Basic film developer question.

I've been slow to start but now have accumulated 20 rolls of T-max 100 that
were shot as zone tests and well documented. I'm trying to decide which
developer to marry. My thought is to thoroughly explore one film/developer
combo at a time. I've found that while I'm in the darkroom, people leave me
alone, so...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
gy.com...


I've been slow to start but now have accumulated 20 rolls
of T-max 100 that
were shot as zone tests and well documented. I'm trying
to decide which
developer to marry. My thought is to thoroughly explore
one film/developer
combo at a time. I've found that while I'm in the
darkroom, people leave me
alone, so...


The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films is
Xtol. The problem is that there have been many reports of
sudden failure of the developer. The exact cause is unknown
but is very probably due to trace impurities in the water.
D-76 works well and is reportedly the developer used at
Kodak for testing during the development (no pun intended)
of T-Max emulsions. D-76, however, tends to produce images
which do not have good visual sharpness even though measured
resolution is very good. My experience has been mostly with
D-76 diluted 1:1. I've gotten good results but find 100T-Max
has a tonal rendition which can look a little muddy in it.
Other developers like T-Max RS and Microphen are noticably
grainier than D-76 or Xtol. Overall my recommendation is
Xtol but mix it with water which has been filtered with an
activated charcoal filter to remove trace metals. For
additional advise on T-Max and on developers generally see
Ryuji Suzuki's web site at http://www.silvergrain.org


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

Richard Knoppow wrote:

The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films is
Xtol. The problem is that there have been many reports of
sudden failure of the developer. The exact cause is unknown
but is very probably due to trace impurities in the water.

I think there were only problems with 1 litre packages of XTOL and those
have been long time discontinued. Kodak also (IIRC) changed the material
of the 5 litre package and now recommends only 1+1 dilution just to be
safe. 1+2 and 1+3 seems to work for most people still. I think the 1
litre packages let some oxygen through and that caused failures - not
100% sure though. 5 litre packages never had this problem.

Bottom line: XTOL can now be used safely and is very good developer
almost for any film. It gives good film speed, sharp and small grain.
Definitely at least worth trying.

I personally use Rodinal for ISO=100 films and XTOL for faster films.

Severi S.

"Severi Salminen" wrote in
message ...
Richard Knoppow wrote:

The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films
is
Xtol. The problem is that there have been many reports
of
sudden failure of the developer. The exact cause is
unknown
but is very probably due to trace impurities in the
water.

I think there were only problems with 1 litre packages of
XTOL and those
have been long time discontinued. Kodak also (IIRC)
changed the material
of the 5 litre package and now recommends only 1+1
dilution just to be
safe. 1+2 and 1+3 seems to work for most people still. I
think the 1
litre packages let some oxygen through and that caused
failures - not
100% sure though. 5 litre packages never had this problem.

Bottom line: XTOL can now be used safely and is very good
developer
almost for any film. It gives good film speed, sharp and
small grain.
Definitely at least worth trying.

I personally use Rodinal for ISO=100 films and XTOL for
faster films.

Severi S.

This is a separate problem and seems to happen to
ascorbic acid developers. The same kind of sudden failure
has been reported for Ilford Ilfosol-S. The best guess I've
seen about this is that it has to do with some catalytic
effect of certain kinds of Iron compounds in the water. EDTA
does not bind these and can actually exacerbate the effect
under certain circumstances. Nonetheless, Xtol is very
reliable in most locations. Iron compounds can be removed
from water by activated charcoal filters like the Brita
filter. Its also good practice to use boiled water for
mixing photo solutions. Boiling removes much of the
temporary hardness, drives off dissolved gasses (like
oxygen) and precipatates organic matter (might be a problem
with well water). Filtering the water in addition will
remove almost anything that could affect photo chemicals.
Xtol is a very good developer. The problems with sudden
failure are actually quite rare and shouldn't discourage
anyone from trying it. It gives about the best combination
of speed, fine grain, good tonal rendition, and sharpness of
any developer, at least for T-Max films.


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

I have the advantage of an almost unlimited supply of distilled water and
have used it for everything except for main wash but final wash is in
distilled water.

--
I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find
any.

"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message
...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
gy.com...


I've been slow to start but now have accumulated 20 rolls
of T-max 100 that
were shot as zone tests and well documented. I'm trying
to decide which
developer to marry. My thought is to thoroughly explore
one film/developer
combo at a time. I've found that while I'm in the
darkroom, people leave me
alone, so...


The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films is
Xtol. The problem is that there have been many reports of
sudden failure of the developer. The exact cause is unknown
but is very probably due to trace impurities in the water.
D-76 works well and is reportedly the developer used at
Kodak for testing during the development (no pun intended)
of T-Max emulsions. D-76, however, tends to produce images
which do not have good visual sharpness even though measured
resolution is very good. My experience has been mostly with
D-76 diluted 1:1. I've gotten good results but find 100T-Max
has a tonal rendition which can look a little muddy in it.
Other developers like T-Max RS and Microphen are noticably
grainier than D-76 or Xtol. Overall my recommendation is
Xtol but mix it with water which has been filtered with an
activated charcoal filter to remove trace metals. For
additional advise on T-Max and on developers generally see
Ryuji Suzuki's web site at http://www.silvergrain.org


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

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...
I have the advantage of an almost unlimited supply of
distilled water and
have used it for everything except for main wash but final
wash is in
distilled water.

