Digitaltruth Photo

Decades ago I had a nice mercury thermometer, with graduations in both Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Better yet, it had graduation marks at 0.5 degree increments on the Fahrenheit scale.

Just because I hadn't used it in well over 10 years, I sold it off.

Now I'd like some recommendations for a reliable thermometer from you all to use when developing my B&W film. I'm moving on from Diafine and have read in books that temperature is critical for successfully developing film.

I buy scientific equipment for a research lab, but even the ones that are still too expensive to buy for personal use only claim +/- 2 degrees Centigrade. Not close enough for my purposes. That scale of inaccuracy implies a developing time difference of more than 60 seconds, even when using XTOL 1:1.

Most photographic stores should be able to supply you with a similar thermometer. The one`s sold by Paterson Photographic Ltd are fine.

With b/w film, being in the ballpark with your temp is fine. It doesn't have to be exact, but the closer you can get all chems to your desired temp, the better.

I've always had good luck with the cheap Kodak glass thermos.

dfbldwn wrote:Decades ago I had a nice mercury thermometer, with graduations in both Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Better yet, it had graduation marks at 0.5 degree increments on the Fahrenheit scale.

Just because I hadn't used it in well over 10 years, I sold it off.

Now I'd like some recommendations for a reliable thermometer from you all to use when developing my B&W film. I'm moving on from Diafine and have read in books that temperature is critical for successfully developing film.

I buy scientific equipment for a research lab, but even the ones that are still too expensive to buy for personal use only claim +/- 2 degrees Centigrade. Not close enough for my purposes. That scale of inaccuracy implies a developing time difference of more than 60 seconds, even when using XTOL 1:1.

The thermometer to have is the Kodak Process Thermometer. On e-bay they should be lots cheaper than new. One or two degrees off is common among the cheaper sort, and that is not good.

You guys are great. The three I most wanted to hear from.

Now, if only I could convince DIGITALTRUTH to sell me a single pack of Xtol, rather than the entire case, I could have a single source for all chemicals.

Meantime, thanks to you, I found what I wanted at B&H.

@Ornello: As soon as I start processing more than 12 to 24 rolls/year, I'll look into your suggestion. Meanwhile, B&H has a Paterson Color Thermometer with 0.25 (F) accuracy, graduated in 0.5 increments. That was enough for me in the early 1990s.

Thanks for your recommendations.

dfbldwn,

We sell Ktol, which is an Xtol clone, in single packs. If you want the Kodak original Xtol, we can sell you single packs but the price is slightly higher than the case pricing. Please just contact us via the Digitaltruth web site and we'll be happy to help.

I bought a Weston thermometer. It has a large, adjustable dial. Just stick it in ice water for 10 minutes and adjust the dial to 32 degrees F. It works very well.