Re: [Leica] Ilford film reliability

["Sonny Carter" <sonc@sonc.com>]

Dilute New Orleans tap water 1:1 with  Dixie Beer and it makes a fine grain,
(except for the chunks) two-stop push developer for All Illford products.

Regards,
SonC

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "onetreehillclw" <onetreehillclw@compaq.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 9:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Ilford film reliability


> Been using Ilford film(XP2,HP5,FP4, Delta), paper(Multigrade double
> weight),developer(DD-X. ID-11), stop bath(doesn't stink,like Kodak's!),
> contrast filters,etc... for years. Never any problems here. And that's
using
> good old New Orleans water in the mix! I don't care for the way Kodak
> markets their products. I'll stick with the Brits.
>
> Chris Williams
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <ShadCat11@aol.com>
> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 1:34 PM
> Subject: [Leica] Ilford film reliability
>
>
> > I go through a cycles, periodically, in which I am seduced by reports of
> > superior performance by one Ilford product or another, so I try some,
find
> > it's all true, and take up with the Brit until the weirdness begins.
> After a
> > hiatus of some years, I got into Ilford again, only to get bit in the
ass
> > once more.
> >
> > Lately I have been using lots of Delta 400 in 35mm and 120.  Great film,
> all
> > it's reported to be.  Just as I started to get happy, my Ilford Thing
came
> > back.  Several 120 rolls are showing clear "ridges" down the length of
> them,
> > appearing on some rolls and not others.  One 35 mm roll has a thin
stripe
> of
> > what appears to be exposure down the top edge, just into the frame.
Other
> > film developed in the same batch did not show this.
> >
> > When processing, I hang films to dry with out touching the front or
back,
> so
> > I don't think handling is responsible..  The rolls, 120 and 35  have
gone
> > through several cameras with no apparent correlation, and no previous or
> > subsequent films of Kodak or Fuji have shown these flaws, so I am pretty
> sure
> > it's not a problem in my equipment.  The 120 stripe doesn't show in a
> print,
> > but the 35 mm does.  All the film was purchased fresh-dated from B&H,
from
> > whom I buy Fuji and Kodak films, also.
> >
> > Every single time I have gone to Ilford I have been sooner or later
stung
> by
> > what seem to be quality control problems.  This dates from and includes
> HP3,
> > FP3, FP4, HP5, XP1, XP1 processing kit, Multigrade III and Multigrade
IV,
> all
> > of which I got bad batches.  OTOH, in 46 years of photography in using
> Kodak
> > for 95% of my film and darkroom supplies, I haven't got a bad anything.
> BTW,
> > likewise Fuji.
> >
> > Every time this strangeness happens, I swear off Ilford, return to and
> > appreciate Kodak quality control all the more, and wonder if I have been
> > unusually unlucky or if others have had the same kind of experience.
> >
> > Allen Zak.
>