I primarily made this page for my own note taking regarding B&W 35mm film development at home. I have a separate page for C41 color development.

This section is for B&W development assuming a 300ml tank is used. My tank is actually 290ml for 1 roll of film but I rounded to add a margin of safety and to make the math easier. Values can be doubled to develop 2 rolls simultaneously.

When water is used, it is from a bottle stored in the same place as the chemicals to prevent temperature differentials.

• 15ml Ilford Ilfostop
• 285ml water

I've reused the working solution 10 times without issues.

• 60ml Ilford Rapid Fixer
• 240ml water

I've reused the working solution 10 times without issues.

• 60ml DD-X
• 240ml water

The datasheet recommends this ratio. I only adjust timings when developing using DD-X, and don't make ratio adjustments.

I have reused the DD-X working solution up to 4 times (and adjusted developing time by +10% after each reuse).

• 5ml Rodinal
• 495ml water

I read from others that it is not recommended to use less than 5ml of Rodinal while developing, so I increase the amount of water so I can maintain the 1:100 ratio while also achieving 5ml of concentrate.

This is what I generally use for semi-stand development (1 hour development, with a single inversion at 30 minutes).

I have increased this to 6ml Rodinal (494ml water) for some rolls when wanting some extra developing (approx. 1 stop pushed).

• 11.5ml Rodinal
• 288ml water

When I'm using Rodinal and don't want to use (semi-)stand developing. This is quicker (sub-10 minutes), timings are described below.

Temperatures refer to the working solutions in Celsius.

I never (deliberately) change my inversion method unless I am doing (semi-)stand development. I generally invert constantly (but slowly) for the first 45 seconds, then do 2 slow inversions every whole minute on the timer.

These are timings I have used with success, but they might not work for you. Always read the datasheet.

DD-X can be reused, but it may drop the quality on future usages. I've tried up to 4x reuse. Increase dev time by 10% per reuse.

I don't adjust the timings when doing semi-stand development. I do 2 inversions right after pouring in the developer then leave it. After 30 minutes I do a single very slow inversion and then leave for a further 30 minutes. Once the timer hits 1hr total, I discard the solution.

Timing isn't critical for this. I always leave the stop in for at least 30 seconds, inverting constantly (but not aggressively). I've left it standing for around 3 minutes after the inversions before with no noticeable change to the result.

Once the stop working solution is well-used (>5 uses), I start leaving it in for at least 60 seconds instead.

Timing isn't critical for this. I always leave the fixer in for at least 4 minutes, inverting constantly (but not aggressively) for 45 seconds, then inverting once per minute after that. I've left it standing after the inversions for around 5 minutes with no noticeable change to the result.

Once the fixer working solution is well-used (>5 uses), I start leaving it in for at least 5 minutes instead.

Here are some photos I have self-developed. Note that these are “social media” versions where the resolution has been lowered and the digital compression increased. Click an image to enlarge it.

All digital versions below are scans of the negatives using a Plustek 8200i at 3600DPI. Unless otherwise stated, the images have minimal post-processing.

These aren't necessarily my best shots, but are images which I think showcase the film nicely.

SSD = Semi-Stand Developed

Developer working solution used twice prior to this roll being developed.

Developer working solution used once prior to this roll being developed. Development time was not logged, but likely was around 5 minutes.

Developer working solution used once prior to this roll being developed. Development time was not logged, but likely was around 5 minutes. Dirt and scratches on negative.