Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Could you please be so kind as to point me out, which is the best > developer/dilution/temperature/time as for your darkroom experiences - be > it the nominal 400ASA or pushing it to 800ASA? I recently tried Xtol 1:1, which is very good, as are D23 1:1 and D76 1:1, but having tried everything I still can't do better than my strange divided process... D76 stock 3 mins (nominal -- I actually use 2 mins with fresh, going up to 4 or even 6 minutes as the dev becomes exhausted, varying according to exposure and lighting conditions). Kodalk 2% 3-4 minutes. This will give you a loooong tonal scale and good results over a wide variety of exposures, always making the most of shadow detail but without blocking up the highlights. Grain varies according to the exhaustion of the developer, going almost grainless - stunning - just before it dies completely. Adding a few ml of the exhausted solution to the fresh stuff 'seasons' it, reducing the grain and contrast of the new dev to what to me are less scary proportions. This combination is temperature-independent within reasonable limits. Agitation is 30s + 5s/30s in the first bath, and optional in the second bath, though I would advise 5s/30s. I rate Tri-X @ 320 for this process, but I am a stickler for shadow detail. You could probably rate it anywhere between 200-800 and get normal looking negatives. I would say, it is as near to a foolproof process as it gets, but as we all know there are some very ingenious fools out there. You know who you are. - -- Johnny Deadman "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug" - Mark Twain