Ilford recommendation of stock xtol for fp4+

[James Morris]

The Ilford data sheet for fp4+ only indicates times for stock xtol -- does anyone know why they don't give times for 1+1? Is there some reason why xtol is a poor choice for fp4?

I'd love to use dd-x, but it's insanely expensive here.

[jp]

Just see how the dilution changes times as a percentage for other films, make an estimate and give it a try. There's too many developer variations for a mfg to show them all.

[IanG]

It's going to be similar to the difference between Stock ID-11 and ID-11 at 1+1 so around the 11 minute mark at 20ºC

I think it's just that Ilford don't give every permutation with competitors developers and many people use Xtol replenished as that's the most efficient way to use it.

Ian

[Michael R]

I agree with Ian. The fact Ilford does not give times for XTOL 1+1 should not be taken to mean it isn't good. It's just not an exhaustive data sheet.

The Kodak data sheet for XTOL gives recommendations for FP4 at 1+1 which may help establish a starting point (link below). For what it's worth, I found 9:00-9:30 to work well for FP4 in XTOL 1+1 (20C, intermittent agitation). Of course it depends on your own preferences regarding contrast, your agitation scheme etc.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j109/j109.pdf

[rbultman]

Massive Dev chart

[IanG]

Massive Dev chart

Can be wildly unreliable, better to start with the Kodak Xtol time which is 10min for FP4 1+1 @ 20ºC at box speed.

Uan

[Sal Santamaura]

And in case anyone is interested, here's the original XTOL data sheet with times for higher dilutions and increased temperatures that should still be good, since Ilford films, unlike Kodak's, haven't changed much since 1998.

[James Morris]

Thanks, Sal. I only had the German pdf for higher dilutions.

Ok, so it looks like there's no specific reason not to use xtol for fp4 and I can just stick with the one developer for everything.