Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2017/06/15

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Subject: [Leica] B&W developers
From: mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 11:59:23 -0400
References: <1F63DC96-60A9-4639-9274-7E30C51F7FFE@me.com> <525C0907-51DD-4210-B023-C3101641FD34@icloud.com> <A1864B29-DEFE-4CED-B924-6AF11B2C5A02@icloud.com> <CA+3n+_=LEXi8OytWKoK6_YAXOh-w+Fsa4S=T-frnVkY7-DDzmQ@mail.gmail.com> <14266A0C-C375-4535-840F-8D760370C2D4@rabinergroup.com> <684af07b-8597-eb45-fef7-829b24af3542@altphoto.be>

Rodinal is certainly a thick super concentrate that you need to get a thin 
glass measuring thing to measure the small amounts you use it with and it?s 
an easy thing to get used to and not worry so much about working with 
oxidized and or old developer out of a big bottle. Brown Rodinal still works 
just as well you maybe add a minute to it. I throw it out when it turned 
brown like that my nerves can only take so much.
But we ended up using that same thin glass measuring thing to measure out 
HC100 syrup with right out of the bottle when that came out -Ansel was using 
it so we had to try it. We didn?t pre-dilute it first like they told you too 
and then watch it get dark in the bottle and wonder if it was still good to 
use. It was easier to trust the super concentrates then working out of 
bigger bottles.
So, it was like using Rodinal as was the T-Max thick syrup which came after 
HC-110. Both Phenidone based great for pushing and great for horrible 
tonality and weak to no edge effects.
We (Portland photographers I knew) were starting to think T-Max T-grain film 
was horrible became of the T-Max developer they came out later to use with 
it. But before the T-Max developer (which gave you full film speed) they 
suggested you use D76 1:1 which is the developer and dilution they invented 
the film with. The first one being T-Max 100.  And D76 1:1 worked great with 
it. When we quit using those Kodak Phenidone syrups and went back to using 
developers we already knew about and had been around awhile, Rodinal for 
instance we realized what a big deal tab grain technology was. It won an 
academy award and it wasn?t even a movie! The Iford Delta films were also 
T-grain as well as most of the later Fuji Neopan. Just about any tab grain 
film knocks any old-style film right out of the water despite the constant 
fawning over Tri-x on the internet lists and a few other old films. There is 
a ton of more information in Tab grain films as there was way higher 
resolution.
If you ever put a T-max 400 print next to a Tri-X print you?d never use 
Tri-X again it makes it look like kids? stuff with toy cameras.  And the 
stuff about T-max tonality being wanting is like what they said about 
digital a decade later. The people who didn?t want to use stuff they are not 
already checked out on and whose prints you never see the people with big 
opinions about processes and tools they never use and have nothing to show 
for.
Trading cameras back and forth and involving oneself in discussions on lists 
is not the same thing as putting a portfolio together of prints and or 
hanging a show. Or hitting deadlines.  Its talking the talk vs walking the 
walk. Most avocations people take very seriously and you can?t get away with 
that level of BS. People are way more serious about their fun time than 
their work time.  Yes, there are serious amateurs and pros but most people 
just dump on it. Its anything goes land. ?But I just want to have fun with 
my photography!? If you many of you guys were stamp collectors the other 
stamp collectors would take out on a pike with tar and feathers.
Fun is when you know what the hell you are talking about and what the hell 
you are doing. All it really takes is doing it.
 

-- 

Mark William Rabiner
Photographer

On 6/15/17, 7:09 AM, "LUG on behalf of Eddy Willems" 
<lug-bounces+mark=rabinergroup.com at leica-users.org on behalf of eddy at 
altphoto.be> wrote:

    if you work wit rodinal 1+50 it has practical no grain with 135 film on 
    24x30 cm
    but if your exposure is not correct you get a huge grain
    
    the reason for me to chose rodinal is that if your production is low you 
    can use the bottle to the end without problem and results are consistent
    
    if you use ID-11 or D76 the solution change in time and the results are 
    not consistent,
    to have consistence with these developers I kept the developer in small 
    bottles just enough for the dilution
    250cc or 100 cc bottles
    
