Xtol or tried and true

[Neal Shields]

I am going to take a group shot of our photo club (see prior post). I am normally in the dark room once or twice a month so my skills are not honed to a fine edge.

I have been using what ever says film developer on the outside of the bottle and doesn't have too much of a crust on it. I mix it with tap water that doesn't have significant levels of visiable dirt floating in it.

About a month ago had some fairly new Ilford paper developer that wouldn't turn paper black in full sun. No big deal for printing but wouldn't have been too good for processing negatives on shots that you can't go back and reshoot.

Mainly I have been using Ilford film developer and Tmax roll film developer on sheet film. I process 4x5 sheet film in jobo drums with a motor base and 8x10 sheet film in trays with continious shuffling of the stack.

For this project, I am shooting TriX pro 320 and will develop one sheet at at time in trays.

From looking at Kodak's web site Xtol seems to be a no-brainer. However, from reading posts it seems to be the developer most lilkely to go wrong.

What do you guys use to process TriX and Tmax?

I have read that Xtol is more environmently friendly. However, I am not nearly as interested in using a developer that I can drink as making sure that I get the best sureist results.

At 55 I have done so many things that were supposed to kill me instantly that I am afraid I don't take some of these dangers as seriously as maybe I should.

We spilled a pint bottle of mercury on the lab floor in high school while the teacher was gone and swept it up with note book paper and put it back in the bottle. After we got finished the bottle was almost as full as it was when we started and Nathen's gold bar mitzvah ring was silver instead of gold.

[ronald moravec]

Grab whatever is handy, let it age exposed to air, develope for whatever time somebody on the web says, and be embarrased by screwing up your group pictures.

[Bruce Watson]

I personally use XTOL at 1:3 for my 4x5 Tri-X.

For the way you opperate, however, I suggest HC-110. Make up what you need, when you need it, direct from concentrate (don't bother making stock solution). When you are done, toss it out.

The concentrated syrup, as a syrup, apparently lasts for years on the shelf. HC-110, or any liquid concentrate developer should work for you. Of course, YMMV.

[Tom Westbrook]

Xtol 1:1 is my favorite developer with Tri-X--nice clean, snappy neg. Never had any problems with it, but I never used the old 1 liter package, either (not avail any more). If your tap water is crappy, mix it with distilled. Are you using the newer 320TXP emulsion? It would matter, since the new stuff seems to require shorter dev times.

Assuming the new emulsion, The Massive Dev Chart gives 8.5 @ 20C. In my Jobo I give it 7 1/2 min @20C (though a lot of people are using 7 min) for a normal contrast negative, so you might start with 7:30-8:30 min for one sheet at a time w/constant agitation in trays and see how that works. Maybe try some test exposures first before the big day.

For Tmax I use Tmas RS 1:9 @ 24C. Works quite nicely and helps with the (to me) flat mid-tones of that film.

I remember as kids you could buy mercury in little boxes at the dime store and we used to roll it around on the flour and play with it. I haven't detected any dain bramage at all.

[J. P. Mose]

To me, Rodinal is a no brainer and seems to be resistant to change. Case in point: My neighbor wanted to see how I develop film so she hung out with me in the darkroom while I developed some HP4 in Rodinal 1:50. By accident she dumped her Scotch and part of it landed in the tank opening half way through development (yes this really is a true story). The film wasn't important so I left it remain. Much to my surprise the images were good. I always got a good laugh out of this.

If this is an important shot, I would stick with what you know or experiment in advance so you can at least come down the curve a bit.

JP

[Neal Wydra]

Dear Neal,

Anyone who knows how to load sheet film onto Jobo reels and develops 8x10 sheets in trays must have enough experience to choose a proper developer for Tri-X. Why choose a new developer for a big new project? Choose one you know and experiment with new materials when the pressure is off.

As for Xtol, enough bunk. I have used it steadily for almost 5 years without a problem. As with the vast majority of photographic products, the incidence of product failure is insignificant compared with user failure.

Neal Wydra

[Nicholas T.]

Neal, it is really easy to make an excellent Vitamin C based developer with only that and Metol (or phenidone in solution) and Carbonate (insert favourite alkaline component here). The developer is extremely cheap and is mixed "one-shot". It is also fine grained and has an excellent tonal range. I don't have my notes here but can post any info here later on. Or else, if you want more info read the Vitamin C article on unblinkingeye.com by Patrick Gainer. That has everything needed to make these developers.

[John Kasaian]

JP

Scotch in the dark room? It sounds dangerous to me---your nieghbor could out out an eye with the swizzle stick!

[Ralph Barker]

Swizzle stick? A straw might be appropriate for gin, but never swizzle your scotch. ;-)

[Neal Shields]

For me it seems that every time I go to the local photo store to pick up a bottle of developer they don’t have what I brought the time before.

I was using Tmax roll film developer for sheet film because they didn’t stock the two-part replenishment solution. However, you have to scrub your film like a dish with caked on egg yolk to get the red slime off.

Then I went to an Ilford film/paper developer, which worked fine but was discontinued and replaced with separate film and paper formulations.

With the new formula I had some concentrate less than a month old go bad.

I am coming to the conclusion that I want to go to some tried and true powder that I can order mail order, and hoard in my freezer.

I got curious about Xtol because according to Kodak’s web site it seems to be the best of everything else in one formula.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/chemistry/bwFilmProcessing/selecting.jhtml