Three Films - One Monobath

I recently blogged about my first experience with Cinestill's Df96 Monobath (you can read that post here). In case you do not know, a monobath is a processing chemistry that combines developer, stop bath, and fixer into a single liquid. Such a processing workflow is important for me when I want to process black and white negatives at home in my small condo, where storage for chemistry and tools is limited. However, I didn't want to sacrifice image quality, so it also was important for me to find out which of the black and white films I shoot the most work best with monobath processing. To that end, I now have tested three emulsions and am ready to share some observations.

The three films I have tested with Cinestill Df96 Monobath are (in order of use):

1.  Ultrafine Extreme 100
2.  Kodak Tri-X 400
3.  Fomapan 100

All three were shot at box speed. The first two rolls were processed per Cinestill's instructions at 70ºF (sis minutes with "minimal" agitation). The Fomapan 100 was processed at 75ºF for four minutes with "intermittent" agitation. Now, you probably are thinking, "Wait a minute. Why didn't you process all three rolls the same way to get a true "controlled" experiment?" The reason I changed the workflow will be given below, but I must say that it was never my purpose to conduct a proper scientific experiment. Rather, I was striving to end up with good images, and after the first two rolls, I was ready to make a change.

Now to the results.

Ultrafine Extreme 100

I was very pleased generally with the results I got with the Ultrafine Extreme 100, but I was a bi surprised at the higher amount of contrast. I also go more grain than I usually get with this film and Kodak D-76 1:1. Nevertheless less, it was a start, and I now knew that the monobath had big possibilities for use in small living spaces.

Kodak Tri-X 400

Since returning to film photography in the spring of 2017, I probably have shot more Tri-X 400 than any other black and white film. I think that Tri-X 400 and D-76 1:1 are a match made in heaven. Of course, you always will get a little grain with Tri-X, but that's one of the reasons I shoot film. It's that look. The film just glows with light. So, I was anxious to see what it would look like in the monobath. The answer? No bad at all. Quite good, actually. I got several "keepers from this roll. Again, there was a bit more grain than with D-76 1:1, and the contrast was high as well. But negatives looked great and the scans were very exciting to me. I made a number of prints from this roll and sent them out with my Christmas cards.

Fomapan 100

Before I processed this third roll, I sought some advice from an online friend who had posted some photographs he had processed with the Cinestill monobath that had impressed me very much. He had processed his film at 75ºF, the middle of the three recommended temperatures (the highest being 80ºF), so I gave that a try with this roll of Fomapan 100. As stated above, Cinestill recommends 4 minutes with "intermittent" agitation for 75ºF. The results? While I can't claim scientific certainty because I didn't keep the workflow the same as the first two rolls, the scans looked really good - less contrast and almost no grain. In fact, this roll of Fomapan 100 looked better than any I had done previously in D-76.

Conclusions

The first takeaway for me (as stated in my previous post) is the Cinestill Df96 Monobath is a legitimate option for film developing and remains the perfect small living space chemistry when developing black and white film shot at box speed. I do not have any experience in pushing or pulling with Df96, but I will be testing this in the future. Nevertheless, if you have hesitated in trying out a monobath developer thinking that you might be sacrificing quality, I would urge you to give it a try. Simply put, it works great for me.

A second takeaway is that, from now on, I will be using Df96 at 75ºF for four minutes. Although I haven't tried the highest recommended temperature (80ºF) yet and probably shouldn't draw conclusions until I do, I really liked the results I got with the Fomapan 100 at 75ºF.

In fact, my third takeaway is that, thanks to Df96, Fomapan 100 may now be my favorite medium speed black and white film. Previously, I have used Ultrafine Extreme 100 because it is quite inexpensive and looks pretty good. But the Fomapan 100 in Df96 looked great, as least to my eyes. Moreover, I have in my refrigerator several rolls of Kosmo Foto Mono 100, which is rebranded Fomapan 100 from Stephen Dowling in the UK. I like what he is doing with the packaging and marketing, and his efforts (I think) have helped increase the interest in shooting film. Thanks to Df96, there is going to be a lot more of this film in my cameras this year.

Lastly, I still have a lot of testing to do. First, the Ultrafine Extreme 100 and the Tri-X 400 have to be tested at 75ºF. Next, I will try pushing film - something I like to do with Tri-X particularly. Finally, I will see just how far I can take a single liter bottle of Df96 before the quality begins to decline. After that, I am planning to give the FPP Super Monobath from the Film Photography Store a try. It comes as a pre-mixed liquid, so you don't have to mix it up yourself (Cinestill also sells their Df96 Monobath in pre-mixed liquid form).

Happy Shooting!