We want to give you the best results to fulfil your creative vision. Here at Zone Imaging’s film processing lab for black and white film services, we offer 3 different developers to meet this need. Below are the developers that we use and their accompanying properties and attributes. Please note that we use 510 Pyro as the default developer if no preference is stated.

Rodinal

Rodinal, one of the oldest formulae on the market, enjoys a cult like following in the world of film development.

Able to handle almost any film whether traditional or the modern T-grain films, this developer is an all-rounder. It is famed for its high acutance, sharpness, its compensating effect and above all, the resulting coarse grain.

We offer Rodinal in two different dilutions: 1+25 or 1+50.

At 1+25, you can expect little compensation in the shadows occurring leading to higher contrast and more grain. At 1+50, more compensation happens allowing for controlling contrast much more effectively in negatives shot in normal or high contrast situations.

Please note that film with a manufacturer box speed rating of 400 or higher is not recommended unless you want GRITTY GRAIN GALORE!

Kodak D-76

The industry standard of film developers and a classic.

This gives a beautiful creamy gradation in tone especially in the older emulsions. D-76 also offers moderate fine grain, excellent shadow detail and normal contrast.

If tonality and/or a classic look is your top priority, this is your dream developer. A good genre that lends well to this developer is portraiture.

We offer D-76 at a dilution of 1+1 one shot for better highlight separation/detail and maximum quality every time. This developer is also available as a pushing developer. We use Grant Haist’s H variant to be more environmentally friendly.

510 Pyro

A modern award winning eco-friendly pyro developer manufactured and sold by us.

Pyro developers are renowned for their staining properties. This allows for fantastic unrivalled highlight separation in silver gelatine prints giving way to this developer being phenomenal for high key images.

Other advantages of 510 over most other developers is that it gives high acutance and very fine grain. The tanning property of pyro also helps to protect the film emulsion from damage.

This developer is a maximum sharpness and fine grain dream come true for the conventional ISO 25-200 and the TMAX and Delta films.