Xtol 1:3 in a Jobo 3006

[Ed Richards]

Hi,

I am about to try Xtol 1:3 in a Jobo 3006 for 6 sheets of 4x5. How much do I need? I am using it one shot but I am concerned about having enough to complete the development, but not much extra because of the weight when you get over 500 ml.

[Paul Butzi]

I use XTOL 1+3 in a Jobo 3010 drum (like the 3006 but ten sheets instead of six).

I use 1000ml of solution. It seems to work fine.

I would guess that you'd be fine with 600ml.

If you're concerned, I imagine it would work fine to dump in half the developer (as long as that's more than the 210ml minimum), run it for half the time, then dump in the other half and finish it out. Barry Sherman used to do that with pyro developers, which oxidized rapidly, and he highly recommended it.

[Stan. Laurenson-Batten]

Hello Ed.

I have never used Xtol in my Jobo Cpp2 and Expert drums, but do use one shot developers such as Aculux2, T-Max RS (Sheet) T-Max (Roll), Rodinal and D76/Id11. Your Expert 3006 will be fully loaded with six sheets of4x5.

The instruction for your tank advise that the minimum of solution is 210ml. However, for B&W film development it is prudent to go well above the specified to give a good coverage. I have found that for B&W film development about double the solution for that of colour processing.

For each sheet of 5X4 allow at least 50ml of solution so, for a fully loaded tank you will need at least 250ml, max 1000ml. I do not use less than 300ml regardless of the type of one shot developer, or when using less than he full tank film capacity, but my dilution varies depending on contrast of 1:9 to 1:14.

The Expert drums are very ecconomical and lend themselves very to extreem dilutions so solution capacity/ecconomy is never a problem. However, as with most processes experimenting is the key to success. Good luck. Stan.

[Sal Santamaura]

Per Kodak, 100 ml Xtol stock minimum per 80 square inches of film. Therefore, with 6 sheets (120 square inches) of 4x5, 100 ml x 120/80 x 4 = 600 ml of Xtol working solution (diluted 1:3). I've used up to 1,000 ml of fluid in a 3006 on a CPA-2 with the newer motor and had no problems, so 600 ml will rotate just fine.

[Paul Butzi]

As I said, I use XTOL diluted 1+3.

The reason I use it diluted have nothing to do with economy, nor with 'stretching it to it's limit'.

It's just that a 1+3 dilution yields substantially different (and, for my purposes and according to my testing, substantially superior) results.

At one point (before Kodak stopped publishing times for 1+3 dilutions), the recommendation for capacity for XTOL was 100ml of stock for each 80 square inches of film.

Your 3006 drum holds six sheets, or 120 square inches of film. Using the 100ml/80sqin recommendation, you'd need to have 150ml of stock solution in the drum to not exceed capacity.

At a 1+3 dilution, that works out to 600ml of diluted developer.

Just make sure the developer is fresh.

[Tom Westbrook]

My formula for processing in a CPP-2 is 50ml of stock solution per 4x5 sheet. That's double the recommendation from Kodak, but I like some insurance. For 1:3 that's 200ml of dilute developer per sheet, minimum. So I would only put 5 sheets in the 3006 and use a liter of dilute developer. The machine will handle a liter fine, if you have the newer motor they introduced to handle the expert drums.

[Ed Richards]

> Just make sure the developer is fresh.

I have a 2 gallon tank with a floating lid for the stock solution from the five liter pack. I am hoping that will be good for a couple of months. Any thoughts?

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

It's just that a 1+3 dilution yields substantially different

Could you elaborate? I was thinking of doing my testing with 1+1 and Tmx 400, but would like to know what kind of differences you are seeing, I might want to go that route.

[Henry Ambrose]

Ed,

You've got plenty of good advice so far but I'll add that if you are using TMax films to go a bit beyond the minimum stock amounts, maybe 125ml per 80 square inches. (200ml Xtol : 600ml water in your case) Or take Tom's advice and go for a full liter of working solution - 250+750. Old style films you are OK at 100ml stock per 80 square inches. In any event developer is cheap so use plenty. My CPE2 could turn 600ml so I suspect your bigger machine will do just fine.

You're gonna like this ; >)

[Paul Butzi]

Jorge, Michael-

I did a fairly informal comparison of TMX in TMax-RS, XTOL at two differentdilutions (1+0, 1+3), and a catechol-based two part developer, all as part of a hybrid film/digital process. That is, the focus was on scanning the negatives, not on optical enlargement nor on silver or other process.

In that informal comparison, the catechol based developer came out on top, with XTOL 1+3 being a very close second. Following that, the straight Xtol , and then falling far short of the results from the other three came the Tmax-RS. The difference between XTOL 1+0 and 1+3 was fairly significant.

Right now I'm in the process of doing a much more controlled test, which I'm hoping to have done by the end of the month.

Since I'm only interested in this as part of a hybrid film/digital process, I'm not too concerned about tonal distribution, but instead worry mostly about grain, noise, and rendition of detail post sharpening when contrast is adjusted to be optimum for scanning.

[Henry Friedman]

Regarding the keeping qualities; I divide the 5L of stock solution into one liter bottles filled to the brim. I've had no problems with XTol stored for up to six months in this manner.

[Ed Richards]

> My CPE2 could turn 600ml so I suspect your bigger machine will do just fine.

I use a modified Bessler base so I am sticking to 600 ml. I am following Paul's lead on this, in that I scan and then handle everything digitally. My interest is controlling grain and limiting dmax, not generating a silver printable negative. I have had pretty good luck with Tmax RS, but want to try Xtol.

> I divide the 5L of stock solution into one liter bottles filled to the brim.

The floating lid tank should have the same effect, give or take a little.

[Stan. Laurenson-Batten]

Jobo Expert Drums:

An update by Jobo for their Expert Drums 3004/5:

The minimum fluid had been increased from 210ml to 330ml.

So, I would still double their minimum.