Originally Posted by
Oren Grad
With apologies if you already know this, but Tri-X sheet film is not the same emulsion as Tri-X roll film - they are entirely different products. Tri-X roll film developed in D-76 1+1 has a long, gentle shoulder that makes it relatively easy to achieve "full information" negatives that print easily. Tri-X sheet film, on the other hand, generally delivers a steeper highlight curve that's harder to handle. You will likely need to adjust your exposure and development habits, and possibly your choice of paper as well, to get prints that you are happy with.
Although Tri-X is my favorite roll film, I settled on HP5 Plus as my standard sheet film. It too is different from Tri-X roll film, but I found it more forgiving and closer to my taste than Tri-X sheet film. YMMV.
I generally use a Sekonic L-308 incident meter, take a reading in my own shadow, and err on the side of exposing generously. I don't tailor development for individual sheets - I use a standard time for everything, just as I do with roll film. If you do want to tailor development on a sheet-by-sheet basis, I'd second the recommendation to look at the incident metering technique described in Phil Davis's Beyond the Zone System book.
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