Some Random Rambling and Photos by Wouter Willemse
Posts about film development recipes: what film works nice with which developer, in my experience anyway
Part of the fun of shooting black and white film is experimenting. Once you develop your film yourself, there are numerous developers to try. Also the number of films available in the market is solid. Actually, the situation has gotten better in the last years. There is plenty to choose from.
It’s not all roses and sweetness, though. As mentioned before, things are getting more expensive. As in my last recipe, this recipe is another one that came out of a quest to lower cost a bit.
Everything is getting more expensive these days; there seems no escaping that every day you run into something that costs more than you cared to remember.
Shortage on electronic components sure drove prices for digital cameras and lenses up. Increasing popularity of film photography drove prices for old gear up in many cases. As I already mentioned some time ago, prices for film consumables (film and chemistry) have also gone up.
This will just be a short post, without photos, to update on some of the earlier posts on ‘recipes‘. So far, there have been four of those and for all intents and purposes, that should be enough. But at some point, you run out of stock, to find prices that aren’t quite what they were last time….
In previous posts, I rambled about the combinations of film and developer I like: one for all-round bomb-proof performance, one for plenty light and plenty sharpness and one for plenty light and a more old-fashioned look.
The next recipe is one I use a lot less, frankly very very rare. Yet, it’s a tool I like to have in the shed.
In previous posts with a very similar title, I described two combinations of film and developer that I like. One my general purpose recipe, one a specialised recipe aiming for specific results.
This post covers another combination I’ve grown to like a lot. Compared to the previous two, I have a bit less experience with this one, so perhaps it’s better to consider it a half-time report. Even so, it’s one I will continue to use as it gets a lot right.
Following the last post, which was about my go-to selection of film and developer if I want solid, dependable results, now a preferred combination at the sunnier side of things. Yes, moving on to slower films, and ending up with a more specialised recipe. More spicey, but sometimes a meal needs that.
Do you learn more from experimenting, or from following predefined steps? Yes, a rethorical question indeed. One of the nicest things about developing your own black and white film is that it allows for experiments. It keeps it fun, since there is always some other thing to try.
But sometimes, you do need some predefined steps to get to guaranteed results. Sometimes, you just need to get results, instead of fooling around. Experiments should leave one with a couple of solid recipes to keep around for those times you need predictable outcome.