Fine grain developers

The production of fine grain in a negative is dependent on, in the first place, speed of the film and the choice of developer. The object is to keep the structure of the grain in the emulsion as small as possible so that it does not show up in the enlargments. Fine grain developers are best suited to films of medium speed about 125 ISO and above.

Some of the best known fine grain developers: Ilfords Microphen and ID11, Tetenal Ultrafin, Kodak D76, PMK Pyro is a staining developer that produces a fine grain and for the new grain techologies: Kodak HC110 and T max, Ilford LC29 and Tetenal Ultrafin plus, just to name a few.

Single shot developers.

One shot developers do what they say on the box! They are for single use and have a quality advantage over reusable ones, also removing the worries about usability. I know this may sound wasteful in these times of rising prices, but what cost do you apply for peace of mind when developing those precious negatives.

The advantages:

1. Fresh developer each time.
2. Ensures constant quality.
3. Consistant developing times.
4. No need to use replenisher.

In most cases these days most developers can be used as single shot, in the case of PMK Pyro and RO9 it is the only way.