A breif review of why I use Ilford DD-X. Why you might consider using it too, and if you don't shoot Ilford film then why you might consider a liquid developer.
Comment on Rodinal @ 1:42 as a "decently fine grained developer": Rodinal has several admirable qualities, including long shelf life and yielding extremely high edge acuteness (apparent image edge sharpness), particularly when used in high dilutions. However fine grain is certainly not one of its virtues. Rodinal is the champion of course grain developers. I'm not aware of any B&W developer in common use today which is less "fine grain" than is Rodinal. That Rodinal has a significant user base today is a testament to the huge advancements made in building "fine grain" characteristics into modern B&W films.
When Rodinal is referred to as a "Fine grain developer" it certainly causes much confusion. What is really meant surely is that Rodinal is designed for and optimal for use with fine-grained films, not that it is a developer that minimises grain (as you said, nothing could be further from the truth). What the video poster meant is unclear.
Interesting video. Nicely done. I'm a big DD-X purist. Its actually the only developer I've ever used. I use it for Kodak TMax films, Tri-X all the time, and I've also used it with soem of Lomographies films and of course some of the Ilford films. It always works great. I've never, ever, had an issue. I even used a bottle that had been stood in my garage for 5 years and it still worked great! To note of interest : I frequently use one mixture twice, if its on the same day. I just add 10% dev time for the second roll (e.g. if 10 minutes for roll 1, 11 minutes for roll two). So although it is officially a one use dev, you can actually get very good results using it twice, and maybe even three times, with the addition of 10% and 20% time respectively.
I use Rodinal at 1:50 and find a greater contrast than DD-X, I use DD-X for pushed film, but we live in a very soft water area which I have been told affects Rodinal, or should I say harder water has a negative impact. It has a very long shelf life once opened if you keep air out of it, far longer than Ilfosol 3 which I use for FP4 and Acros. I always use the Rapid Fixer for both film and paper.
I have used ilfosol 3 with great results. It's also a "one shot" but I am able to use it for about four times. It has a color indicator and turns blue when it exhausted. Thanks for vid and see if you can get re-use.
I've been using Kodak Tmax Dev for the last six years or so. I like it but I am finding that I want something more fine grain these days. Everything I have been reading or seeing from other people point to DD-X. Rodinal comes up often but DD-X is carried at my local photo store.
I am no expert on developing, but I know what works for me. I know some have good luck with Rodinal, I have tried it a few times and it didn’t really do much for me. I originally wanted it to try stand developing, but basically have gone to DD-X, I love the contrast I get with it and it does very well on the grain, but I think that has more to do with the film that the developer. I haven’t tried Tmax in years and I usually shoot hp5 or delta 100 these days so I probably won’t anytime soon. I often push the hp5 to 800, and get great results.
Hi. I'm interested in developing my own black and white film and so I'm researching different developers. Have you tried using this developer with Ilford HP5, 35mm? What were your results?
Unfortunately it's probably the most expensive developer. I need 1l to develop two 120 films. That means I can only develop 10 films with one bottle of ddx. XTOL for 5l is about half the price and can be used in dilutions up to 1+4. That means I can develop up to 40 120 films with it. I'm very happy with the results. Personally I don't like Rodinal. It's very sharp, but also very grainy.
I have had consistently good results with Iford HP5 plus B&W developed in Ilfosol 3 at 20C. Ilfosol 3 has a recommended dilution of up to 1:14 at 20C for only 7:30 min compared to DDX of 1:9 at 25C for 14:30 min. Your using more dev....Not a super big deal but Ilfosol 3 can also save $ by being re-used around 3x with 120 rolls until it turns blue. DDX is a true one shot dev and turns blue indicator with one tank of a dozen 4x5 negs. Would like to someday do a grain analysis comparison. cool and thanks for sharing
No, but there are C-41 kits for negative color film that can be purchased. They are becoming more popular. I would recommend starting with black and white developing first since it is more forgiving.
Yes, but you will only get the B&W image from the negative. Colour negatives developed as B&W will come out very very dense, you'll think there isn't an image there, however a film scanner will pull out the image just fine.
I've been using this for years and love it. I would suggest one thing though, I store ALL of my developers (DDX, Rodinal, Tetenal C41 and E6) in booze flasks, HDPE, chemical safe... you can squeeze out all the air and cap it off. I've done this for over 5 years and have DDX that lasts over 2 years this way. I know many used soda bottles and such but these pack up nicely and work very well.
