Does anyone know where to find a listing of how much of any given developer needs to be used per roll of 35mm or 120 film. When diluting developers (i.e. tmax, xtol etc.) I am curious what dilution I can use. I have heard both 200ml and 100ml of xtol per roll, but no info on Tmax or any other developer. I have heard of people using Tmax 1:9, but I want to know how many ml of Tmax is required for one roll of film.

Hope this question makes sense. Thanks for any info. Matt

-- matt carson (mjcarson@home.com), December 30, 1998

Answers

It's in the Kodak data sheets. For example HC110 needs 7.5ml of concentrate per 135-36 roll. Xtol needs 100ml of stock solution per 135-36 roll and so on (I don't have other data sheets!). Maybe it's on the Kodak web site if you dig deep enough! 120 typically needs twice the volume that 135-36 does, at least according to the HC-110 data sheet. I'm not sure why since the area of 135-36 and 120 are about the same. The Xtol data sheet suggests the same amount of stock for 135-36 and 120. I don't know why these data sheets seem to be giving conflicting info!

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), December 30, 1998.

I think that you must be refering to the amount of solution used when developing with a rotary processor. I use rotary processing for 35 and 120 film, in a Unicolor film drum. In order to keep things simple, I only use one developer, D-76, diluted 1:1. For one roll of 35mm, I use 4 oz of solution (2 oz dev, 2 oz water) for one roll of 120, I use 6 oz of solution (3 oz dev, 3 oz water). You only need enough solution to cover the film as it rotates.

To find the volume of your tank, You can adjust the tank for the number of rolls to be developed, fill with water, then measure the amount of water. Then use a little less than half of that amount. The rotary tank only needs to be less than half full, at the most. I have found that when developing more than one roll at a time, the developing time needs to be decreased, in order to avoid excessive contrast.

I usually develop Delta 400, for contrasty subjects, 13 minutes, low contrast subjects, 17-18 minutes, both at 68 degrees. Times could be shorter at higher temps. Of course, if you are using a conventional tank, and adgitating a few seconds each minute, the tank must be filled to the top in order to keep the film immersed at all times. Hope this helps, it works pretty well for me.

-- bill moore (wmoore@provide.net), December 30, 1998.