Need feedback on my film tests (long!)

[Øyvind Dahle]

I think your line would look different the next time, and you would not find a reason for it, ever :-)

What I am missing is zone 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 until to you reach the shoulder or the limits of your scanner. I know, I would be glad to know them. If you can use 12 or 13 stops, this should be your N-2 to N+2 development time for scanning! And this is the reason why people buy a Kodak step tablet for this purpose, IMHO: You have to test both the film and the lens in the same eksposure to get valid results. If your lens has to much glare, you won't get over xx steps.

Øyvind

[tim atherton]

I've just started using Ilford DDX with HP5. It never really shone for me with HC110 - they just didn't seem to go together. I'd agree about the Xtol too (although HP5 + Xtol + rotary didn't get on for me either - okay in trays). I'm really getting to like the DD-X

[Larry Gebhardt]

Jeff, you mentioned that it was getting expensive. I also use my scanner as a densitometer, but I do the whole test on one sheet of film with a step wedge. Just contact print expose this under an enlerger for .5 seconds and develop. This way you can do 6 sheets, develop them all at different times and get different curves. I then plot them in Excel and can calculate the gamma for each curve. From there you can plot the gamma vs dev time and get an optimal dev time for your printing. I then shoot a few sheets at different speeds of a zone 1 gray card. From this I can get the speed for the planned development time. If I don't screw up any of the times I can get a film test done in about 10 sheets. Send me an email if you want the Excel spread sheet.

Also, the one odd thing I noticed about your curves is they don't really show a toe region.