fred aspen

Evan, after all these years (and many forays into exotic developers of every kind) it is difficult to beat D-76 1:1. It is, IMHO, the best compromise in a developer. Sure, you can get other characteristics with other developers but it is always the three-legged stool - choose a stool with a particular long leg and it will sit off kilter. Thornton had it right: speed, graininess, sharpness. There is always that trade-off; you have to sacrifice the other two for the sake of the one. There is no free lunch in B/W photography!

Patrick,

 

That is exactly the result I get when using a two bath developer with too little agitation. Anchell recommends continuous agitation in A and B bath with two bath systems.

I had similar problems with HC-110 at higher dilutions, much more grain than dil. B. I also scan and the combination of HC-110 at high dilution and my Minolta DSIV give horrible results. Try Xtol or D-76 at 1:1 dilutions for softer results and better scans. I fought this problem for quite a while before getting a handle on it.

John,

I finally gave up on HC110 for the very reasons you're displaying in your post. The development curve for HC110 curves upward instead of the 's' curve approximation and I decided it was too touchy for my taste. I tried a lot of combinations and finally gave it the heave-ho. Settled on good ol' D-76 and the occasional T-Max Developer.

From a quality standpoint, the failure rate curve is very much shaped like a bathtub and is referred to as "the bathtub curve."

 

Infant mortality failures occur very early in the life cycle of the item. That's why warranties are there for the first one or two years where manufacturing problems show up fairly quickly.

 

After the warranty expires and you have passed the infant mortality phase, the curve then falls to to near the bottom and goes along for the majority (perhaps 70-80%)of the normal life cycle with very few failures then starts to rise again at the end of its lifespan.

 

You want the coverage at the beginning of the life cycle (mfrs. warranties) and near the end of the life cycle where wear is a major factor.

 

Extended warranties usually are setup to cover failures in the middle where the incidence of failure is very low and the seller of the warranty usually isn't likely to have to provide monies for repairs.

www.micro-tools.com

 

http://www.micro-tools.com/store/SearchByCategory.aspx?CategoryCode=LNS

 

The gum rubber tools at the bottom of the page to remove rings without using a spanner which can cause damage.

Ray,

 

Most of the lenses I buy at really good prices on *bay and I cla all of them. It isn't a difficult job and I can disassemble, clean elements, lube and reassemble in about 45 minutes to an hour. As far as how often? I haven't had to go back into one in the last few years. I chose lithium grease since it is excellent in metal-metal situations. Nikon I am sure uses a proprietary grease; I believe I read this somewhere on the web. A lot of the AI lenses have lost the grease from their helicoids and they focus way to easy in my way of thinking. I like the soft resistance that the lithium grease provides and it holds position quite well. Prior to cla they could be bumped off focus quite easily. I recently acquired a beautiful 50mm f1.8 ai that was quite gritty in the aperture action and the focusing was stiff as all get out. Cleaned it up and it is a sweetheart now. Again, just some dust/dirt lodged in the dried grease and once replaced was good as new.

 

I wouldn't recommend diving fully into a lens right away. I am self taught but I was a watchmaker many years ago. The biggest problem is marking the two pieces when the helicoid separates. They can go back together several different ways which will not allow proper operation. Only one alignment will put you properly back in place.

 

Experiment with something that is terminal; I would pick up dropped lenses for next to nothing and work with them. After I worked them over I gained knowledge and also had an excellent source for parts as well.

 

Oh, and you will need a good adjustable spanner if you want to get into lens cells to clean dust/dirt/minor fungus/haze. I polish the lens elements with a special cloth before reassembly. Nikon uses a locktite type of product to secure the lens cell retainers which dissolves in alcohol on a Q-tip.

 

I have never had to repair aperture blades other than to clean oil from them because of overlubing.

 

Best of luck,

 

R.

Likely the grease has dried out. On AIS lenses remove the three screws from the mounting ring, remove the chrome mount and the aperture ring will slip off. You can then clean, lube and reassemble, watching that the coupling arm on the mounting ring goes back into the slot internally in the lens.

 

WARNING: I do this all the time but you do so at your own risk. Also, if you elect to go forward, pick up a decent set of jewelers screwdrivers at your local home improvement store otherwise you stand a good chance of boogering the screwheads.

 

The click stop mechanism on AIS lenses is simply a narrow strip of spring metal with a bump formed in it and that mates with grooves milled into the inside of the aperture ring. Pretty simple minded yet effective and not much can go wrong unless the metal strip is broken. I clean with alcohol and use a very, very tiny bit of lithium grease. Don't overdo on the grease.

I'll bet money it's your scanning process/neg development. I fought this problem for a long time before I arrived at Lex's solution. Be careful of your exposure (minimum), do not over agitate during development, monitor your temps carefully (I had an inaccurate thermometer too) and I use 10% less development time than the box calls for and I now get pretty decent scans of 400TX. Prior to doing this I was getting golf ball sized grain. Just the slightest deviation from the above process and the scanner would start to exaggerate the grain pattern through grain aliasing. Thin, almost flat, negs work best on a scanner, not too good for conventional processes though.

 

Best of luck,

Thank you, everyone, for the information. I have been mixing the stock (1929) formula but will be mixing the D76d buffered version and feeling a lot more comfortable.

 

Thanks again!

 

Ron

I usually get between 18-20 depending on how much leader you need.

Thanks for the link. Exactly the kind of information I was seeking. It seems there is much variability between the variants and, since I was using the Kodak packaged product, I will put it back on the short list.

 

Thanks!

