"Keith Tapscott."
wrote in message
...

Nicholas O. Lindan;885494 Wrote:

Try 35mm TMax 100 in Microdol-X - the grain is as fine as
the late
lamented
TechPan though it does not have the same 'large-format
look'.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.darkroomautomation.com/da-main.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot comThe trouble with that
is, what to use when the Mic-X supply runs out?

There's Ilford Perceptol which is a good substitute and
also Rollei
Low-Speed developer which is a similar type of developer
to Mic-X and
Perceptol, but sold as a liquid concentrate.

http://www.imx.nl/photo/Film/page123/page123.html




--
Keith Tapscott.

As far as I can tell Perceptol and Microdol-X are
identical. The differences in developing times given for
them for some films is probably because of a difference in
the contrast index being used for the testing. In both
developers the fine grain agent is sodium chloride.
Both developers have an extra-fine-grain property when
used full strength but loose it when diluted. There is a
speed loss of about 3/4 stop when used full strength but
when diluted 1:3 the speed is about the same as in D-76,
however, the grain is also comparable then. Both are
acutance developers when diluted.
The line about T-Max being as fine grained in
Microdol-X as Technical Pan in Technidol is from me. I've
used T-Max 100 in Perceptol and Microdol-X full strength.
Speed about EI-50. The results were very fine grain and had
the smoothness I would normally associate with a larger
negative. The combination is much easier to handle than
Technical Pan was since the contrast does not become
excessive so easily. I found that Technical Pan in Technidol
had to be shot at about EI-12 to avoid excessive contrast
and difficult to print negatives.
A caution: the combination had virtually no acutance
effect so images may appear to be somewhat blurry unless
your lenses are outstanding. I am, of course, talking about
35mm. For 2-1/4 x 2-1/4 the difference is not so great
although it will help if you make very large prints.
As far as overall performance it depends on what you
want. For general use D-76 either full strength or 1:1 works
fine for T-Max films and is probably what was used during
the research period. Xtol is the optimum developer yielding
slightly higher speed and slightly finer grain than D-76 and
not producing a shoulder until very high densities are
reached. T-Max RS also yields somewhat higher speed but I've
found it to be slightly grainier than D-76. Both T-Max RS
and Xtol are excellent for pushing.
Tone rendition is similar for all although there are
some differences in the shape of the published curves. For
the most part the curve shape of a film is determined by the
emulsion and is varied only a little by development.
However, it may be enough to make a noticable difference and
after that its a matter of taste.


--
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA