Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/01/04

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: If you had only one B&W film/developer combo, which would it be?
From: Nathan Wajsman <wajsman@webshuttle.ch>
Date: Sat, 05 Jan 2002 07:47:33 +0100
References: <200201041904.LAA02870@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> <3C36580B.8070201@ldp.com>

Rolfe Tessem wrote, in part:

> First, in a Jobo you're really limited to Xtol at 1:1
> dilution because of the requirement of 100ml of stock per roll and the
> need to respect the tank capacity.

Not necessarily true. I use XTOL 1+3. In a small tank, with one roll of film, this works out to
400ml of solution. Works fine. If I have two rolls of the same film, I can either do it in the
larger tank while still respecting Kodak's "rule" which means 800ml of solution, or use the
smaller tank and 500ml of solution which implies 62.5ml XTOL per roll but seems to work OK (this
is what Mark Rabiner, our resident High Priest of XTOL, does).

> The 1:1 dilution allows greater economy over using straight stock along
> with reasonable developing times. This dilution additionally arguably
> provides *some* additional accuance and edge effect. Nowhere have I seen
> any evidence that the additional dilution to 1:3 provides any
> incremental benefits over 1:1.

I see huge benefits in my negatives from going from 1+1 to 1+3. With the new Delta 400 I used to
develop in 1+1 and suffer blown-out highlights and overly dense negatives. When I develop it at
1+3 I get really nice, scannable/printable negatives. With the slower films I get visibly better
acutance and edge effects with the higher dilution. I think the benefits of higher dilution are
especially apparent if you use a Jobo and hence continuous agitation.

Nathan

- --
Nathan Wajsman
Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland

e-mail: wajsman@webshuttle.ch

Photo-A-Week: http://www.wajsman.com/indexpaw2002.htm
General photo site: http://www.wajsman.com/index.htm




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In reply to: Message from Rolfe Tessem <rolfe@ldp.com> ([Leica] Re: If you had only one B&W film/developer combo, which would it be?)