At the risk of stepping into, as an unbeliever, what might be a religious war
, I find that in all but
the most extreme high contrast situations, Tmax 400 developed in D-23 1:4 with reduced agitation gives very
nicely printable negatives on Ilford MG Warmtone. Under these conditions I back the ISO down a half-stop
or so (and I'm one of those who like to place "open shadows" on Zone IV). MGW is so soft in my experience that
I had to goose up my film development times considerably compared to MG Classic.
I don't know, but I can imagine that that dilution of D-23 might cause the Tmax 400 to develop a significant
toe that requires the extra exposure. In any event it's not a big issue because I'm not photographing moving
subjects most of the time anyway.
When things get really nuts (e.g., at the seashore with wet sand), WD2H yields easily printable negatives at
the cost of one full stop of effective film speed. Low tone separation is excellent and highlights are perfectly
tractable.
I mostly use D-23 because it's so much easier (no need to mix things at the last minute), but I always have
the pyro mixed up and ready just in case. Sometimes I make two negatives and try different development on
each one. I own a densitometer but I've never bothered to use it. I employ just the little bit of science I need
to accomplish the art that I'm interested in.
There are many paths to the goal (good prints of good pictures, in my case), so the usual disclaimers apply
to my practice.
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