Super-XX

[SAShruby]

Folks,

I just won a 100 Sheets 4x5 Super-XX. Yes...Yes...Yessssssss...
But, now I'm wondering what developer would be the best to use. I can go with Pyrocad-HD from staining developers.

I think Michael and Paula use it and print on Lodima's[Azo] right? What else you guys would use?
Feedback much appreciated.

Cheers.

[Bruce Watson]

Super-XX is, IIRC, a super grainy film. Really really grainy. A 2x enlargement shows grain in the print level of grainy. So... I'd suggest a solvent developer instead of an acutance developer. I'm just sayin'.

[Drew Wiley]

I did fine with pyrogallol (PMK). Grain not obnoxious except maybe open skies or skintones, and very good acutance. Never tried it with pyrocatechol however.

[Gene McCluney]

Super XX is a beautiful film. You can develop it with about anything. I use HC-110b, but Michael and Paula use a Pyro-based developer.

[Deane Johnson]

Not in response to your question, but I think I remember Ansel writing that it was a thick emulsion film and very useful for water bath development. So that I don't mislead anybody into trying water as a developer, it was a process for drawing out the shadow detail in a highly contrasty scene.

[Turner Reich]

D76 1:1

[Pete Roody]

The last emulsion date for Super XX sheet film was around 1994. The film will probably have high FB + fog. Sandy King recommended ABC Pyro over Pyrocat for old Super XX on the Azo forum:

ABC 1:1:1:7 would definitely be my Pyro developer of choice for AZO
#2 and old Super-XX film. I would also recommend adding a small amount of
Benzotriazole to the developer. Experiment with a 1% Benzotriazole stock (1 gram of
Benzotriazole to 100ml of water), and test your film by adding between 1-10ml per
liter of this stock solution directly to your working developer. I am fairly certain that
you will find a point where the addition of Benzotrizole cuts B+f significantly without
reducing emulsion speed...just to clarify that the amount of Benzotriazole I recommended adding is calculated on the basis of one liter of working solution of the developer. In other words, test by adding between 1-10ml of a 1% Benzotriazole solution per liter of developer. I developed a couple of boxes of 12X20 Super-XX film a couple of years ago and the first sheets were developed in Pyrocat-HD 2:2:100. This gave me very high B+f...Sandy King

[SAShruby]

Thanks, this one was made in 1992.

[RPNugent]

Just wondering, aren't most of the developer suggestions for Super-XX based on plans to contact print? Not sure if that is your intent with 4x5 sheets and wonder how that affects the recommendations.

[Michael Kadillak]

I would not worry about fog. I recently saw some Super XX negs that Michael Smith developed in ABC that were so dense at the edges from fog that my first impression when looking at them over a light table was that they were unprintable. Boy was I ever wrong. The exposures were in the several minutes range over a 300 watt bulb on Azo grade 3 but they printed as marvelously as anything I had ever seen. This tells me that when you have a film curve that goes to the moon on a perfectly straight line like a rocket ship there are always a reason to be optimistic with this film.