I want to get the Anchell book. I figure that will eliminate 80% of my stupid questions in the future. Amazon has two listed: The Darkroom Cookbook, and The Film Developing Cookbook. I'm mostly interested in the film developer info, but I don't know if the other book eliminates some film info for print info, etc. Anyone have a clue as to the differences between these two books? Both are the same price. Thanks for the help.

John

-- John Kilmer (jkilmer@usadatanet.net), February 16, 2001

Answers

Get them both.

I've learned more about photography and development from those two books than anything I've read since 'The Negative'

-- David Parmet (david@parmet.net), February 16, 2001.

The two books have that much separate material?

-- John Kilmer (jkilmer@usadatanet.net), February 16, 2001.

The Film Developing Cookbook is much more useful to me. It answered more questions than I knew to ask. It tells you how developers work, and will help you pick the right developer. You can put much of its info to use even if you don't mix your own solutions from scratch. For any serious photographer who wants to understand film developing it is a must. It has opinions (with rationales)which is also of benefit.

The Darkroom Cookbook is more of a recipe book for mixing your own soups, and not really useful if you don't mix your own from scratch. (Not that I did not find it useful as well.) It balanced towards all photographic solutions (film developer, paper developer, stop baths, fixers, toners, reducers, intensifiers, ...).

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), February 16, 2001.

Yes, they are that different.

I would also recommend to get both. However, if you are mainly interested in film only, I might consider the film one first. But if you can afford it, just get both to save making two orders. :)

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), February 17, 2001.

John,

Get both.

The Darkroom Cookbook is more of a general and comprehensive B&W guide. It covers most things related to B&W darkroom work: film development, printing paper development, chemicals, and all darkroom related processes.

The Film Development Cookbook is much more specific to B&W films and their developers. It extensively discusses the choosing and handling of B&W films of all types and brands, and gives in depth information about selecting and using all known B&W film developers. The development charts alone are worth the price of admission.

Good luck, Sergio.

-- Sergio Ortega (s.ortega@worldnet.att.net), February 17, 2001.

Does the film developing cookbook contain recipes for developers, or just talking about the ones you can buy?

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), February 17, 2001.

The two Anchell books I've found most useful are The Film Developing.. and The Variable Contrast Printing Manual, of course different strokes etc.,but both these volumes seem very well researched and backed by extensive practical applications. The latter book is also great for all those cold light filter questions that I see all the time. I do believe there are better places than Amazon to buy them, try bookfinder.com or Powells Books in Washington State. Cheers

-- Stephen Mitchell (mitmad@telus.net), February 20, 2001.