Home developing - ideas?

Hi All

I have a 35mm spiral developing tank. Looking at the chemicals available I see that there are many that have been around for years (Microphen etc). Does anyone know of one that suits just occasional use -I'm thinking of shelf life of any stock solutions made up. Ideally I'd like to use a concentrate and add just enough to process one B/W film. I have some very accurate volumetric measuring devices.

Ideas/suggestions for black and white film devloping chemicals would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Geoff

Agfa Rodinal is famous for it's keeping qualities. It is a very old formula and has remained virtually unchanged for over a hundred years!
Agfa went out of business a while ago, but Rodinal continues to be made by the company that bought the rights to agfa's chemical formulas. I think it is re-named RO9 Rodinal, now. I have used it many times. It produces very grainy negatives at low dilutions. Something I like, but you may not.
The keeping qualities are amazing, for a liquid developer. The bottle I have now is well over two years old and is still perfectly useable. If the contents of an opened bottle are decanted into smaller bottles and phials (as I do), It will last for many years.
Do a google search for Agfa Rodinal, and you will learn everything you need to know about it.

Powdered Developers, like Microphen and ID11 will keep for years in powder form, but once made up into stock solution, will go off very quickly.

Paterson Aculux, is another very good liquid developer.. Suitable for any film, it produces nice, smooth negatives with little grain. It is probably a good choice for a first time developer.

Take a look at www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk
They have a huge range of film, developers and equipment for traditional photography.

Aculux is an excellent all rounder and will produce beautiful gradation in the negatives. More recently I favoured FX-39 which makes for really compact and crisp grain. Very nice with Kodak Tri-X.

I use Ilfotec HC, mix up the quantities needed in conical flasks as required and therefore it keeps well in neat form.

As I'm using an Agfa Rondinax tank I only need 200ml of each chemical at a time, so keeping large volumes of them made up won't work.