andy_evans

Thank you, everyone, for your kind suggestions.

Hello friends, I recently jumped on a chance to purchase an enlarger with several lenses for less than $100, but it unfortunately came not attached to a base board, as the included instruction manual shows. The base of my enlarger is a hollow cylinder, essentially, that seems to want a very solid cylinder to attach to and make its life complete. Searching eBay for 'base' or 'mount' has mainly turned up auctions for the film holders. I can't imagine a perfect-diameter slice of PVC pipe glued to a board would work? I'm not particularly crafty for a B&W photographer. Thank you for any suggestions. (I hope this post is in the right place. I couldn't find any relevant topics in Equipment, or find any subforums in B&W).

I was going to do a roll of ATP in my typical Fx2, with reduced agitation. I always do a pre-soak with reduced agitation. The only arguments against it are that it might be unnecessary, not harmful (Film D Cookbook, for example). But Rollei specifically warns against a pre wash. Kodak's TP needed to be dropped into the developer in the dark to ensure even development. Any guesses as to why a pre wash could hurt? Thanks Andy

<p>Hello friends,<br> I've looked at the latest Darkroom Cookbook, which includes many new developers, but each is only given a brief blurb supplied by its creator, followed by a recipe.<br> The Film Developing Cookbook was very useful to me for its conceptual division of developer types--soft grain, high definition, etc. But the new Darkroom Cookbook blurb for PC-TEA, for example, only mentions "HP5 grain is only apparent at 20x enlargement! etc." There is no helpful categorizing. (I am not, unfortunately, at the expert level at which I can read the ingredients, judge the sulfite level, etc. and categorize it myself).<br> There are many useful posts here, of course, on Film A: Developer B or C: A Comparison. But is there anything like the Film Developing Cookbook, with categorizations and analysis of developer action, but including recent developers?<br> Thank you,<br> Andy</p>

<p>Thank you, everyone, for chiming in. If increased fog might be a problem, I'll forgo my usual Pyrocat and go back to FX-2X.</p>

<p>Hello friends,<br> I have some rolls I never got around to developing, which have now been sitting around for 5 to 6 years since exposure. Most are slow or very slow conventional grain films, no T-Max or Delta. I haven't kept them in an oven, but they certainly have been above 68 degrees at some point.<br> What goes wrong with old film? I imagine I'm losing some speed, but I'm not sure what else. More fog and grain?<br> I typically use high definition developers with reduced agitation, as I'm often developing rolls with different contrast ranges and I shoot my 120 film on a Rollei without an internal light meter and thus need a bit of wiggle room. <br> Pyrocat-HD, FX-1 and FX-2 are my go-to developers, but I've read that Pyrocat (contrary to the boxed instructions?) requires increased exposure and I'm guessing these not-so-fresh rolls may have lost some sensitivity. I'd love to try Hypercat someday, but don't trust myself to mix it without killing or maiming myself.<br> And whatever the developer, should I extend development and/or dilute the developer to compensate for the age of the film?</p> <p>Thank you,<br> Andy</p>