XTOL + Pre-Soak: What gives?

[Filmnut]

I use XTOL and don't presoak. I generally shoot Acros, TMY and Ilford films, and have never had any issues.
Keith

[Hector.Navarro]

I use replenished xtol and presoak all my film for 2minutes. Dip & Dunk btw.

[Allen in Montreal]

Sal, I got the Ilford half right, not bad these days!
Thanks for the links.

No, Ilford recommends against a presoak for all its conventional (i.e. non-C-41) films. See the introduction to "DEVELOPMENT TIMES" in each of these:

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/...1111491224.pdf
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/...2125850702.pdf
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/...1054152313.pdf
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/...8953322222.pdf
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/201071394723115.pdf
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/...1120582708.pdf

[Michael Alpert]

No I don't. I use XTOL to develop 5x4 TMY-2 in a 3010 tank on a CPP-2.

Years ago I exchanged a few emails with Dick Dickerson and Silvia Zawadzki, the chemists who invented XTOL at Kodak. They said that their R&D was done primarily with continuous development in Jobo rotary tanks, that they didn't use or recommend a presoak, and that the published development times for XTOL and rotary development assumed no presoak.

OTOH, they didn't say that a presoak would harm anything.

I suspect it doesn't really matter all that much -- as long as your development workflow remains consistent.

I think Bruce's conclusion is correct: if you are consistent in your practice, you'll be fine either way. I don't presoak, I follow the instructions in Jobo's manual, and I've never had any uneven development.

[Renato Tonelli]

It's somewhat reassuring that i was not hallucinating. Thank you for all your responses insights and links.