carl_crosby2

Thanks to all who took the time to answer my rather basic questions.

It's GOOD to find people who understand the fascination of Black and

white.C

Thanks for the input. It feels good to be back. C

I have no darkroom, and need to dry my film as rapidly as possible to eliminate dust spots. I once worked for a newspaper, and we used a product called Yankee rapid film dryer--soak the washed film for a minute, pull it off the reel, and almost by the time you could hang it up, it was dry. Is a similar product available nowadays, or could the same thing be accomplished by mixing photo flo and alcohol? As I recall, you didn't even have to squeegee the film. One other thing I remember: articles, particularly in Popular Photography, advocating adding a magical elixir called Crone Additive C (or some letter) to D76 for better(?)shadow detail. Is that still necessary, or do undoctored developers work best for reliability and repeatability? Thanks;C.Crosby

I'm getting back into black and white after a bit of time. I took an evening class at the local high school, and the instructor had bulk-load TMAX 400.Try as I would , could not get what I considered passable negatives. I have no idea what the developer was. I will probably use Tri-X or Plus-X or similar film for my shooting,and would like to know which of the "old standard" developers will give full film speed, good sharpness, and fine grain. I read what Kodak had to say re: Xtol,then I read what the forum participants have to say, and don't think I'll do that to myself. My choices are D76/ID11(written like that, are they the same developer?) HC 110, Ethol UFG, or Acufine. We used a lot of Acufine for yearbook work when I was in college, but the results were more of the "soot and chalk" variety with pushed development, and I am not sure if that is a good choice, either. I like to shoot at the manufacturer's rated speed. Any help will be greatly appreciated.