Black and White Film Developers Explained: D-76, HC-110, Rodinal, Xtol and More

The developer you choose changes the grain, sharpness, tonality and effective speed of your black and white negatives. There are dozens available, but they fall into a few families, and a handful of classics will cover almost any film. Here is how to make sense of them.

What a developer contains

A black and white developer has a few basic ingredients: one or more developing agents, such as metol, hydroquinone, phenidone or ascorbic acid; an alkali to activate them; a preservative, usually sodium sulfite, to stop them oxidizing; and a restrainer to limit fog. The balance between these gives each developer its character.

Families of developers

General purpose and fine grain

Developers with a lot of sodium sulfite dissolve the edges of silver grains slightly as they develop, giving finer, smoother grain at a small cost in sharpness. Kodak D-76, and its near-twin Ilford ID-11, is the benchmark: full film speed, moderate grain, beautiful tonality. Kodak Xtol is similar but based on ascorbic acid, with slightly finer grain and a little more speed.

High acutance

Dilute developers with little solvent action produce sharp grain and crisp edges between tones, called acutance, because developer exhausts at boundaries and creates edge effects. Rodinal is the classic, first sold in 1891 and still made: a liquid concentrate used at 1:25 or 1:50, and at 1:100 for stand development. It shows grain clearly, which suits slow films and medium format well.

Liquid concentrates

Kodak HC-110 is a syrup with a very long shelf life, diluted for each use. Its dilution B, 1:31 from concentrate, is a standard. It is economical, consistent and works with nearly every film. Ilford Ilfotec HC is similar.

Speed-enhancing developers

Developers such as Kodak T-Max Developer, Ilford DD-X and Microphen give a little extra shadow speed and are favored for push processing.

Staining developers

Pyro developers such as PMK and Pyrocat-HD form a colored stain alongside the silver, proportional to density. The stain adds printing density in highlights, helping them hold detail, and masks grain. They are popular with large format photographers but are more toxic than most developers.

Two-bath and compensating developers

Two-bath developers like Diafine split the developing agent and alkali into separate baths, so development stops when the absorbed developer exhausts. They compress contrast and are largely insensitive to time and temperature.

Monobaths and home-made developers

A monobath, such as Cinestill Df96, develops and fixes in one solution, trading control for convenience. Caffenol uses instant coffee, washing soda and vitamin C, and works surprisingly well.

Stock, dilution and one-shot

Powder developers like D-76 are mixed into a stock solution. You can use stock undiluted and reuse it with time increases, or dilute it 1:1 and use it once, one-shot, then discard. Dilute one-shot use gives more consistent results, slightly more sharpness and slightly more grain. Dilution is written as a ratio: 1:1 means one part stock to one part water; 1:31 means one part concentrate to 31 parts water. Make sure each roll gets enough developer: many developers specify a minimum volume of stock per roll.

Choosing a developer

If you want	Try
A versatile standard for any film	D-76 / ID-11, or Xtol
Long shelf life and low cost	HC-110 or Rodinal
Maximum sharpness, visible grain	Rodinal
Pushing fast film	T-Max Developer, DD-X, Microphen
Taming contrast in harsh light	Dilute developers, two-bath, stand development
Simplicity above all	A monobath

Pick one developer and learn it with one or two films before changing. Most differences between developers are smaller than the difference consistent technique makes. To see results from each developer, browse photos on the developer pages.