Darkroom Chemicals

Darkroom Chemicals

Even with the ubiquity of digital photography, plenty of film photographers are still developing their own film and photographic prints at home. If you have a home darkroom or intend to set one up, you’ll need to invest in a few crucial chemicals to get started.

Home Film Developing

Building a darkroom and working with the related chemicals may sound daunting if you’re new to film developing. In actuality, developing film is as easy as following a recipe.

Before you begin to select the right equipment and chemicals, it's important to decide if you want to develop black-and-white film, color film, or both.

Black-and-White Photography Darkroom Chemicals

Black-and-white film developing is the most common type of home darkroom development. The process tends to be fairly straightforward and predictable once you get the hang of it.

The three most important chemicals for developing black-and-white film are Developer, Fixer, and Stop Bath. Other helpful chemicals are Wetting Agent for avoiding water spots on your negatives, and Wash Aid for fully cleaning chemicals like Fixer off your negatives.

If you plan to develop paper prints, too, you’ll need to stock up on Paper Developer.

Color Photography Darkroom Chemicals

Color developing is a bit more complicated than black-and-white developing. Many color film and print developers prefer to buy the necessary darkroom chemicals in kits to ensure compatibility with their chosen type of color film and print paper. 

Kits and Bundles

If you’ve been developing in a darkroom for a while and know exactly what you need, it's easy to purchase larger quantities of your favorite darkroom chemicals individually.

If darkroom developing is a new pursuit for you, then buying chemicals in a kit is a simple and convenient way to get started. Just choose a kit designed for film or print, color, or black-and-white, and you’re ready to go.

Top Brands for Darkroom Chemicals

Darkroom developing is a highly specific market with a few key established brands. Selecting darkroom chemicals by top brands like Ilford, Adox, Bergger, Kodak, Photographers’ Formulary, and Sprint will help you ensure that the chemicals perform and behave exactly as intended every time you turn on the safety light and get to work.

Adorama prioritizes high-quality darkroom equipment and chemicals, so you can feel confident investing in reliable supplies from these and other great brands.