Ilford DD-X: What is the shelf life of the stock bottle once it has been opened for partial use? Whether you use the whole bottle or end up throwing out half of it is a big cost factor by itself. I've done my own B&W film development since 1958, so to some extent, I've used most types of B&W film developer, but I've never used Ilford developers, except for Microphen, which I used for about 8 years in the 1990s, mostly with FP-4 and some HP-5. I would be interested in seeing which Ilford and Kodak developers are similar to each other. For example, d-76 and ID-11 are practically the same formula. Did Ilford produce something similar to X-Tol?
Randall Stewart for a liquid developer it’s very good, well over 12 months if properly stored, but it’s nothing like the life of Rodinal although mIne has never gone off. I personally think it’s great for pushed film giving the film a full tonal range taking that "pushed look" of gaps in the mid tones some pushed images have. Ilforsol 3 is a very poor one for shelf from Ilford, even stored in perfect conditions it goes off in weeks rather than months. This makes it potentially expensive, if you throw half of it away realistically it’s twice as expensive as the label says, it’s saving grace is it works brilliantly with finer grain film like FP4+ or Delta 100. I have never used X-tol sorry so I can’t do a comparison.
I found an unopened bottle that had been sitting around for 7yrs. I wasn't expecting much but I developed a few rolls of delta 400@400 and hp5@200 surprisingly well. I didn't want to chance it afterwards so I got rid of the developer.
@jonnoMoto: a good way to test if a developer is good or bad is to run a small snipet of exposed film through said developer before processing any film. If developer is good the snippet will turn black, if snippet turns out transparent if is time to get rid of developer. The key is exposing that snippet to light before running test. Karl
I'm a huge fan of stand development, so I've been using and enjoying HC110 so far, and would also try Rodinal if I could find it locally (shipping costs too much because it's considered "hazardous cargo" and the extra fee costs more than the bottle itself!). In general I can't imagine using anything other than one-shot liquids, they're so much more convenient.
Hi -- I really love the way Tri-X and Rodinal played together. I'm mostly shooting Hp5 as of late and really prefer Kodak's HC110 to develop Ilford films. I have yet to try DD-X due to the cost. Have you tried HC110? If you have -- how would you compare it to DD-X?
Mr. Bag Face I personally reserve DD-X for pushing. HC110 or Ilfotec HC dilution H is a very well rounded developer. You can also try minimal agitation techniques for compensating and it works well. Bruce Barnbaum has a very good method he describes in his book.
Couple of questions... Do you pre-soak your ilford film? How long is your initial agitation? I use DDX and I think the bottle says 10 seconds initial then 10 seconds every minute thereafter, but doing so my images are sharp but very flat. Its cool because I have the latitude to adjust in post, but not so good for SOOC images
I don’t pre-soak, I used to but I feel like I like the results with no Pre-soak. I do a longer stop bath than recommended, supposedly you can do a stop for 90 seconds but I usually wait 2+ min. Longer (5 min.) if I am not in a hurry. I folly the recommendations for development and fix time from illford, correcting for temp of the developer and push/pull correction.
@@eagle112800 ---- I am curious as to what difference does it make soaking film in stop bath for a longer duration, in terms of density, acuity or grain, or anything else for that matter? I presume you use some brand of off-the-shelf stop bath solution. Some people just use plain water for stop bath. In any case, the acetic acid in stop bath neutralizes the alkaline of a developer rapidly and halts further development of the emulsion, so what else does it do with a longer stop bath? And what was the noticeable difference between pre-soaking and NOT pre-soaking, that you prefer not to pre-soak, since you say you like the results better comparatively. I feel knowing these things from an expert like you might yield even better result in my processing.
In 2023, the DDX has lost a lot of its appeal due to the very high cost.
Comment on Rodinal @ 1:42 as a "decently fine grained developer": Rodinal has several admirable qualities, including long shelf life and yielding extremely high edge acuteness (apparent image edge sharpness), particularly when used in high dilutions. However fine grain is certainly not one of its virtues. Rodinal is the champion of course grain developers. I'm not aware of any B&W developer in common use today which is less "fine grain" than is Rodinal. That Rodinal has a significant user base today is a testament to the huge advancements made in building "fine grain" characteristics into modern B&W films.
