Back to film developing.

[Robinyuill]

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Hi there. I'm getting back into developing my b+w films as its getting to expensive to get them done at my local company. I've seen the Ilford videos on Youtube but I've just seen on on "stand development". Looks interesting as you don't have to be so fussy with temperatures. Anyone any experience on the process. Thanks and regards,  Robin.

[Tom R]

I see some interest (lately) in "stand development" although I'm not certain how "modern" emulsions will respond to that method.

Are you planning on printing these negatives on an enlarger or are you scanning and then post-processing? I ask because I wonder if some of the putative benefits of "stand development" might just as easily be obtained in the post-processing phase of your workflow.

At the end of the day, I always ask: What is it that you are hoping to achieve by <technology/method-X> that isn't available through more commonly accepted materials/practices? Asking this question over the last thirty-five years (or maybe more now) has saved me lots of time and a little money that was better spent making photographs ...

Keep us posted on what you discover.

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[stray cat]

6 hours ago, Robinyuill said:

Hi there. I'm getting back into developing my b+w films as its getting to expensive to get them done at my local company. I've seen the Ilford videos on Youtube but I've just seen on on "stand development". Looks interesting as you don't have to be so fussy with temperatures. Anyone any experience on the process. Thanks and regards,  Robin.

Hi Robin, it's great to hear that you'll be getting back into developing. There are a fair few people here that have stand developed current films - modern emulsions - with great success. Personally, it's not something I use a lot but I can confirm through experience that it works and works very very well. There are a lot more resources all over the place about it, and any questions you may have might well be directed towards the "I Like Film" thread here where a lot of the contributors use or have used stand development.

Of course with any process adherence to a standard methodology is preferable to just an ad-hoc workflow, so getting times and temperatures at least relatively consistent, especially as you start off, is best practice. There are a number of different developers people like to use, and of course these give different results - again, experience is a great teacher here. One of the more interesting variations is to mix up your own developer from scratch using instant coffee - caffenol - it makes a superb developer, strangely.

Good luck and be sure to post some examples when you have them.

[Tmx]

Go for it Robin. It’s easy.
Only the temperature for developer is important but also easy to achieve. All other chemicals are fine in room temperature except you are living in polar circle. 

[Robinyuill]

Thanks guys. Going to get the kit together in the near future and give it a go using correct temp and time from Ilford site information and then try the stand developer. Oh and Tmx, its not the polar circle but here in Edinburgh, Scotland its not that warm this time of year!! Regards Robin.

[250swb]

I wouldn't start with stand development, it's ok if you like the results, no problem, but it's often chosen because it's a 'lazy' way to develop film and people convince themselves they like the results because of that. So I'd say break the rules after you've re-acquainted yourself with the rules. There are some developers that scream to be used in stand or semi-stand development such as Pyro developers, but again the 'lazy' side is more than tempting when you already have a bottle of Rodinal within reach.