Here's a slightly different tack on the "what's going on with my XTOL" threads.
Initial Zone I, V, and VIII exposures developed in a 1:1 dilution showed a reali zed EI of 400, but with densities of V and VIII ~0.1D and 0.3D+ too high, respec tively (measured on the cheap with a Pentax spotmeter in what should be a fairly linear region for the meter).
I repeated the Zone I, V, and VIII exposures, but added exposures up through Zon e XII for laughs. Reduction in development time by about 15% still gave Zone I density of ~0.1D above fb-f (measured to the effective 0.1D resolution of the sp otmeter), still too high contrast up through about Zone VIII, then a profound fl attening of the curve through Zone XII, with the higher zones increasing in step s of about 0.1D.
Did I just cut off development early enough that the higher zones didn't get eno ugh development time? Shouldn't some extremely high zone placing still reach D-m ax? Could it just be too frequent agitation combined with too short development time? I believe my procedure is repeatable, I'm using enough stock developer, I' m agitating every 30 sec. with a several minute presoak, and no, I haven't tried distilled water yet.
Thanks,
Rick
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