[Leica] Film development ?

[benedenia at gmail.com (Marty Deveney)]

I live in the driest State in the driest inhabited continent on the
planet.  About 15%  of days per year my tapwater is outside the WHO
guidelines for drining water in one or more respects.  If I use it for
photography my Xtol stock retains activity for less than an hour
(iron), my negs get covered on spots (calcium carbonate), and I get
frustrated.  When i first moved here I filtered the tap water to 0.22
microns, but it didn't help.  Filtration removes particles, as Herb
points out, what id dissolved goes straight through.

I need to use deionised water to mix my Xtol, and for my final rinse,
or I get all sorts of trouble.

I used the same method Tim described to figure out a Photo-flo
concentration, and settled on 1:400 (half what Kodak recommends).  I
thought it would be unnecessary with distilled water, but you can get
faint marks from uneven drying which I would rather avoid - I always
seem to be developing my films when it's 40C+ and under 25% humidity.

Amusing that Plus-X and all 220 B&W film are gone now.

Marty