Originally Posted by Robert Budding
i did film tests with it .. many 35mm rolls and lots of 4x5 sheets.
xtol just didn't give me "crisp negative" i was looking for ...
before i used xtol i had been using tmax rs, sprint,
gaf universal and dk-50 and i was used to the results they had been
giving me. i didn't just use xtol for a few weeks, but a few years ...
i guess "thin film" was a little extreme .. the film just lacked
what i was used to when i used the other developers.
If you really want to know about Xtol, I'd suggest contacting Jeff Cox at Cox Custom B&W lab. Jeff has standardized on Xtol in his lab and he use's Gordon Hutchings PMK formula as well. customerservice@coxphotolab.com
They also have a facebook page if you're interested.
Replenished XTOL produces better results than fresh XTOL. This is something that is entirely missed by using one shot chemistry.
If I was using fresh stock XTOL, the development time would be 8 minutes.
Steve
Nothing beats a great piece of glass!
I leave the digital work for the urologists and proctologists.
This is true, D76/ID-11 behave the same, it's how they were designed to be used originally.
Once seasoned a replenished developer like Xtol gives the best all around performance in terms of film speed, finest grain, as well as sharpness & tonality.
It's forgotten that up until more recent years replenishment was the norm for B&W film processing, only small scale amateur users would use one shot and at the various dilutions.
Xtol is unique in that the replenisher is fresh developer which makes replenishment on a smaller scale extremely viable, just split in two halves one the stock the rest for replenisher.
I began replenishing developers in my mid teens and continued for 40 years it's just so easy & reliable.
Ian
Well, I guess you might say that, though I would have expected a better solution. Instead of finding out what was wrong with the one liter packages and trying to fix it, they simply discontinued them. Not exactly the most clever way of solving the problem, is it?When? Back in the early days of XTOL? If so that problem has been taken care of.
Replenish
Interesting comments about replenishing. I've used it 1:1 but would like to try replenishment, for 4x5 or 8x10 in Jobo 3005 / 3010. The data sheet says add 70ml per roll developed. If one uses 1L of developer, maybe 20ml will get lost in processing. How does one add 70ml, just throw over board excess old developer? The replenish developer would be stored in a 1L bottle.
About how many 'rolls' does it take to 'age' the developer from fresh batch?
_ .. --
TiM
Yes Xtol is replenished on a bleed system you have to add fresh dev as replenisher top up and discard the excess. I'd suggest a larger bottle 2 or 2.5 litres will give far better consistency.
About 5 films (120/35mm or 20 sheets of 5x4) in 2.5 litres begins to season the dev, by 10 it's well seasoned.
Kodak solved the issues with the 1 litre packaging and continued to manufacture them later discontinuing them.
Ian
I attended a workshop and one evening our fearless leader provided the Pyro and managed our use of same.
As he was showing me how to mix my batch of the Pyro right before use he said "careful with this one, it's the one that can kill you".
Never heard that said about Xtol.
You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. ~ Mark Twain
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the details and advice.
Best Regards,
Tim
Xtol is excellent. The only problem I've found is that when using it 1:1 it threw me off a little when calculating the times for N-3 up to N+2. Normally a spread of times can go from 3-4 mins to 12 or more, for say D-23. Xtol's spread was from 6 to 8 mins. Any time over 8 mins yielded what I called "grain explosion" which blew away the grain. There is definitely a "too much" time.
However, within the limits it yielded the best grain of all the non-Pyro developers we tested.
Lenny
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