A few things I found working out well for me over the past 4-5 years.
Maybe this could help some new people out there.
All film/dev combos have been determined using distilled water at 20 degrees in Paterson tanks. Everything is based on min time for max black on Adox MCC110 fiber based paper in Dektol 1:2. (I don't print everything, for scans, I found that the development process is much less important)
- Delta 3200 shot at 3200 in Microphen stock for 20 mins. (The 9 mins recommended by Ilford result in very thin negatives for me)
- HP5+ shot at 800 in Microphen 1:1 for 15 mins.
- Tri-X shot at 500 in Microphen 1:1 for 11 min 30 sec.
- Anything that was shot on my Holga gets Rodinal 1:100 stand development. with 1 agitation at 30 mins. (Delta 3200, Tri-X, etc)
I shoot all B&W films with a yellow filter. Sometimes orange.
Film Development:
- I don't pre-soak my film
- I use citric acid stop bath for 30 sec.
- I fix in neutral fixer for 5 mins.
- Rinse film quickly after fixing
- Soak in HCA for 2 minutes (Fuji Quickwash)
- Wash film for 10 mins (continuous exchange of water)
- Fill tank with water and let stand for 30 mins to 1 hour
- Fuji Driwell 30 sec for film to reduce water spots (maybe a Japan only product)
Fiber Paper Development:
Adox MCC110
- Develop in Dektol 1:2 for 120 seconds constant agitation
- Citric Acid stop batch - I don't really time this
- Fix in Neutral Fixer for 60 seconds
- Let is sit in holding tray with flowing water
- HCA (Fuji Quick Wash) for 120 seconds
- Wash in flowing water for 15-30 mins
- Soak in Fuij AgGuard for 30 sec
- Hang on one corner with laundry clips to dry over night (5x7)
- Hang on two corners with laundry clip to dry over night (8x10 and up)
When you hang dry paper you eliminate local spots of water that I believe are responsible for a lot of the curling.
You will get small marks on the corners from the clips, but they don't bother me much.
I believe the AgGuard may play a large role in keeping the paper flat, too.
**Stand development:
worked well for a while. Using the min time for max black technique I got about 500-640 ISO out of Tri-X. The problem was inconsistency that I failed to notice for months. I know people swear by it, but it will surprise you one day. For Holga shots I don't care much. I can't control the exposure anyways, so I run that film through stand development and generally like the results a lot.