I am teaching myself photography and i was wondering if you can reuse the film developer to develop more than one roll of film. if so about how many? thank you kenny

-- Kenneth Snyder (PAxxxHC@aol.com), October 29, 2001

Answers

There are "one shot" developers like Ilfosol and Rodinol, which you use once and chuck out -- Much easier to start. Then there are things like D-76 which you can use over and over ading just a bit of time with each roll. The second type have capacities which the manufacturers publish on the bottle/envelope. I'd stick with one-shot to start, easier and reliable. If you want to do two rolls at once, maybe think about getting a bigger tank and using twice as much one- shot. Dean

-- Dean Lastoria (dvlastor@sfu.ca), October 29, 2001.

I strongly agree you should stick with one shot developers. They make it a lot easier to be consistent, which at your stage is critical. And, most typically, diluted are more forgiving of time/temperature/agitation errors, and they typically yield sharper, more printable negatives.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

You can mix TMax liqued developer 4:1 into a gallon jug. Although it is good for up to 50 rolls, the development time changes after 17 rolls. You may just want to throw it out after 17 rolls, or after 17 rolls add 1 minute, and toss it after 30 rolls. That's at least some re-use. Yes there is a slight variation, but you still get good printable negs.

-- Ted (ted@elfintrader.com), October 30, 2001.

If a particular developer can be reused, the specifications for the exhaustion rate and replenishment (if applicable) will be published by the manufacturer. This information is usually available on the manufacturers web site. The most common developer that can be reused is D76 from Kodak (or the Ilford ID-11 equivalent) when mixed to the standard stock solution. D76 and ID-11 are also frequently used in dilutions such as 1:1 or 1:3, in which case they are classified as one-shot developers. There are others such as HC-110 and TMAX developer, which have similar capabilities.

As the others have stated above, it is more difficult to get consistent results with developers that are reused. Many one-shot developers such as Rodinal used at dilutions of 1:75 or so are very economical, consistent, and the liquid concentrate keeps for a very long time.

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), October 30, 2001.