Chat with a lab tech in Portland made me question my developing temps

I was dropping off some rolls at Pro Photo in Portland last week and got to talking with the lab guy there. He mentioned he develops everything at 68 degrees even when the chemicals say 75 because he gets less grain. I've been religiously following the datasheets for 2 years and never thought to experiment. Has anyone else tried deviating from the recommended temps on purpose?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_perry10d ago

That "less grain" thing is interesting, I always thought you had to follow the temp exactly but now I'm wondering if I've been overthinking it.

rowan6669d ago

Is it worth trying to push the temp a bit higher too? Like if you're lowering the grain, you could crank up the heat a little to compensate for the missing solids and still get that same mouthfeel. I started doing 195 instead of 200 with less grain and it came out way cleaner without losing body. You gotta play around with steep times too though, like if you drop the temp you might need to let it sit a few minutes longer. It's all connected honestly, once you stop treating the numbers as strict rules it opens up a lot of room.