pete_rearden

All my chems are at the same temp.

I got my hands on a long expired box of 4x5 Kodak pan SuperXX. It had been in cold storage since new, and it was free. Every negative so far has had an orange peel effect on the emulsion side. I've been using Harvey's 777 @ 68 degrees, 18 minutes, agitate for the first 30 seconds, 10 seconds every minute after. Any thoughts?

Back when I was young and stupid and a comcam I preferred primes until they no longer offered an aperture advantage. Flash is the last thing you want in a firefight and this was when 8 megapixels was a lot.

Single rolls of pro film come...in boxes? Huh. I've never bought just one roll.

Mark, I've had decent results with fomapan. Ok, it's rare I get an image I'd sell, but I lack a Polaroid back, so that is what fomapan is for. I'll do my test shots one day, then head back the next with good film. Yeah, it requires me to be anal retentive about recording data, but I shoot primarily cityscapes and urban exploring shots. Occasionally (ok, twice,) I've used fomapan on paying gigs, but the shoot was urban exploration based do the craptacular nature of fomapan actually added to the finished product.

I miss my Rollei. Do you use factory made Rodinal or home brewed? If you do home brew, and you can find a compounding pharmacist near you, you can get bulk acetaminophen with no binding agents. It makes the process much easier.

I'm a black and white large format shooter. For pay gigs I use Kodak Tri-X. For art show stuff, gifts, photos for scanning, etc I use either Ilford Delta 100, FP4 or HP5. If I'm just practicing, teaching, or experimenting I use Arista EDU 200 (fomapan clone) because it is cheap.

Personally I like Paterson tanks. I have one that will take 4 rolls of 35mm, 2 rolls of 120, or the single MOD 54 holder for 4x5. 5x7 and 8x10 I develop in unicolor tubes. I taught my wife how to develop 35mm the other day. She mastered loading a Paterson reel the first time.

I shoot 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10. I always develop my own. I have no desire to ship film off, and while there is a lab that will develop here in town, there is the matter of price. Bulk loading is not anything I'm familiar with. If you want to get DIY there are plenty of recipes for Rodinal. Warning: it is not a fine grain developer. That being said it's cheap and easy to make. HC110 is my other go to. A bottle lasts forever if you use dilution b. I've been known to go so far in my DIY as using white vinegar as a stop bath and dawn as photo flow.

Potassium bromide also works as a restrainer.

I use my home brew Rodinal with additive when shooting expired film usually. When I'm cooking up my Rodinal I'll make a liter of concentrate that has a 5% solution of benzotriazole added. This works well as anti fog agent.

My Rodinal, like I said, is an old recipe home brew. Even before I discovered where to get straight, unadulterated acetaminophen and was crushing Tylenol (or paracetamol, whatever) Ive never had a problem with white specs, even when I don't filter my mix. A good photo flow usually clears up specks.

I like Ilford films. HP5+ and Delta 100 mainly, although occasionally I'll shoot FP4. For developing it depends. I shoot 4x5 and larger formats, so grain isn't a huge issue for me. My go to developers are HC110 using Ansel Adams style dilution B and stand developing. I also use home brewed Rodinal. I generally use a 1:50 ratio mix on my Rodinal. Tank my negs for 6.5 minutes. Agitate first 30 seconds, then 4 inversions every minute. With Rodinal I don't presoak but with HC110.

I shoot large format. What is this zoom lens you speak of?