10966215 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Hi guys New to B&W photography. Much appreciated if you could help with below newbie questions: - Could you summarise the order and proportion you would use these below chemicals to develop one 35mm Tri-X 400 film reel? - What mix of XTOL do you find generally gives appropriate results? - Do you wash the film in tank with distilled water between usage of each chemicals? - How long can I store the XTOL mixture in the container for future usage? - Is there any videos you would recommend which summarises the development process using some of these chemicals? Chemicals: - XTOL (A+B) 5L - Ilford Rapid Fixer 1L - Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent - Kodak Photo-Flo 200 - Kodak Stop Bath Equipments: - Patterson tank (holds 3 reels) - Patterson changing bag - Container 1L x 3 - Container 4L x 4 - Measuring jug - Measuring cylinder - Thermometer - Funnel - Bottle opener Thanks so much! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wouter Willemse Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 I don't use X-TOL, so I cannot answer for those. Another note: tap water I have is good quality; in areas with poor water quality the below answers may not apply. 1. In general, in a patterson tank, I stick to 300ml per roll of 35mm film. I tend to use all developers as one-shot, so I prepare 300ml of that solution. Stop, fixer and wash I re-use, so I have that ready in 1L bottles, prepared with the recommended dilutions for each (i.e. the fixer I use is 1+5, so 1 part fixer with 5 parts water to create 1L, for simplicity sake I use 150ml fixer, 750ml water to create 900ml solution). For preparing the wash, I use distilled water. 3. Wash with distilled water in between chemicals - no. It's not strictly necessary to rinse with water between chemicals anyway. 5. Any video on youtube explaining the process will do; the process as such (which steps, in which order) does not change based on the chemical used. Of course, development times do change (bookmark this page: Massive Dev Chart) One thing I'd recommend is getting a empty (disposable) roll of film for practising in daylight with loading the reel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 No, you don't rinse in between. There are some who use a presoak (water) before the developer. Some developers recommend not doing this. Stop bath is what comes between the developer and fixer. A water rinse could be used, but the acidic stop bath stops development faster than plain water. Also, it helps the fixer last longer. -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 David Vestal Popular Photography 1977-07 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Claude Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Life of XTOL is very short, be carefull but the developper is good, contrasty, crisp and very detailled. You to choose what you should use it for (I wouldn't use it nudes for example!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10966215 Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 Great tips above, that should get me started. Probably best to start with a disposable roll of film indeed. Thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_renwick Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Previous advice is good, to which I would add: - What mix of XTOL do you find generally gives appropriate results? Mixed 1:1 with water, develop for ~7 minutes. - Do you wash the film in tank with distilled water between usage of each chemicals? Nope. - How long can I store the XTOL mixture in the container for future usage? I'm not sure, but six months is too long. Never mind how I know that :-). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_hodge Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 I know it's an older thread, but I'd like to note that I switched from XTOL to HC110 specifically because of the storage life. HC110 concentrate is mostly immoral. Otherwise, I do presoak, I don't do any extra washing, but I do use a good filter on the faucet. I generally develop at 20C because it's easy to get consistently from my faucet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_hutcherson Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 HC110 concentrate is mostly immoral. That's a nice thing to know if I ever photograph any immoral images. (BTW, Rodinal might possibly have an even longer shelf life than HC-110, although I consider it a bit more of a specialty developer than HC-110). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 The recommended developers for TMZ (and Delta3200) for highest EI values, are TMax and Xtol, so I bought a bottle of TMax. (They didn't have Xtol.) Otherwise, my usual developers are Diafine and HC-110, the latter especially for older (20, 30, or more years old) film. KodakAlaris has times for both XTOL and XTOL 1:1: http://imaging.kodakalaris.com/sites/prod/files/files/resources/f4017_TriX.pdf and I don't see much in the charts to suggest one over the other. -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Also, I never thought about nude darkroom photography before. -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_hutcherson Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Also, I never thought about nude darkroom photography before. Darkroom chemistry is tough on my hands...I'd hate to think what it would do to...other things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_hodge Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Darkroom chemistry is tough on my hands...I'd hate to think what it would do to...other things... Make one typo, and look what happens :) I also follow the 'fix for twice as long as it takes to clear the leader' rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_hutcherson Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Make one typo, and look what happens :) I also follow the 'fix for twice as long as it takes to clear the leader' rule. Sorry, I saw the chance and had to take it :) Unfortunately, there's still plenty of "immoral" photography and probably increasingly videography around. I'd venture to guess that anyone doing something that could land them in jail probably does it entirely digitally now so there's no chance of a photo lab catching them. I've never done nude photography(neither the kind that involves photographing nude people, or the kind that involves me being nude while photographing things-a scary thought) but I've had conversations with my local lab about it. They don't get a lot, and ask for folks bringing it in to say so and also sign off that there's no one underage. The vast majority of what they get would be classed as fine art, but they've also "fired" customers before over it, and in the 50+ years they've been in business(they actually did Kodachrome on-site at one time to give an idea of how old they are and how big they once were) have turned a few in to the police... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Sorry, I saw the chance and had to take it :) Unfortunately, there's still plenty of "immoral" photography and probably increasingly videography around. I'd venture to guess that anyone doing something that could land them in jail probably does it entirely digitally now so there's no chance of a photo lab catching them. (snip) I always though this was why Polaroid got so popular. At least a not unusual use for one. -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgpinc Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I think he meant to say HC110 is immortal meaning I guess that it will last for a long time. I agree that HC110 is a great B&W film developer that may be used 1 to 16 or 1 to 32 for the required time and temperature. I found that with a good thermometer and consistent development times it produced very good negatives. I preferred to shoot my Tri-X at ASA 200 and to pull the development from 10 to 20% for much better shadow detail. Been quite a while since I developed any Tri-X. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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