fun darkroom. It's my project this summer! :-) keep sharing!!!
I use D76 and Rodinal for stand dev and push, for everyday use box speed mostly d76 👍🤘🏻
Wonderful channel, thank you!
I thought that pyro developers had a very broad soulder, meaning that the density curve is rather flat in the highlights and didn't give much separation. Could you clarify why you say that it is good in the highlights to separate "white subject from white background"?
Thank you and great video once again, I really enjoyed this series!
Thank you again for your topshit videos!! I've tested recently d76 and rodinal with some fomapan 400 exposed at..400.. (a mistake ^^) with a longer development the results were so much better with rodinal than with D76, it was sharper of course but the tonality were also better. Perhaps because I used D76 in stock solution. Anyway keep on this great work ;)
could you make a video to compare fresh developer versus exhausted developer "on steriods"?
Really interesting video. Thanks for going to so much effort in making it. Really hard to find fx1 where I am at least, so I stick with Adonal/Rodinal. Sometimes Ilford DDX but it's pricey.
FX-1 is not on sale, you need to mix it by yourself. Check the previous vlog. Thank you, I hope the vlog will serve its duty for generations of young photographers.
I love your videos! I started developing and printing my own film at the end of last year and hooked now. I use ID11 1+1 mainly with Kodak 5222 Double X or Tri-X. Will have to try it 1+3 next time as the results in your other videos looked great
Me to always 1:1 next roll 1:3.
Thank you Borut for your effort to compare these 4 developers . . . very useful to me. I recently got into to Analog Photography after I retired a few years ago. I have used mostly D-76 1+1. I will be trying 1+3 next time I process my film. I use mostly Ilford Pan F 50 and Tri X 400. I use Hasselblad 500CM and shoot 6 x 6 and 6 x 4.5. D-76 is indeed reliable and versatile. I recently acquired a considerable amount of old Kodak Microdol X recently . . . I think around 20 or so cans which mix up to one gallon of stock solution. What is your opinion of Microdol X?? Once again, thank you for your effort.
I never used Microdol. But feel free to bring that to the party. Since I don't drink alcohol, some Microdol X would be very much welcome.
Hi Borut, at 18:34 you are talking about "a streaks" or a stains on a expired Ilford FP4, it comes not from a developer ,this is caused by a black backing paper,commonly known problem on this 120 film.Cheers
I didn't know that, thank you very much. #learning #everyday #everyway
"Lower toxicity" might be the words you were looking for.
Very interesting approach to print development with exhausted developer topped up with fresh. Could expand this approach with twin bath development. Process for the blacks in the first tray with fresh developer, then for the highlights in the second tray with exhausted developer.
Top shit Borut. Hvala za take videe. Upam da bodo take stvari večno vklesane na internetu. Adrijan
Hi great vlogs, information and techniques - oh good pictures too. I'm in Ljubljana for the weekend, where should I go to see some photography - exhibitions, galleries and so forth. Your devoted follower.
Wonderful! Google galerija fotografija and photon.si also in Kresija is an excellent exhibition at the moment. I've just came from the woodland of Kočevski rog.
Great! Thanks for getting back to me and so quickly. I’m going to try your recommendations. Hey this international cooperation really works, us Brits ought to try it.
@@kevcaster Hey moron, us Brits invented international cooperation....and now the UK has been destroyed....Fact.
very amusing! and informative! inspiring!
Just found your channel, oh man so much to go through! Could you do one comparison with XTOL and Foma LQN?
How did you agitate Pyrocat-HD? First full minute then 3-5 inversions every 3 minutes? I read somewhere that this was preferable so that shadows would develop better.
first 30 seconds and then 10 second of agitation per minute of development. All films were developed in the same way.
About the relativity. When I examined your Pyrocat vs Rodinal prints on a huge screen sitting close to it, I liked Pyro. The impression drastically changed when I removed myself a couple of meters :(
I hear you. The only real test is to see it in person, but to be honest, the difference is there, but it is not huge.
Great work 👏👏
Really great videos. Thank you for doing them. Do you ever use xtol? If so do you like it, what about it do you like? If not, why not?
Thanks again for a really informative video! I will definitely become a little more adventurous with my developers!
And great to hear you are a fellow vegetarian ;)
Have you tried the newer 510 pyro and semi stand development?
I tried Pyrocat HD with Fomapan 100, Fuji Acros, HP5@400 and @800, Ilford Delta 400... from my point of view Pyrocat HD is best with Fomapan 100 (1:1:95)
Great video! Where does HC-110 fall inbetween all of these?
SIncerely, I wouldn't know, but if somebody is reading this and knows, leave a comment.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography I would love to donate a bottle of HC-110 for you to play with!
You inspire me soooo much!
Hi! great darkroom! by the way, what brand of frames you have in the background at 15min? will appreciate your info. thanks
I don't know what frames are you talking about.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography Hi, on your video timeline from around 14.50 to 18.20 - the background on the right and back walls you have framed photographs, seems like metal frames, I'm looking for something similar but without any luck. Could you post a link to the brand or source for these frames! Thanks.
Hi, I enjoyed this epic trilogy on film developers and hats off to you for all the work you did. I don’t have a darkroom yet as there are some very strict environmental laws where I live and I don’t want to get in trouble with the US justice system. You said that Rodinal was safe in this regard but can you comment on the relative toxicity of all the developers? This would be of great importance to me if/when I have my own darkroom. Right now I am using XTol and HC-110 for film development. Also, do you have any experience with mono bath developers? If so, what do you think about them?
