Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]While I generally agree with what everything everybody else has said, except about the disadvantages of Xtol, here are some additional advice. At least as long as you are in the learning stage, do not try to develop two tanks simultaneously or almost simultaneously: It is quite easy to get mixed up, like if the phone rang or the neighbor popped in: have I just agitated this tank or the other tank, which film is in which tank, which has developer in it and which is being fixed? You may even gently ask your family to leave you _completely_ undisturbed during the half hour it takes to finish the film: Even a small request like: "could you please help me find ....." may turn out to take five minutes instead of one, and you may be left with a ruined film. And of course never change more than one variable at a time when you are testing films and developers. Make notes, preferably with a felt pen on a pieced of paper that you photograph on the film you test. Write down development details too on that paper, and then look at it when you develop. WRT Xtol, have just finished some Xtol I mixed last summer, it was enough for about for a lot of film and I stored it in a variety of completely filled grown glass bottles from 125 ml to one liter. It was probably about six bottles, and all of them contained first rate Xtol. People who have had Xtol failures say the images on the film are very weak, even the frame numbers are difficult to see. I must admit something similar happened to me a few days ago. Not only that there was nothing on the film, the film reels were completely empty. Luckily enough I had not tried to load another two films into the tank I believed empty. BTW, I have found five reel tanks to be a real advantage when returning from trips with a dozen or more exposed films in the bag. The only disadvantage is that you need to store more diluted stop and hypo than if you just use a one reel or a two reel tank. Rgds Chris >On Monday, August 11, 2003, at 06:30 PM, Frank Farmer wrote: > >>Greetings all, >> >>Ok, after about ten years of abstaining from developing my own >>negatives I'd like to start again. However, I have pretty much >>forgotten everything that is important to this process other than >>standing in the dark and remembering where you placed the lid to >>the tank. So, my questions are these: >> >>Has anyone found a site or book that has been particularly helpful >>with brushing up on darkroom skills? I own a very old version of >>the Kodak Darkroom Guide but figure there are others. Are there? >>Just FYI - I shoot Ilford HP5+ or FP4+, Kodak Tri-X or Plus-X with >>a bit of Fuji Neopan 1600 mixed in for good measure. >> >>Also, it seems that Xtol is the choice developer for many - sounds >>good - I would like to keep grain to a minimum most of the time. >>Is there another I should start with? Is Xtol a good start with >>those films? What other "news" is out there? Any general guidance >>on or off list would be appreciated. Sorry if I missed any of this >>is in the archives. - -- Christer Almqvist D 20255 Hamburg and / or F 50590 Regnéville sur Mer please look at my NEW b+w pictures at: http://www.almqvist.net/chris/dozen/ old pictures still at: http://www.almqvist.net/chris/new - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html