Re: [Leica] Tri-X/D-23

[Mark Rabiner <mark@rabiner.cncoffice.com>]

Rich Lahrson wrote:
> 
> Michael Darnton wrote:
> > My current opinion (I'm just getting back into it again, so everything's
> > subject to change) is 72 degrees, 8 minutes. My D-23 formula is 2 teaspoons
> > of Elon, 4 tablespoons of Sodium Sulfite, and 1 quart of water.
> 
> Hi Michael,
> 
>      I use D-23 for everything.  I have an Ohaus triple beam I'm going to
> sell on eBay as it just gathers dust.  My times are very similar to yours.
> 
>                                         Cheers,
> 
>                                                                 Rich

100 gramas of sulfite per liter for 35mm negs is too much!
That's the same as D76 Straight if you've ever seen that grain. Most people like
that 1:1.
1:1 gives you 50 grams per liter which is enough to not melt down the silver in
your negs too much and plate them right back onto your highlights and give you a
double grain pattern. Sodium Sulfite is silver solvent. I prefer a "classic" 30
grams per liter as you get nice edge effects and very little silver etching. But
D23 is 7.5 grams of Elon and a third of this may not be enough.
My D23 would be 3 grams of Elon with 30 of Sulfite per liter. I ran quite a lot
of film with this formula measuring out the stuff volumetrically. I forgot which
"spoons" worked out for me but I use to take a liter of 70 degree weather and
add a spoon of sulfite that was attached to the sulfite and a much smaller spoon
of Elon which was attached to my Elon give it a stir and pour it in my
development tank.
Agitation the first full minute would stir it up some more. After 10 minutes
there were not many chunks left. I did this for years and although it sounds
crude my negs were seldom less than smooth and even and very printable. Didn't
shoot much Tri x though i shot plus x and Panatomic.
Mark Rabiner
Edge effects are actually controlled by how much Elon you have in you formula.
Less Elon will give you more mackee lines and a sharper appearing image. But you
can end up with a white line inside your black border if you do those.