Re: [Leica] Eric/HC-110/D76/and film

[Alastair Firkin <firkin@ncable.net.au>]

Thanks, I must try some comparison tests sometime. HC110 seems to last 
forever and is quite cheap, but D76 was too. At the moment, I'm using 
mainly Agfapan and often in Rodinal. Seems to give nice results, but I 
do fear for b/w film in terms of variety.

Cheers
On Monday, Dec 8, 2003, at 12:46 Australia/Melbourne, Eric Welch wrote:

> Alastair,
>
> Boy do I understand about not having time! Photo Techniques did some 
> comparisons between different film/developer combinations. They May 
> have some in stock. They used to give the publication away as a 
> freebie for renewing subscriptions. As a company they stink, but they 
> did do some useful things, and Mike Johnston was able, for a while, to 
> bring some very useful contributors to the magazine.
>
> I think it was called "Advanced Darkroom Techniques." Many of their 
> magazines also did those kinds of comparison.
>
> The one thing I know for sure about HC-110 is that it had beautiful 
> tonality with Tri-X. But the grain was huge. D-76 will give you finer, 
> tighter grain without the lack of sharpness that Microdol would give 
> alone with very small grain. The difference between Tri-X and TMax 
> films is that they hardened the emulsions significantly so that 
> variations in temperature would not have as much effect on grain as 
> older black and white films. My main concern is tonality.
>
> Talking about tonality, nothing I've seen can touch Press Maxx 
> developer for beautiful tones with both TMY and TMX. TMX is simply 
> amazing with it. Any benefit from finer grain from Tech Pan film and 
> its special developer are lost in any reasonably-sized enlargement. I 
> would highly recommend buying the bottle that makes 1 gallon and 
> giving it a shot. It has very good shelf life. Though I never go to 
> test that. I would go through five gallons in less than a month. And 
> unless you're going to use a hypodermic, don't bother trying to mix 
> anything short of a gallon.
>
>
>
> On Dec 7, 2003, at 3:37 PM, Alastair Firkin wrote:
>
>> This interests me (still stuck in the darkroom). I've been using 
>> HC-110 in very dilute concentrations, and been pretty happy with the 
>> results, but I've not tested or done anything scientific: who has 
>> time ;-) I used to use D-76: are there any good works comparing the 
>> results of the different developers with the films that I could 
>> review? or is it all experience and personal preference
>
> Eric Welch
> Carlsbad, CA
> http://www.jphotog.com
>
> Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back. 
> - Will Rogers
>
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>
>
Alastair

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