--
If its really distilled you won't have problems with
anything. Single distilled water can still have metal ions
in it.
Actually, its mainly iron compounds that seem to be the
problem. For the most part water has to be pretty bad to
seriously affect photo chemicals. However, if you have
distilled water by all means use it:-)
Distille water or soft water is actually less effective
for washing than hard water. Sea water is the most
effective. Sulfite wash aid was developed out of the
research on why sea water works so well for washing.
A good final rinse is:
Isopropyl alcohol, 99% 25.0 ml
(or 70% Rubbing Alcohol 35.0 ml)
Kodak Photo Flo 2.5 ml (half strength)
Distilled water to make 1.0 liter

Soak the film for two minutes and hang up to dry without
squeegeeing.


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

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...
I have the advantage of an almost unlimited supply of
distilled water and
have used it for everything except for main wash but final
wash is in
distilled water.

--
If its really distilled you won't have problems with
anything. Single distilled water can still have metal ions
in it.
Actually, its mainly iron compounds that seem to be the
problem. For the most part water has to be pretty bad to
seriously affect photo chemicals. However, if you have
distilled water by all means use it:-)
Distille water or soft water is actually less effective
for washing than hard water. Sea water is the most
effective. Sulfite wash aid was developed out of the
research on why sea water works so well for washing.
A good final rinse is:
Isopropyl alcohol, 99% 25.0 ml
(or 70% Rubbing Alcohol 35.0 ml)
Kodak Photo Flo 2.5 ml (half strength)
Distilled water to make 1.0 liter

Soak the film for two minutes and hang up to dry without
squeegeeing.


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

I have the advantage of an almost unlimited supply of distilled water and
have used it for everything except for main wash but final wash is in
distilled water.

--
I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find
any.

"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message
...

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
gy.com...


I've been slow to start but now have accumulated 20 rolls
of T-max 100 that
were shot as zone tests and well documented. I'm trying
to decide which
developer to marry. My thought is to thoroughly explore
one film/developer
combo at a time. I've found that while I'm in the
darkroom, people leave me
alone, so...


The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films is
Xtol. The problem is that there have been many reports of
sudden failure of the developer. The exact cause is unknown
but is very probably due to trace impurities in the water.
D-76 works well and is reportedly the developer used at
Kodak for testing during the development (no pun intended)
of T-Max emulsions. D-76, however, tends to produce images
which do not have good visual sharpness even though measured
resolution is very good. My experience has been mostly with
D-76 diluted 1:1. I've gotten good results but find 100T-Max
has a tonal rendition which can look a little muddy in it.
Other developers like T-Max RS and Microphen are noticably
grainier than D-76 or Xtol. Overall my recommendation is
Xtol but mix it with water which has been filtered with an
activated charcoal filter to remove trace metals. For
additional advise on T-Max and on developers generally see
Ryuji Suzuki's web site at http://www.silvergrain.org


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

"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message ...

The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films is
Xtol.

snip

Do know anything about The Forumulary's "BW-2 T-MAX DEVELOPER". It is
advertised to be "unique, giving the TMAX film the sharpness it was
meant to have. BW-2 allows you to have contrast control other
developers do not give by using a different balance of the two
solutions."

But it's a proprietary formula . . .

More info: http://www.photoformulary.com/Deskto...&Search=TM AX

"Phil Glaser" wrote in message
om...
"Richard Knoppow" wrote in
message ...

The closest to an optimum developer for T-Max films
is
Xtol.

snip

Do know anything about The Forumulary's "BW-2 T-MAX
DEVELOPER". It is
advertised to be "unique, giving the TMAX film the
sharpness it was
meant to have. BW-2 allows you to have contrast control
other
developers do not give by using a different balance of the
two
solutions."

But it's a proprietary formula . . .

More info:
http://www.photoformulary.com/Deskto...&Search=TM AX

I don't and worry about proprietary formulas. The reason
T-Max sometimes doesn't look sharp is that it doesn't easily
form the edge or border effects that are necessary to high
acutance. Acutance is a term invented by Kodak to describe
the contrast at edges. The eye interprets high contrast
edges as sharpness. An image may not look sharp even if its
resolution is high if the edge contrast is low. Acutance
enhancing effects depend on the action of developer in a
very small area around the transitions between high and low
density. Some developers have reaction products which become
concentrated at the transition and cause an increase in
development on the high density side, and a reduction on the
low density side. Some developers have reaction products
D-76 at full strength is an example of a low acutance
developer.
The emulsion of T-Max film is thin so the developer
reaction products can diffuse from it quickly and fresh
developer diffuse into it. This tends to limit the amount of
acutance enhancement. Acutance developers are those which
have reaction products which tend to either strongly
accelerate or strongly restrain development. Rodinal is such
a developer.
Xtol yields better acutance than D-76 so will produce
sharper looking images on T-Max. One problem with most
acutance enhancing developers is that they tend to produce
grain. Xtol is an exception here although it not in the
class of very high acutance developers.
I will add only that there are not many secrets in
developer technology and many fairly recent developers are
covered by patents. When the patent expires anyone can make
the stuff. My guess (and its only a guess) is that BW-2 is
probably similar to some better known commercially packaged
developer.
Thom Bell, of Kodak, has a chart on his site
http://www.geocities.com/thombell/ showing the
relative merits of some Kodak developers. Best for finest
grain is Microdol-X, full strength, but its the worst for
sharpness. Best for sharpness and overall is Xtol. Best for
speed but poor for grain is T-Max RS. D-76 is middling good
for everything. Concentrated developers like HC-110 are
mostly convenient but do not yeild quality equal to other
developers (despite Ansel Adams recommendation of it). The
same for Rodinal, its very convenient and has a very long
shelf life but is inferior to many other developers for
grain and speed. When highly diluted it does deliver very
good sharpness.


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