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Traditional darkroom photography and historical photographic processes

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Harvey Jenkens’ Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+

About 2 minutes to read.


Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
D-76	1:3	20 m	68° F	125
Comments: Rotation agitation for 10 sec every minute. Very good results. 11x14's are grainless from 35 mm negs.

Sandra Schänzer’s Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
ID-11	Stock	3 m 40 s	24° C	125
Comments: Constant rotation. Nice contrast, fine grain.

Michael D. Fraser’s Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
PMK	1:2:100	13 m	68° F	80
Comments: Agitation for 5s every 30 seconds, or one complete sheet cycle every 30 seconds, plain water stop, Formulary TF-4, etc.

Mark Severson’s Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
TFX-2	see Comments	11 m	20° C (68° F)	160
Comments: (Photographers' Formulary version of FX-2): standard dilution 50 mL solution A, 50 mL solution B, add water to make 1 L. Agitation for the first 30 seconds, then 10 seconds (4 inversions) every 60 seconds. For diffusion enlarger. Presumably the pinacryptol yellow is not present in TFX-2. Anchell & Troop quote Crawley saying that it shouldn't be used for T-grain films. The Photographers Formulary documentation claims that TFX-2 should work well with T-grain films, so it's likely that's why they left it out. Unfortunately, TFX-2 is a proprietary modification of FX-2, for which they claim "a number of small modifications have been made", so we don't know what the other modifications are, if any. They claim it should give slightly finer grain and better midtone gradation than FX-2. I haven't tested that. I bought TFX-2 because as a liquid concentrate it was a convenient way to try this developer. I'd like to compare it to the original FX-2, but I don't know when I'll find time for that. FX-2 Acutance Formula (80% speed increase) Stock Solution A Water, boiled & cooled to 30°C 400 ml Metol 25 g Glycin 7.5 g Cold water to make 500 ml Stock Solution B Water, boiled & cooled to 30°C 400 ml Potassium carbonate crystals 75 g Cold water to make 500 ml Stock Solution C Pinacryptol Yellow 1:2000 solution For use, mix 50ml A, 50ml B, 3-5ml C and add water to make one liter of working solution.

Anders Blomqvist’s Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
D-76	1:1	8.5 m	20° C	100
Comments: N-1 for condenser, agitation first 30 s + 5 s each 30 s.

Nigel Smith’s Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
Ilford LC29 (Plus)	1:29	5 m	20° C	100
Comments: 30 secs initial agitation, 3 inversions per minute thereafter.

Greg Rust’s Recommendations for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
Rodinal	1:50	8 m	68° F	64
PMK	1:2:100	10 m	70° F	64
Comments: One agitation every 2 minutes.

David Parmet’s Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
Perceptol	1:1	12 m	68° F	50
Comments: For diffusion enlarger. Agitate for first 30 seconds, and every 30 seconds thereafter.

Phillipe Tempel’s Recommendation for Ilford FP-4+
Developer	Dilution	Time	Temperature	E.I.
Patterson FX-50*	Standard	9 m 45 s	75° F	125
PMK**	1:2:100	4 m 45 s	75° F	40
Comments: These are in a Jobo at 75F (24C). * Using the standard single bath method (20ml A + 20ml B + 260ml water). EI and times were arrived at by measuring with a color densitometer with Zone I to be between 0.10 - 0.15 and Zone VIII to be 1.30 - 1.35. **To counteract the oxidation, I use a little more A (6ml A + 10ml B + 500ml water instead of 5ml A) and always mix a half liter per roll. EI and times were arrived at by measuring with a color densitometer using only the blue channel for measurement. I fixed Zone I to be between 0.10 - 0.15 and Zone VIII to be 1.30 - 1.35.

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