Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Christer Almqvist wrote: > > With thanks to all those who offered me info on the Camera Art article on > Xtol, here is another opinion: > > Subject: > Delta 3200 development. ><snip> > I am a freelance photographer who has been testing Delta 3200 for > Ilford > > (does that mean that his opinion is biased?) > > for the past 12 months. I have exposed it from 200 ISO to 25000 > ISO during that time. In my opinion the best developer for reduced > grain is Ilford's own Ilftec DD X which is now available.><snip> > For those who prefer chrisp sharp grain try developing 3200 Delta in > Rodinal 1 to 25 at 22 degrees C for 15 to 20 minutes. > > -- > christer almqvist Roger Hicks says a lot of interesting Things about DDX and Delta 3200 in the July Shutterbug I just brought home today. Although apparently marketed as an Ilford developer for the Ilford Delta 3200 film it can be used well on other films. A lot of this has come out of photographers new predisposition to use warmer developing temperatures. (75 degrees) No mention of Ascorbic Acid but an improved Phenidone is the main culprit. Mr. Hick's examples are interesting presented as photographs taken with an Alpa 12 SWA with a 35mm Rodenstock Apo-Grandagon on 6 by 9 HP5!!!!!!!!! Another with an Alpa SW with a 38mm Biogon on 44x66 format!!!!!!!! He likes the Delta 3200 over the Tmax (better gradation) and gets better results at 3200 than with Fuji 1600 at 1600 which is none the less priced right. But what we need to see is a direct comparison between Xtol and DDX using Delta 3200 and other films. Ilford seems to have come out with the concentrated liquid DDX to get around people using Kodak (of all companies!) Xtol on their top rated and placed: Delta 3200. Xtol however has not only Ascorbic acid derivatives but improved Phenidone as well. So my money is on the Kodak Xtol in the race for the developer to steal our chemically stained hearts. The whole darkroom film thing is all of a sudden under rapid and continuous agitation! For years the whole thing was sitting in a clear water bath with the lights off. I'm excited! I'm running some film! Mark Rabiner I still have my little bright orange Rodinal bottle ready on the shelf for those extra crispy occasions!