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

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Xtol recomended dilutions
From: kcarney1 at cox.net (Ken Carney)
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 17:38:54 -0500
References: <D1B7D7E7-EC4B-457E-B8A5-6182A8810FEE@gmail.com> <D567CF26.866F2%chris@chriscrawfordphoto.com> <7BC3A91E-801C-4770-A155-04A7CBFE1B46@gmail.com> <560A3690-E151-4BC8-A406-B37978CDD329@rabinergroup.com> <D7052609-2610-4233-AEC6-8CA3C4E44A5F@gmail.com> <EC15BE19-D6E0-46EA-B49C-4C2F0D6E8E79@rabinergroup.com> <Z9FV1v02X07g8Sg019FWtc>

Hi Gerry,

The only thing that worked for me was distilled water for the final 
rinse, and Photo Flo.  If I ever went back to the darkroom I would also 
invest in a film drying cabinet with filters.  Can't help much with 
developers.  I used D76 1:1 for TriX roll and sheet film, PMK pyro for 
higher contrast sheet film (platinum printing) and TMax RS 1:9 for TMax 
sheet film rotary processing.  That was about it.  Best of luck with 
your project.

Ken



On 6/15/2017 4:07 PM, Gerry Walden wrote:
> Forgive me, but when I asked this question I just wanted to know whether 
> there were any new kids on the block as far as developers went. I ssem to 
> have stirred up a hornets nest.
>
> I remember now that I used to use Xtol 1:3 and it was about the best 
> around. If I go back to home processing that is what I will use. My big 
> problem is drying marks through film drying and final wash with very hard 
> chalky water.
>
> Gerry
>
> Gerry Walden LRPS
> www.gwpics.com
> +44 (0)23 8046 3076 or
> +44 (0)797 287 7932
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> On 15 Jun 2017, at 17:31, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote:
>>
>> Lluis I used to roll my film back to back two rolls in the same reel! And 
>> taught my assistants to do it. A few of them were incredulous.  I got 
>> this from a Bill Pierce column in Popular photography in the early 70?s 
>> it worked.
>> But it makes Kodak?s recommendations as to limits of Xtol and puts them 
>> in the dust.
>> I ran 8 rolls of 35mm film in a liter or quart of 1:3 Xtol.
>> Then dumped it down the drain. My times where close to what they should 
>> have been.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> Mark William Rabiner
>> Photographer
>>
>> On 6/15/17, 10:40 AM, "LUG on behalf of lluisripollphotography" 
>> <lug-bounces+mark=rabinergroup.com at leica-users.org on behalf of 
>> lluisripollphotography at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>     Mark,
>>
>>     Thank you for useful information, very interesting to learn it! You 
>> mention Delta 400, yes it is a great film, I?ve not use it after a while 
>> and just the past days I was in the darkroom enlarging, the pics with 
>> this one was very fine.
>>
>>     Your recomendation about testing dilution is also very interesting to 
>> follow.
>>
>>     Thank you
>>     Lluis
>>
>>
>>
>>> El 15 juny 2017, a les 14:25, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> va 
>>> escriure:
>>>
>>> If you Bing it or Google it for 15 minutes you?ll see the top, smart, 
>>> nice, funny spiritual people are all at 1:3. The ones whose prints sold 
>>> for the most money and who dressed better.
>>> Diluting Xtol 1:3 instead of 1:2 ads a couple of more minutes to it its 
>>> way worth it. With that you get better edge caracteristics which is 
>>> directly linked to higher dilution. And other advantages I was using 1:2 
>>> for a while and my prints were obviously worse.
>>>
>>> By the way in my college in the early 70?s in St. Louis, we did us 
>>> students who were always in the darkroom an unusual thing which I?d 
>>> never heard of other places. We all ran our film in D76 1:2 instead of 
>>> 1:1. The students who came in in the beginning of the year and ran the 
>>> recommended 1:1 and universal default had prints you could spot across 
>>> the room as being way less sharp. Way less edge. And way less sharp 
>>> grain. But a tad less grain. And they were not very nice people who told 
>>> bad jokes. It looked like they were shooting with Spiratone lenes.
>>> A good policy is to dilute until you hit a point when you?re seeing 
>>> uneven development in your negs. Washed out areas. Then you back up a 
>>> notch. But you?ll ahead of time see what everyone else is doing.
>>> Neopan Acros 100    Xtol 1:3 16? minutes 70 degrees? agitation every 
>>> minute and the first full minute.
>>> All film listed here is 1:3 70 degrees F, agitation every minute 10 
>>> seconds and the first full minute.
>>> Delta 100    14?
>>> Delta 3200  16?