When Rodinal is referred to as a "Fine grain developer" it certainly causes much confusion. What is really meant surely is that Rodinal is designed for and optimal for use with fine-grained films, not that it is a developer that minimises grain (as you said, nothing could be further from the truth). What the video poster meant is unclear.
Interesting video. Nicely done. I'm a big DD-X purist. Its actually the only developer I've ever used. I use it for Kodak TMax films, Tri-X all the time, and I've also used it with soem of Lomographies films and of course some of the Ilford films. It always works great. I've never, ever, had an issue. I even used a bottle that had been stood in my garage for 5 years and it still worked great! To note of interest : I frequently use one mixture twice, if its on the same day. I just add 10% dev time for the second roll (e.g. if 10 minutes for roll 1, 11 minutes for roll two). So although it is officially a one use dev, you can actually get very good results using it twice, and maybe even three times, with the addition of 10% and 20% time respectively.
Rodinal and HC-110 are perfectly economical.
Ilfotec HC is mye favorite. I think like it works very well when pushing also. Gives a good amount of contrast and it's very economical.
The video content is so excellent, congratulations
I use Rodinal at 1:50 and find a greater contrast than DD-X, I use DD-X for pushed film, but we live in a very soft water area which I have been told affects Rodinal, or should I say harder water has a negative impact. It has a very long shelf life once opened if you keep air out of it, far longer than Ilfosol 3 which I use for FP4 and Acros. I always use the Rapid Fixer for both film and paper.
I know lots of photographers love Rodinal, but I just can't get those sort of results...
Film Purist I have similar problems with HC-110.
I have used ilfosol 3 with great results. It's also a "one shot" but I am able to use it for about four times. It has a color indicator and turns blue when it exhausted. Thanks for vid and see if you can get re-use.
Ilfotec HC, it’s long life and fine grain, well controllable contrast as well. Also can be used standard developing as well.
I've been using Kodak Tmax Dev for the last six years or so. I like it but I am finding that I want something more fine grain these days. Everything I have been reading or seeing from other people point to DD-X. Rodinal comes up often but DD-X is carried at my local photo store.
I am no expert on developing, but I know what works for me. I know some have good luck with Rodinal, I have tried it a few times and it didn’t really do much for me. I originally wanted it to try stand developing, but basically have gone to DD-X, I love the contrast I get with it and it does very well on the grain, but I think that has more to do with the film that the developer. I haven’t tried Tmax in years and I usually shoot hp5 or delta 100 these days so I probably won’t anytime soon. I often push the hp5 to 800, and get great results.
Hi. I'm interested in developing my own black and white film and so I'm researching different developers. Have you tried using this developer with Ilford HP5, 35mm? What were your results?
I use this with HP5+ 35mm and 120, and the results are great.
Thanks for the quick reply. SUBSCRIBED!
Unfortunately it's probably the most expensive developer. I need 1l to develop two 120 films. That means I can only develop 10 films with one bottle of ddx. XTOL for 5l is about half the price and can be used in dilutions up to 1+4. That means I can develop up to 40 120 films with it. I'm very happy with the results. Personally I don't like Rodinal. It's very sharp, but also very grainy.
I have had consistently good results with Iford HP5 plus B&W developed in Ilfosol 3 at 20C. Ilfosol 3 has a recommended dilution of up to 1:14 at 20C for only 7:30 min compared to DDX of 1:9 at 25C for 14:30 min. Your using more dev....Not a super big deal but Ilfosol 3 can also save $ by being re-used around 3x with 120 rolls until it turns blue. DDX is a true one shot dev and turns blue indicator with one tank of a dozen 4x5 negs. Would like to someday do a grain analysis comparison. cool and thanks for sharing
I usually dilute 1:4, so my times are reasonable. 1:9 would save some money though. I may try Ilfosol 3 in the future to see how I like it.
I know it says to dilute at 1+4 but I’ve been doing 1+3 only because the bottle i use to mix with only fits 32oz 😅
Can this be used for developing color films?
No, but there are C-41 kits for negative color film that can be purchased. They are becoming more popular. I would recommend starting with black and white developing first since it is more forgiving.
Yes, but you will only get the B&W image from the negative. Colour negatives developed as B&W will come out very very dense, you'll think there isn't an image there, however a film scanner will pull out the image just fine.
