My D-76 has bought the farm, so to speak, so I thought this might be the time to experiment. Any suggestions or tips?
My D-76 has bought the farm, so to speak, so I thought this might be the time to experiment. Any suggestions or tips?
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Pyrocat HD in glycol. Inexpensive & long-lasting. Great developer for both HP5 & FP4.
I'd suggest a staining developer too just for fun.
I picked up some WD2D+ it's easy to use and the negatives have been really easy to print in the enlarger.
You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. ~ Mark Twain
Just out of curiosity, what's the issue with your D76? Is this developer you mixed yourself? Is availability being affected with Kodak's bankruptsy?
A great choice for many films.Originally Posted by Greg Y
I too am a fan of the Pyrocats. Xtol is also a very good developer.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
The batch I have is old and expired because its taken me so long to get back into my dark room for a printing session.Outside of that, D-76 is my developer of choice. Since TMY is out of my league I've been using HP-5+ as my fast film and I've heard XYTOL is good for wringing the last bit of speed out of film so that is the reaon for my question. I'd love to try pyro but that chem don't
jive with a certain health issue I've been blessed with.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
I used xtol for about a year and tried everything, I just could not get it to look the way that i wanted. The tones were not too good, way too much mid for me. The main killer was the mushy grain. I am now to hc-110 and d76. I like both of them much more.
You'll love Xtol with both those films.
HP5 at 320, 16 minutes in Xtol 1:3
FP4 at 100, 12 minutes in Xtol 1:3
Mix the powder with distilled water, following the directions to dissolve part A completely before adding part B.
Don't rush it.
I also use distilled water to dilute the developer just before use.
Be sure to use at least 100ml of stock developer per 80 sq. in. of film.
I use 125ml because I have lots of little 125ml bottles that I keep full to the top with Xtol.
I consider each bottle a dose of developer for one roll of 35 or 120 or 4 sheets of 4X5.
Some years ago on the job we carefully tested XTOL 1:1 as a replacement for D-76 1:1 (in a particular technical application shooting TMX). We found that XTOL 1:1 was a little sharper and offered a lovely linear tonal scale. it was a small but worthwhile improvement. I started using it for my 35mm Tri-X as well, and have not looked back.
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