Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/06

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Subject: [Leica] Black and white -- point me in the right direction
From: "Derek Zeanah" <derek@zeanah.com>
Date: Sun, 6 May 2001 23:50:49 -0400

Broke away from B&W after losing my darkroom -- I've been using a lot of
color slide as you don't need a darkroom to produce the final images...

Anyway, I really miss B&W and I've found that B&W slides just aren't the
same.  I'm looking out there and seeing more options that I used to.  Used
to be, I'd shoot Delta 100 and HP5+ (depending on available light, pushing
HP5+ is necessary) and develop in XTOL.  It worked well -- I had one 30x40
printed from a Delta 100 neg that would blow your mind as it shouldn't have
been possible -- but I'm not entirely happy with the combination.

I'm looking for guidance.

Note though, that I'm spoiled by my Jobo CPE + lift, and I'm not giving it
up.  I also tend to develop at 75* F (and would prefer 80* F as it's hard to
keep the house that cold all the time in the new house).

So, what's worth looking at?  Is there anything that matches Delta 100 plus
XTOL 1:3?  This was always impractical in the Jobo due to the amount of XTOL
required per roll.  How is the DD-X people have been talking about this
week?

Are there any 400 speed films that compare favorably to HP5+?  100 Speed
films better than Delta 100?

I know these questions seem vague, but I'm about to order a pile of film
from B&W and spend an ungodly amount of time testing film + developer
combinations; I'd like to make sure I cover all the likely candidates.

Thanks.