Let me just give you some advice as a fellow novice to darkroom: Paperdeveloper and the fixer are your main concern for toxicity. You will typically reuse these, as you may not make 200 prints per session. Get good glass bottles in pharmacy quality with wide openings (convenience) and try to get rid of air(conservation), there are multiple ways of doing that(there is also special gas you can use). If you cannot use it anymore put it in large canisters (mark them as toxic) and once a year dispose of it professionally (you can call your water provider, they will point you the way). The main problems are hydrochinon in the paper developer which is carcinogen, and there are quite a few developers without it which i would prefer if you have no ventilation, and silver in the fixer , which poses problems with the biological recycling of water.
No I haven't used the monobath developers, but it sounds surreal. Pyro is the most dangerous since pyro acid is cancerogenic, that said I used it a lot in collodion photography process in not the most appropriate ways and I can live to tell. The FX-1 and D-76 are containing metol that can cause dermatological skin rush plus. I've developed literally thousands of films with D-76 without gloves and I an still alive. That said, I am wearing gloves now, because why not.
You may use caffenol as a very safe alternative to all the chemistry.
I haven't used them myself but maybe look into EcoPro darkroom chemicals. They make a film developer, paper developer, stop bath, fixer and hypo wash. They claim to be more environmentally safe than traditional darkroom chemicals.
@@louisskokidis3103 That sounds like a good topic for next vlog. Ecological developers. thx
I just use Xtol, no idea if its the best but its what my local darkroom has.
Stick to it. It's a good developer. Better to use one and know it well, then to use many and without the consistency.
helllll yea
aey llllleh
Rodinal is not toxic, it´s corrosive because of the hydroxide
Thank you, it slipped out of my memory.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography Try to sleep from time to time 😉
Can you mix this stuff?
Whats up with the low video res?
It's uploaded as full HD. Check your settings, it should play in proper resolution. Or perhaps when you look at it, TH-cam hasn't finished processing.
"How much? Nobody knows"
When I grow up I wanna be like you 😎
Can't wait to grow up, it will be so much fun!
kaj pravis na Ilford delta 3200 v Rodinalu, 1+50?
Razvijanje je kot kuhanje, vsak ima svoj okus in zahteve. Nisem poznavalec niti tega filma, niti razvijalca. Jaz bi na primer, raje na id-11, stock ali 1+1 najprej pomislil, a, če ti je všeč kako razvijes, je to, to.
PS: Rodinal, še posebej razredčen, ni najboljši za iso 400 in višje. Potrebuje močnejši razvijalec.
Why the rodinal is not for pushing i get very nice results of super strong grain and punchy negatives when i push hp5 or trix at 1600 with rodinal at 1:50
If I'm honest, this information is from The Darkroom Cookbook. I am not a specialist in Rodinal, but my assumption would be that the absence of Sodium sulfite in Rodinal, would cause very limited tonality scale in comparison with other push-process-developers plus yes, the grain would appear much larger. But back to my theory that photography is much more similar to cooking then to science. If you like an effect, then this is the way to go. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Well, looks like it works but not for every film. I tried Neopan 400@800 in Rodinal − it was a huge mistake. Negatives are barely usable. Depends on what are you lookning for, I guess.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography yes i know sometimes its not the best for tonality purposes , i mean we do different photography , i want the extreme contrast and the huge huge grain . I love your theory thought
@@endingmirage i haven't shot neopan because it was discontinued before i started analog photography
endingmirage same with acros100 ha and acros100 also from neopan once I had a good result 1:25 next time it was horrible not what cause it 🤷♂️
I love this video
Hello how are you? Love your channel I wonder if you can help me. I'm just about to start testing ilford multigrade paper Pearl in my rolling Cord camera. Just wondering if you could help me with some developing figures using rodinal, I want to use room temperature water of 26° could you give me a recommended starting developing time for something like this? I know it's not that simple. by the way I know a lot about film developing I actually did a tutorial on my channel a few months ago. Any help is appreciated.
Google my name and "paper negative" that should answer all of your questions.
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography thanks bro I will
I think the guy is completely drunk, it's funny
Ha, ha... good one!
Can´t see ANY yellow stain in your Pyrocat negatives. Something is wrong there
It is stained yellow in comparison with other negatives
@@BorutPeterlinPhotography My Pyrocat negatives are MUCH yellower than this and results are fantastic. You may want to check your formula, i think
Maybe check the fixer, ilford rapid fix strips away the stain, just a guess :)
Direct film scans for comparison would be a much better way to judge the effectiveness of the developers. There are too many secondary variables here.
My real experience is just the opposite and I've done it both ways. Film is meant to be printed.
If you desired output at the end of the process is a wet print from the darkroom the way it's done here is certainly the right one and the video is much more informative than any other I found on TH-cam. (From my perspective at least, I only use scans as a replacement for contact prints and to share with friends)
I agree, especially as an enlarger with a condenser gives a different result than one with defusion (which I use most of the time). Same with the exhausted developer on steroids (I love it) with 3-4min developing time. Seeing the scans from negatives would make it easier to judge some of these variables. Nevertheless, it is always wonderful to see prints and someone else process and tests. Love the videos and would love a follow-up on your experience with FX-1. Maybe you have done this already?
I hate to contradict you, Borut, but here goes: You don't recommend Rodinal with faster film but look at the results of Steven O'Nions with those th-cam.com/video/jSt17Yq1TLM/w-d-xo.html. Love your work though :)
You don't drink coffee or alcohol? What the hell is the matter with you?