I've been using this for years and love it. I would suggest one thing though, I store ALL of my developers (DDX, Rodinal, Tetenal C41 and E6) in booze flasks, HDPE, chemical safe... you can squeeze out all the air and cap it off. I've done this for over 5 years and have DDX that lasts over 2 years this way. I know many used soda bottles and such but these pack up nicely and work very well.
You say in the video that it's also it's own fixer? Does that mean it acts as a 2 in 1?
No, it requires a separate fix bath. It is definitely not a monobath.
Ilford DD-X: What is the shelf life of the stock bottle once it has been opened for partial use? Whether you use the whole bottle or end up throwing out half of it is a big cost factor by itself.
I've done my own B&W film development since 1958, so to some extent, I've used most types of B&W film developer, but I've never used Ilford developers, except for Microphen, which I used for about 8 years in the 1990s, mostly with FP-4 and some HP-5. I would be interested in seeing which Ilford and Kodak developers are similar to each other. For example, d-76 and ID-11 are practically the same formula. Did Ilford produce something similar to X-Tol?
Randall Stewart for a liquid developer it’s very good, well over 12 months if properly stored, but it’s nothing like the life of Rodinal although mIne has never gone off. I personally think it’s great for pushed film giving the film a full tonal range taking that "pushed look" of gaps in the mid tones some pushed images have. Ilforsol 3 is a very poor one for shelf from Ilford, even stored in perfect conditions it goes off in weeks rather than months. This makes it potentially expensive, if you throw half of it away realistically it’s twice as expensive as the label says, it’s saving grace is it works brilliantly with finer grain film like FP4+ or Delta 100. I have never used X-tol sorry so I can’t do a comparison.
I found an unopened bottle that had been sitting around for 7yrs. I wasn't expecting much but I developed a few rolls of delta 400@400 and hp5@200 surprisingly well. I didn't want to chance it afterwards so I got rid of the developer.
@jonnoMoto: a good way to test if a developer is good or bad is to run a small snipet of exposed film through said developer before processing any film. If developer is good the snippet will turn black, if snippet turns out transparent if is time to get rid of developer. The key is exposing that snippet to light before running test.
Karl
@@karlneubert8187 to add to the previous comment of mine, if snippet doesn't turn at all, the developer is dead as well.
do you always do 1:4 ? have you tried thinner dilution?
I have not, have you? I like the results I get with the 1:4 dilution.
I like 1:4 best, have done some stand with 1:8, but not quite the same.
I'm a huge fan of stand development, so I've been using and enjoying HC110 so far, and would also try Rodinal if I could find it locally (shipping costs too much because it's considered "hazardous cargo" and the extra fee costs more than the bottle itself!). In general I can't imagine using anything other than one-shot liquids, they're so much more convenient.
Hi -- I really love the way Tri-X and Rodinal played together. I'm mostly shooting Hp5 as of late and really prefer Kodak's HC110 to develop Ilford films. I have yet to try DD-X due to the cost. Have you tried HC110? If you have -- how would you compare it to DD-X?
Mr. Bag Face
I personally reserve DD-X for pushing. HC110 or Ilfotec HC dilution H is a very well rounded developer. You can also try minimal agitation techniques for compensating and it works well. Bruce Barnbaum has a very good method he describes in his book.
Couple of questions... Do you pre-soak your ilford film? How long is your initial agitation? I use DDX and I think the bottle says 10 seconds initial then 10 seconds every minute thereafter, but doing so my images are sharp but very flat. Its cool because I have the latitude to adjust in post, but not so good for SOOC images
I don’t pre-soak, I used to but I feel like I like the results with no Pre-soak. I do a longer stop bath than recommended, supposedly you can do a stop for 90 seconds but I usually wait 2+ min. Longer (5 min.) if I am not in a hurry. I folly the recommendations for development and fix time from illford, correcting for temp of the developer and push/pull correction.
@@eagle112800 ---- I am curious as to what difference does it make soaking film in stop bath for a longer duration, in terms of density, acuity or grain, or anything else for that matter? I presume you use some brand of off-the-shelf stop bath solution. Some people just use plain water for stop bath. In any case, the acetic acid in stop bath neutralizes the alkaline of a developer rapidly and halts further development of the emulsion, so what else does it do with a longer stop bath?
And what was the noticeable difference between pre-soaking and NOT pre-soaking, that you prefer not to pre-soak, since you say you like the results better comparatively. I feel knowing these things from an expert like you might yield even better result in my processing.