>>> Delta 400     14? Neopan 1600 RIP my main film when out and about 
>>> shooting for myself. Even with a Noctilux.   12 minutes and looks like 
>>> an iso 100 film. And here you are shooting it on the street. No tripod. 
>>> I used it for on location commercial jobs no flash or tripod. The 100 
>>> with the studio strobes in the studio. Delta 100 from Ilford as just 
>>> about as good.
>>> Neopan Acros 100 16 ? as high a rez film anyone would ever want or need 
>>> in Xtol 1:3
>>> Get a tank so you can develop 8 rolls at a time or I can see your point 
>>> and wanting to keep shorter times.
>>> You?ll shoot more with a big boy tank.
>>> Pan F 50, they still make it.  12?
>>> Tri X 400  11?
>>> Tri X Pro 320 in 120 or 220 format, 15?
>>> All the other times here is for 35mm format. Times are different for 
>>> different formats why no one knows.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>>
>>> Mark William Rabiner
>>> Photographer
>>>
>>> On 6/15/17, 7:32 AM, "LUG on behalf of lluisripollphotography" 
>>> <lug-bounces+mark=rabinergroup.com at leica-users.org on behalf of 
>>> lluisripollphotography at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>    Chris, Dan
>>>
>>>    I will do 1+1 on my next two films, I want avoid long develping 
>>> times. I?ve used HC110 many years ago, but I liked better ID11/D76
>>>
>>>    Cheers
>>>    Lluis
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> El 15 juny 2017, a les 11:49, Christopher Crawford <chris at 
>>>> chriscrawfordphoto.com> va escriure:
>>>>
>>>> Its been years since I used Xtol. I never really liked the tonality as
>>>> much as D-76, though Xtol does give finer grain. I got best results
>>>> diluted 1+1.
>>>>
>>>> Be careful with higher dilutions. Kodak, when it first came out, listed
>>>> times for 1+2 and 1+3 dilutions. A lot of photographers got severely
>>>> underdeveloped negs with those dilutions, using Kodak?s times. Turns 
>>>> out,
>>>> Xtol cannot stand being diluted that much unless you develop the film 
>>>> in a
>>>> much larger tank than you normally need. I think there had to be 200ml 
>>>> of
>>>> stock in the diluted developer for each roll, so for 1+3 developing, you
>>>> could do only one roll in a 32ox tank that could hold four rolls!
>>>>
>>>> Kodak published the minimum stock quantity needed but a lot of people
>>>> ignored it and complained, so they just stopped publishing the times for
>>>> the higher dilutions!
>>>>
>>>> I actually have a copy in PDF format of the original Xtol info booklet,
>>>> but the times would be off for Kodak films now since Kodak reformulated
>>>> Tri-X and the Tmax films since then. They did publish times for Ilford
>>>> films, which might still work if you?re interested in seeing it.
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Chris Crawford
>>>> Fine Art Photography
>>>> Fort Wayne, Indiana
>>>> 260-437-8990
>>>>
>>>> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com  My portfolio
>>>>
>>>> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798
>>>> Become a fan on Facebook
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 6/15/17, 5:15 AM, "LUG on behalf of lluisripollphotography"
>>>> <lug-bounces+chris=chriscrawfordphoto.com at leica-users.org on behalf 
>>>> of
>>>> lluisripollphotography at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I don?t have a large experience with Xtol, I?ve used for years 
>>>>> ID11/D76.
>>>>> I?ve developed my two last films of Bergger Pancro 400 in Xtol Stock at
>>>>> the recomended time, but I?m unhappy with the results. I?ve used it in
>>>>> stock to get the shortest developing time and minimize the grain 
>>>>> effect.
>>>>>
>>>>> I would like hear your experiences with Xtol, I mainly use FP4 and HP5.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks in advance
>>>>>
>>>>> Lluis
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> 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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



In reply to: Message from lluisripollphotography at gmail.com (lluisripollphotography) ([Leica] Xtol recomended dilutions)
Message from chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com (Christopher Crawford) ([Leica] Xtol recomended dilutions)
Message from lluisripollphotography at gmail.com (lluisripollphotography) ([Leica] Xtol recomended dilutions)
Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Xtol recomended dilutions)
Message from lluisripollphotography at gmail.com (lluisripollphotography) ([Leica] Xtol recomended dilutions)
Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Xtol recomended dilutions)