Does anyone have a handle on how much change takes place with the current

commercial formulation of D-76 in terms of number of stops overdevelopment or

paper grade changes because of the pH change which increases activity levels? I

began to worry about consistency but perhaps I am being too concerned about

something that is trivial?

 

TIA

Hi Alan,

 

I haven't used their C-41 processing but I have used their E-6 processing and their prices are darned reasonable and the quality is excellent.

 

Nichols Photo Lab 3300 S 1100 E. They're in the phone book, give them a call.

 

R.

I get those every time I final wash in tap water and use LFN. I switched to distilled water in the final wash and I don't have the problem. I have extremely hard tap water and I think the crud is chunks of calcium/magnesium carbonate from the hard water.

I once owned a Leica collapsible 50mm Summicron lens that was dropped and had a half moon shaped chip at the edge of the lens that was about the size of a half of a dime and somewhat milky. The filter ring was badly smashed as well. I bought it for twenty bucks thinking I could use it for parts if needed.

 

I bought some Kodak flat black lacquer used for blackening the shiny spots on the inside of cameras/lenses and completely blackened the chipped area. I used that lens for a number of years with no noticeable difference from my good Summicron. The only difference was I now had a 2.5 lens instead of a 2.0 lens.

 

You'd be amazed at the problems that lens can get and still not appreciably affect image quality.

 

Ron

Jermaine,

 

I read your post and assumed you were referring to pp. 31 of the cookbook and their caution to use "at least 500 ml of developer of dilute developer" and then listed D76 1:1 as an example citing 250 ml of stock and 250 ml of water.

 

I ran into this situation with the Paterson tanks and tried both ways and didn't see any difference visually but I don't have a densitometer to verify. I do believe, though, their contention that trying to conserve on developer consumption might indeed compromise quality and consistency.

 

I think this is what you were asking but I might be wrong.

 

Ron

If DT recommends 7.5 minutes that is for a diffusion enlarger. For a condenser enlarger the correct time would be around 6 minutes but there are so many variables to be considered that these can only be recommended as starting points. Everyone's technique/equipment varies so you must develop you own personal times through trial and error.

I am not at all sure where it came from or how accurate that 34% number is but I have several nikons and they are all calibrated to 12-14% in the matrix mode and are about 2/3 stop less than that (roughly 18%) in the CWA or spot modes.

 

YMMV however,

 

Ron

Just an odd thought after reading your last response. Perhaps the 12-24 hr. drying in an open area will a) catch dust during the wet to dry phase and/or b) electrostatically attract dust after being dry and cause scratch marks during the process of inserting the negs into the sleeves. I rarely leave film out more than 1 hour before sleeving unless in a formal drying box.

 

There is a ton of junk floating around the average house if you have ever watched a sunbeam.

 

Ron

Just a bit of additional info: I did the kitchen cheapo and those units usually come with an alkaline cell. The battery voltage from an alkaline gradually decreases over time. My kitchen digital was off by nearly two degrees near the end of battery life. No warning, just dense negs; a roast that is two degrees hotter doesn't care. If there is a silver oxide replacement battery, that will definitely help. I found the error when I verified the kitchen unit against my process thermometer which confirmed the reason for dense negs. Additionally, quality definitely varies from brand to brand in the kitchen units which do not quote an accuracy spec (only a repeatibility spec, if that, and that is worthless in photographic apps.) and are usually manufactured offshore. My personal opinion from experience is that dial units aren't any better. I have a number of these in a box that are off anywhere from 2-4 degrees; seems they just kind of drift aimlessly along. Give me a good glass mercury lab thermometer and I'm happy.

 

You get what you pay for....as the old adage goes....

 

Ron

I have seen a bunch of Kodak Process thermometers on Ebay for less than a new Paterson. I just picked up a NIB type 3 (for color processes) for $19 plus shipping and have seen used ones go for less than that. They are cumbersome to work with but they make a great reference thermometer to verify your working thermometer. I believe that they are accurate to 1/4 deg. F if memory serves.

 

Ron

Completely agree with Lee. Had an old beater Leica M3 that the shutter finally gave up and I contemplated selling for scrap but put it on eBay instead with complete disclosure. Netted almost $500! Much better than the $50 offered for scrap!

 

I would certainly give it a try, there is always someone out there that wants a quality lens and is capable of fixing it. Meanwhile you can fund the new acquisition.

 

Ron

Hi Richard,

 

I don't own a D200 but I am a retired EE. Seems like your D200 is voltage sensitive and needs more battery capacity than you're giving it with AA alkalines. Alkalines have fairly high internal resistance and when called upon to deliver power to high current loads, they tend to fade. Standard alkalines are poor power sources in digital applications.

 

NIMH batteries on the other hand are rated at 1.2V nominally and this may be below the voltage threshold for proper operation. They can deliver in high current situations but again the voltage is below the 1.5V that alkalines are rated at.

 

Perhaps you should check your manual and see if Lithiums are acceptable as they should help the situation and typically have higher voltages. See what the spec calls for and use that power source. Be careful since some Mfrs. do not want customers using Lithiums in their equipment as they tend to have higher voltages than some electronics will tolerate and can cause damage.

 

Lastly, are you perhaps the Richard Potts that grew up in Kennewick, WA?

 

Ron

Jed,

 

Somewhat confusing but in the original question, I expressed a preference for Acutol so perhaps the comparison was Clayton's offering as compared to Acutol. Or it could mean that Clayton's offering is superior to all of Paterson's offerings.

 

That's the best I can offer....

 

Ron