Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/06/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]><Snip> > > In summary, I think that this is a modern age wonder that needs to be > treated with care: no oxygen, as little heat as possible, distilled water or > heavily filtered water including charcoal to mix, and some knowledge of just > how dilute it can be and not go into exhaustion. > > Regards, > > Don I agree 100 percent but with a few minor points. I think try your water first and see if you need something better. Unless the person next door is also souping film and knows the deal on your local water in Xtol. MY Portland Oregon water seems to work perfectly with it. Do many darkroom workers even without Xtol buy their water in gallon jugs. I'm so glad to have not had to go through that yet. I've had darkrooms in Chicago, St. Louis and here: Portland Oregon. The water worked fine in all these three darkrooms. Also as far as how dilute we can soup it. And we know we want to soup it as dilute as possible or until the film is too grainy... Some films will take more dilution than others. Kodak talks about T-Max 100 needing more Xtol per roll. This would often in practice end up with it using less dilution; a stronger mix. Unless we want a roll or two sitting at the bottom of a large tank which i chafe at. The other film i know about is Delta 3200 which i only shoot in 120 and don't go 1:3 dilution with it; But 1:1 which seems to work perfectly. I hate using all that chemical though. I've very much into less is more. Mark Rabiner Portland, Oregon USA http://www.markrabiner.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html