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Acufine Has Turned My Tri-X Shots Into T-Max!


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<p>I normally shoot Tri-X, developed in D76. It works real well. Yesterday I tried some Acufine for the second time, and the results were realy sharp. Much sharper than w/ D76. But something is missing, besides the usual grain that I see. Very odd. I like the Acufine photos, I think, but they are so different than what I usually see from the Kodak developer, I'm not sure I want to do this again. Maybe T-Max isn't exactly it. Maybe FP-4 or Acros. Anyway, here's four shots in Acufine, followed by three shots in D76. Different day, but same time of day, same film, same camera. Yep, I blew the focus in the last shot, but I still like it, and it definitely has a Tri-X look. I wonder if they will print noticeably different? You'd think so. The puddle of water in the first shot looks very odd. Nothing like it looked in real life.</p><div>00bhIJ-540201584.jpg.ab4d576968f67152c97ddfdfa1b4ba51.jpg</div>
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<p>Tone wise, the d-76 shots are more pleasing. But that could just be the scan. You posted mf images and it gets hard to tell with these small resolutions. Try the film/dev on 135 with a good lens. The differences should be more apparent then.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately this is the sort of subtle difference that is very hard to see in the WWW versions.</p>

<p>I need to get some fresh developer, maybe (gasp!) I will finally try something other than my old beloved D-76 after using that pretty much exclusively since 1949 or so.</p>

 

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<p>The Acufine is really easy to use JDM. It is very cheap as well. I develop the film, then pour it back into my bottle. It's over 2 months old now and has been sitting in our home on many days where it's been way over 88 degrees because sometimes I forgot to put on the AC when I leave. I did a snip test before using it, and the film turned black in just a couple of minutes, so it's still going strong. The grain is really tight on the Acufine negs, w/ luscious deep blacks, but it do look quite different that what I'm used to. I am beginning to suspect that it may be for occasions when you know that you mis-metered the roll and want to avoid big ugly grain on underexposed shots.</p>

<p>That's a good idea on the 35mm Peter, but I sold all of that and just shoot MF now. I did try to have exactly the same workflow w/ the scans to try and eliminate that variable. In the end, I will have to make enlargements in the darkroom before deciding what to do. I'm just surprised at such a big difference the two developers make on the finished negative. </p>

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<p>D76 has always been a good developer, just not a great one for me. If you want to try some DIY, I have recently fallen in love with Thornton's 2 bath. All the chems are soo easy to get and I mix them when I need them. Each batch will do 15+ rolls and cost cents to do. The acutance is just stunning. Here is a 645 on tmy. It's not a great shot as I was just testing my extension tubes and a ring flash.</p>

<p><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8240/8518542083_c1b44c1381_d.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>On the other side, Acufine is probably close to XTol in results (from what I have seen). XTol *is* probably the best all round developer, in commercial offerings. I stopped using it because the 'sudden death' I kept hitting after about a year. If it was my only developer, it would not be an issue. Just in case if you are still in the mood to try other things.</p>

<p>Just some rambling thoughts....</p>

 

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<p>You're comparing Buicks to Hondas. For a real test you need to shoot one roll of film of the same subject in the same way and develop half in D-76 and the other in Acufine. Showing a photo of a very contrasty subject may make the neg look really swell but if you shoot a "soft" subject the neg may be soft.</p>
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