Digitaltruth Photo

Hello all,
I've recently shot on tri x 400, and need to know what are the best chemicals to use to process the negatives...

I already own some chemicals but am not sure they are ideal to use as they are chemicals normally for the processor. They are ilford 2000tl (2150RC fixer and developer), Kodak Prostar Plus (fixer and developer), and finally ilford perceptol (developer as powder).

Could you tell me if they are safe to use, and if not what are the best chemicals to use?

Also... as they are in industrial size bottles, I don't have the recommended time....?

Thanks for your help

Auds wrote:Hello all,
I've recently shot on tri x 400, and need to know what are the best chemicals to use to process the negatives...

I already own some chemicals but am not sure they are ideal to use as they are chemicals normally for the processor. They are ilford 2000tl (2150RC fixer and developer), Kodak Prostar Plus (fixer and developer), and finally ilford perceptol (developer as powder).

Could you tell me if they are safe to use, and if not what are the best chemicals to use?

Also... as they are in industrial size bottles, I don't have the recommended time....?

Thanks for your help

Ilford Perceptol is a fine-grain film developer. The Ilford chemicals 2000TL and 2150 developer and fixers are for machine processing of resin coated papers and the fixers may be too strong for film fixing.
For home processing of B/W films and papers, take a look at the Fotospeeed website, they make their own chemicals and offer a mail order service.
www.fotospeed.com

Thanks, I will have a look at that. I might be able to get the 2150 processor, so all is not lost for those chemicals.
Have you tried perceptol before?

Auds wrote:Thanks, I will have a look at that. I might be able to get the 2150 processor, so all is not lost for those chemicals.
Have you tried perceptol before?

Yes I have tried Perceptol and it provides a pleasant yield. It is similar to Kodak Microdol-X and both are formulated to give extra fine-grain with the penalty of some loss of emulsion speed so you will need to give about half to one stop extra exposure than usual. Unfortunately, the finer grain is at the expense of slightly lower acutance. (Less sharp). A nice developer for female and child portraits where you want smooth skin tones and the lower sharpness is more likely to hide some minor skin blemishes.