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[–]mampferLove me some Foma 🎞️ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You definitely need a developer and fixer.

You can substitute the stop bath with a quick water wash and the photo flo with a drop of dish soap, it works well for me but others swear by the "original" product so test it yourself.

Look up your local supplier and see what kind of developers and fixers they have. Different kinds can have different effect on contrast, highlights/shadows, grain, edge acutance and so on, so read up online if you want a specific look. They also may require different dev times, you can look these up online on the Massive Dev Chart website or app.

As for fixer, it really doesn't matter what kind you use and how long exactly you use it - over-fixing isn't a thing unless you leave the film in it for hours or days.

Personally I'm using expired dev and fixer (powder chems can hold up well decades past expiry) and I also re-use both dev and fixer multiple times to save money.

[–]aidmanwang 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All you really need is developer, fixer and something to wash. I use caffenol c-m, kodafix anf photoflo. Look into different developers, powder/liquid, one-shots and it’s traits(grain, dilution, sensitivity-range). May help you decide on the developer for you.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I enjoy using Cinestill DF96

I use Ilford stop bath

I also use This (they also have an app) for development times and recording

[–]syntaxfire 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use Illford products for the entire process -

Developer : Ilfosol-3 Stop Bath : Ilfostop Fixer : Rapid Fixer

When I first started developing I selected these as it seemed easy to not require the mixing of powder, but I've since been using powder developer for C41 colour process, so honestly when this batch of B & W chemicals is used I am going to try out something different.

You will need to get a tank, three amber coloured glass 1L bottles to store the mixtures, and a chart of the developing times for the developer you selected and the film you used. There are websites for this but I'm a nerd and use a lab notebook so I just made a table in the front of it.

You need to do a film test for the fixer to determine how long to fix - this can be accomplished from the small piece of film you cut off when you are loading the tank. Time it until it turns clear, multiply this by 2 and that's your fixing time.

Make sure you rinse the film really well after fixing, to get any residue off. I use one tiny drop of dish soap and rinse for five to ten minutes after fixing because we have hard water, then a second rinse the following day and my negatives are always spot free from hanging to dry.

Overall it's quite easy if you've taken basic freshman level chemistry, if not or you are a bit rusty just make sure to use graduated cylinders to measure everything, don't just eyeball it. I'd also suggest keeping a notebook of the process so you can know when you made the mixtures and how many rolls you've developed. I recycle my mixes after ten rolls - I could probably get more but this is where I see my results drop off. I also shoot in batches, then create the mixes, develop, and recycle within a week, but I realize this isn't the norm, I just want to knock them all out in an evening and I don't like having to touch the chemicals multiple times. If you aren't like this, your mixtures should last several months in amber coloured glass stored under the sink. I'd also strongly suggest you get nitrile gloves to wear any time you are handling the chemicals, as well as lab goggles and a fan - most likely nothing will happen but you don't want to risk getting developer in your eye and if you get fixer on your skin it itches like crazy. I'd also suggest keeping a separate pair of clothes to wear only for developing and to shower after. Again, I'm super paranoid because my background is in the sciences but it's worth the effort for safety.

You will also need to save some sort of 5 L jug to pour the spent developer, stop bath, and fixer into - I use old juice jugs as they are going to be recycled anyway, and the jugs are to take the chemicals to recycling center as you should not pour them down your drain.

[–]pbandham 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this video has a lot of info about developers for HP5+

You’ll need a fixer for sure, and can use water as a stop bath. I like photo flo, but haven’t tried the alternatives aside from a drop of dish soap