    Op 15/06/17 om 09:17 schreef Mark Rabiner:
    > Don as you know I?m with you on the Xtol 1:3 it was my developer of 
choice too but an impressive article was written on Rodinal 1:25 stating the 
results were indistinguishable from D76 1:1 making for a hugely cost not 
effective situation. It would cost a fortune to pour that much of it in 
there. You?re the first person I ever knew to tried it and lived.
    > Most felt maybe try it at an unpublished compromise 1:75 to tame the 
grain ever so much but then went back to 1:100 with all the good big boys 
(and girls). Even 1:50 got people scratching their fingers at you and your 
prints... Few people who tried it liked it not at full dilution.
    > 1:100 made Rodinal Rodinal just as 1:3 made Xtol Xtol.
    > Ansel said it didn?t matter which developer you used just as long as 
you use it at the right dilution.
    > (to the effect)
    >
    > --
    > Mark Rabiner Rabiner
    >
    >
    >
    > On 6/14/17, 11:02 AM, "LUG on behalf of Don Dory" 
<lug-bounces+mark=rabinergroup.com at leica-users.org on behalf of don.dory 
at gmail.com> wrote:
    >
    >      For easy compensating developing that is not insanely sensitive 
to time and
    >      temperature I would highly recommend Xtol dilute 1:3.  
Development time is
    >      a little long compared to others but that is why if you miss your 
temp by a
    >      degree and are distracted for thirty seconds you will still have 
great
    >      negatives.  Edge detail is good but not Pyro or even some of the 
lower
    >      dilutions of Rodinal but much better than the high dilution 
Rodinal.
    >      
    >      All the best.
    >      
    >      On Wed, Jun 14, 2017 at 10:40 AM, Gerry Walden <gerry.walden at 
icloud.com>
    >      wrote:
    >      
    >      > Thanks everyone. It is quite clear that nothing has changed 
since the last
    >      > time I processed b&w film those many years ago.
    >      >
    >      > Gerry
    >      >
    >      > Gerry Walden LRPS
    >      > www.gwpics.com
    >      > +44 (0)23 8046 3076 or
    >      > +44 (0)797 287 7932
    >      >
    >      >
    >      >
    >      >
    >      >
    >      >
    >      > > On 14 Jun 2017, at 15:00, George Lottermoser <george.imagist 
at icloud.com>
    >      > wrote:
    >      > >
    >      > >
    >      > >> On Jun 14, 2017, at 5:05 AM, Gerry Walden <gwpics at me.com> 
wrote:
    >      > >>
    >      > >> I don?t want to start and wars here, and I know this is a 
minefield in
    >      > which I will get a thousand and one answers, but is there any 
consensus of
    >      > opinion these days on a one-shot b&w developer?
    >      > >>
    >      > >> Insanely I am thinking of doing my own processing of film 
again.
    >      > >
    >      > > If you?ve never played with Pyro? you owe it to yourself to 
do so.
    >      > > A true difference in "edge."
    >      > >
    >      > > fond regards,
    >      > >
    >      > > George
    >      > >
    >      > > http://www.imagist.com/blog
    >      > > http://www.imagist.com
    >      > > http://www.linkedin.com/imagist
    >      > >
    >      > >
    >      > >
    >      > >
    >      > >
    >      > >
    >      > > _______________________________________________
    >      > > Leica Users Group.
    >      > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more 
information
    >      >
    >      >
    >      > _______________________________________________
    >      > Leica Users Group.
    >      > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more 
information
    >      >
    >      
    >      
    >      
    >      --
    >      Don
    >      don.dory at gmail.com
    >      
    >      _______________________________________________
    >      Leica Users Group.
    >      See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more 
information
    >
    >
    >
    > _______________________________________________
    > Leica Users Group.
    > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
    
    
    _______________________________________________
    Leica Users Group.
    See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information




In reply to: Message from gwpics at me.com (Gerry Walden) ([Leica] B&W developers)
Message from george.imagist at icloud.com (George Lottermoser) ([Leica] B&W developers)
Message from gerry.walden at icloud.com (Gerry Walden) ([Leica] B&W developers)
Message from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] B&W developers)
Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] B&W developers)
Message from eddy at altphoto.be (Eddy Willems) ([Leica] B&W developers)