chris_almqvist

i have now tried the neopan 1600 in xtol 1+1 and i have got the same result as you: very thin negatives. have you found the solution to the problem?

I processed a Fujipan 400 exposed at 800 in Xtol diluted 1+1 the other night, and I have just made enlargements 24x30 cm. I used the times recommended by Kodak (including adjustment for low volume of developer stock per film) and I can highly recommend the film - and the combination. There was a film test in the German 'fotomagazine' 9-97 and they indicated in the resulting tables that the times given for fujipan and some developers (Rodinal and Perceptal, but not ID11) obviously were wrong. Try the times from Kodak's web page - btw the times there are longer for the 400 than for the 1600, so that is probably not the reason for your problem

I recently had problems with enlargment quality caused by grit --inside-- the enlarger lens. Perhaps you should check the inner surfaces of your lens too. The grit evidently came from the paint on the diaphragm getting loose when changing the fstops (the enlarger lens is a top brand, but has been out of use for years). It was almost impossible to see the grit looking throught the enlarger lens, the only way to see it was to use a magnifying glass so that I could focus on the inner lens surfaces. The repair is nothing for DIY, the cleaning bill is $ 150, and it was really a necessary expense.

if your tmax negatives are purple, then you did not fix (and rinse) properly. tmax takes longer to fix than conventional films. red filters do not give red negatives unless you use a slide film. there are several postings relating to purple tmax negatives on this site. go and look for them. regards

you do not need a conventional print dryer if you bought rc-paper (resin coated); indeed, as a beginner, you should not use a conventional dryer for these papers as they get too hot for the plastic coating. just put the papers on an old newspaper to dry, squeeze off excess water with a sponge or a rubber blade - and additionally use a hair-dryer at the lowest setting for some seconds at a distance of 30 cm = 12 inches if you are in a hurry. time needed without hair dryer is less than half an hour. alternatively you can hang the pictures on a laundry line, but the clips may leave marks.

good luck, lots of success

Some of that magenta coloring washes away when you rinse the film. Ilford suggest a water saving approach: change water in tank five times; after the first water change invert or rotate the tank once, after the second change do it five times, after the third change ten times and after the fourth change twenty times. You can see the coloring disappear when you flush out the first waters. Anyway different films usually look a bit different, and the same film may look different when developed in a different developer. What really counts is if you can make good enlargements from your negatives.

 

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Ilford also have a proposal for establishing clearing times: take a small piece of the film (the leader) and put one single drop of hypo on it and wait for thirty seconds. Then put the whole piece into hypo. (I use a small glass jar for this, it allows you to inspect the clearing progress easily without having to take out the film.) When there is no difference between the area where you placed the initial drop and the rest, then the film is cleared. Make a note of the time needed with unused hypo. You should discard the hypo when it is so used that the clearing time is twice the time for unused hypo.

If you monitor your hypo quality this way, there should be no need to fix for more than twice the (current) clearing time.

 

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By the way, have you seen that Kodak has changed its developing instructions from 'use vigorous agitation' (for T-Max developer) to 'gentle ......agitation' (for XTOL). If you are a fine grain freak, try gentle agitation with your T-Max developer and see what it does to your grain.....

XTOL film development times need adjustment for small tank volumes.

 

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It is a common complaint that the development times given by Kodak for XTOL are much too short to give satisfactory negatives. I believe the times given by Kodak are correct - provided they are properly adjusted for 'capacity' (and, of course, dilution, temperature and exposure) as per Kodak's Data Sheet. If you adjust properly you get excellent

negatives with most films.

 

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It seems many users forget to consider the capacity factor, indeed some magazines have published development times for 1+1 dilution without mentioning the quantity used per roll. Such unspecific development times are nonsense because the quantity of undiluted Xtol used to develop one film is a very important factor for determining the development time.

 

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Kodak states that 15 rolls of film can be processed per litre of Xtol Developer (AND THEY MEAN UNDILUTED DEVELOPER!), but that you have to increase the normal development times by 15% if you develop 6 to 10 rolls per liter, and by another 15% (or 33% in total) if you develop 11 to 15 films per litre.

 

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Here is a sample calculation: My tank requires 250 cc liquid per film and I use a 1+1 dilution. That equals 125 cc undiluted developer per film and I therefore develop 8 films per litre and need to increase the standard time for 1+1 dilution by 15%. --- If you rotate your tank, 150 cc liquid or less is usually standard. If you use 150 cc 1+1 dilution you develop 13 films per litre and you need to increase development times by one-third. That makes a lot of difference!

 

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Jobo USA (the tank manufacturer) have made some tests on minimum quantities needed per film and have concluded that certain films (e.g Agfa) need more developer per film than Kodak and Ilford, so you may want to test the adjustment percentages before you develop a valuable film.

 

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I find XTOL an excellent developer, and pleasant to work with. Ilford Delta 100 has long been my favourite film. Luckily enough these two products work superbly together. I use this combination up to an exposure index of 800 and in spite of the pushed development it gives better result than high speed films.

 

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Pushing to an e.i. of 800 and using a 1+1 dilution gives a development time of 20 minutes at 200C which is inconvenient. Time is cut to 15 minutes when temperature is increased to 240C. Has anybody tried XTOL at high temperatures? Please let me know how grain, sharpness and gradation is affected vs. normal temperature.