Developing Tri-x with Ilfosol or Ilford products

mdozier · 02-02-2009

Hi all,
I've tried to find threads about using the Ilford family of products with tri-x and couldn't really find much.
Our only local supply house has d-76 and Ilford stuff. (They seem to be pretty big Ilford fans).
I'd like to work with a concentrate rather than mixing (and wasting) a whole gallon of d-76. They're pushing me to go with Ilford but as an inexperienced developer I thought I'd seek council.
I've read that D-76 with tri-x is a good combination and somewhat bullet proof for a beginner.
Will Ilfosol or ID-11 be ok with my tri-x? I should mention that I also have some Ilford I'll be developing but I was just going to use the D-76 at 1:1 for everything.
BTW, after all I've read about Rodinal I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Matt

capitalK · 02-02-2009

I recently (over?)developed TRI-X in Ilfosol 3 1+9 for 10 minutes. I also only had Ilford chemicals available to me locally but recently bought some Rodinal and HC-110 while I was out of town. Hopefully I'll be testing them this week.

drewbarb · 02-02-2009

Don't worry about it. Pretty much any chemistry can be used with any film- there is no problem crossing brands. Ilford ID-11 is very similar to D76- you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference, from either the formula or the results. But it only comes in powder. If you want to use liquid concentrate developer and mix it up as a one-shot, there are many good options. My two favorite liquid concentrates are Rodinal (easy to use, very long shelf life in concentrate, very sharp and long tonal curve, with some grain) and Kodak's HC110 (also very popular, and a very good soup, esp. at higher dilutions. For Tri-X, try dilution H- 1 part syrup to 63 parts water). For Ilford developers, if you want a liquid concentrate, you are stuck with Ilfosol S (not my favorite, but it works) Ilfotec DD-X, which many here like, and Ilfotec HC, which is basically the same as Kodak's HC110. Results are similar too.

Whatever you do, I'd recommend you choose one developer and one film, and stick with that combo until you feel you know it pretty well. Take good notes through your processes, and be sure you know exactly what variables you change as you tweak your development process. Once you have a combination down, try a few other developers and see how they differ. Good luck and have fun!

russianRF · 02-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdozier

BTW, after all I've read about Rodinal I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Matt

Try mail-order through Freestyle; that's where I always get my Rodinal. Rodinal works well with Tri-X, too.

funkaoshi · 02-02-2009

I've developed Tri-X with Ilfosol 3. If you are shooting at box speed it will probably work out well. I think if you are pushing your film, Ilfosol 3 doesn't work too well. TMax Dev seems to be a bit more robust, and useful in more situations. (Ilfosol 3 looks like it might be better suited for slower than ISO 400 films.)

delft · 02-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by drewbarb

[...] and Kodak's HC110 (also very popular, and a very good soup, esp. at higher dilutions. For Tri-X, try dilution H- 1 part syrup to 120 parts water). [...]

That's the problem with unofficial dilutions; you can't quote an official source. The unofficial HC110 resource page (http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/) gives dilution H as 1+63.
I give my Tri-X a generous 6 minutes at 20 deg. Celsius (a.k.a. 68 F?) in dilution B (1+31) or 12'30" in dil H.

Greetings,
Dirk

zerobuttons · 02-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkaoshi

I've developed Tri-X with Ilfosol 3. If you are shooting at box speed it will probably work out well. I think if you are pushing your film, Ilfosol 3 doesn't work too well. TMax Dev seems to be a bit more robust, and useful in more situations. (Ilfosol 3 looks like it might be better suited for slower than ISO 400 films.)

Hi Funkaoshi,

the FilmDev seems like a splendid idea - except for one thing: no one mentions temperature in their recipes. Is there a common understanding about one given temperature being used?

I have just now signed on to Flickr only because of this group, but I cannot see who I should ask this question, just by visiting the group´s pages.

Vics · 02-02-2009

If they don't mention temperature, I'd assume they mean 68 deg. F. The nice thing about Ilford products is that they don't mind telling you what the dev. time is for other products, e.g. TriX.
Good luck!
Vic

Turtle · 02-02-2009

DDX is a very convenient (if expensive) liquid option and works very well with TriX. for greater economy I use it at 1+6.5 rather than 1+4. Means a neat 200ml dev +1300 water (total 1500) for my paterson tank too. Multiply dev times by about 1.3-1.4 to get a decent starting point for you at this dilution. Some use it at 1+9 to make it go twice as far.

drewbarb · 02-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by delft

That's the problem with unofficial dilutions; you can't quote an official source. The unofficial HC110 resource page (http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/) gives dilution H as 1+63.
I give my Tri-X a generous 6 minutes at 20 deg. Celsius (a.k.a. 68 F?) in dilution B (1+31) or 12'30" in dil H.

Greetings,
Dirk

D'oh! Thanks for pointing out my error, Dirk! Of course dilution H isn't 1:120.

Since B is 1:31, and H is twice the dilution of B, that means H is 1:63. But for some reason when I posted earlier, I did the math in my head twice instead of just once- and then I rounded down! I must've been smoking something this afternoon. I've corrected the original post- wouldn't want someone taking my wrong advice!

Anyway, that page you cite is really valuable. I've had it bookmarked for a while. Too bad I didn't consult it again before I posted...