Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/04/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Through extensive correspondence with fellow LuGer Mike Durling, I have concluded that I fuss too much. Typically, my best photos are taken without much care and processed in highly unadventurous ways, like Tri-X in divided D-76. But the urge to experiment grips me incessantly*. I've heard the story of the development/genesis of Xtol and am often amused that this developer experiences the same problem that it was commissioned to cure. The thing that particularly interested me, but I never got a satisfactory answer to, was why they used iso ascorbate and not some other form. Prints made from films developed in Xtol look different. Mark is right, Beutler's is close, but not the same. This is commercially available as Tetenal Neofin Blue. It's a nice developer. Probably the closest things are some of the homemade vitamin C developers Patrick Gainer described in Photo Techniques some time ago. They are an acceptable Xtol substitute, but they would be, wouldn't they? They suffer from the same water quality inconsistencies. All that stirring has got to help. I have also had perfect results from spotty developer, but then sometimes I've got spots when the soup was crystal clear. That was before I was a distilled water convert. Brief digression: 'distilled water' usually isn't. It is usually 'deionised' either with a resin filter or a reverse osmosis membrane and contains some residual dissolved ions. True distilled water has been boiled and recondensed and is very pure. of course there are other ways to get incredibly pure water, e.g. http://www.millipore.com/labwater/site.nsf/docs/systems which is a proprietary system that I have used extensively but do not know how it works. I am totally convinced that it does, though. End digression. Sulphite as a solvent is over-rated, I think. I tend to agree with Patrick Gainer and his experiments that he describes here: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003fiP I have repeated these and got similar results. I am still trying to work a way of properly controlling an experiment to test whether the solvent effect is increased by other developer components. I have always been fascinated by Dk-20, which David Vestal once mentioned made Super-XX look 'quite nice'. It contains thiocyanate, a _very strong_ silver solvent (i.e. a FIXER). I haven't quite got around to testing that one properly. Have all the chemicals, but time is short. A couple of final points on Xtol: yes, high quality water is a must, particularly if consistency is problematic. For those who like the one litre packages, Fomadon Excel is _exactly_ the same as Xtol and is available from Fotoimpex. >I'm lucky in Portland Oregon on my street the water is Xtol Friendly >all year round. You don't know how lucky you are Mark - I live in South Australia. Our tap water, at best, is 'interesting'. I don't like to mix it with my coffee, let alone film developers. Later, Marty *When I have some time I want to try some minimalist work. One camera, lens, film, developer, paper etc. Perhaps I can train myself not to fuss? _____________________________________________________________ Get your Free Global name@sharkattacks.com e-mail address at http://www.sharkattacks.com _____________________________________________________________ Select your own custom email address for FREE! Get you@yourchoice.com w/No Ads, 6MB, POP & more! http://www.everyone.net/selectmail?campaign=tag - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html