kenneth_williams

I don't know what country you live in but in the U.S., these chemicals are rare. I have tried them only once and it was a disaster. They are liquid developers which I do not use, because they are never dated. Everything else in this country from frozen food to prescription drugs has an expiration date on it. If enough of us complained maybe the photographic industry would start dating chemical products. Anyway, neofin blue is similar to Rodinal giving high sharpness but with alot of grain. It is similar to the Beutler formula: Solution A. 750 ml water, 10 grams metol, 50 grams sodium sulfite, anhydrous. Solution B. 750 ml water, Sodium carbonate, monohydrated 50 grams. Mix one part a, one part b, to ten parts water. Developing times are seven to ten minutes, 68 degress. The Tetenal developers are excellent developers, but because they are rare in the U.S. I do not use them.

Most photographers use D-76 at a ratio of one part water to one part developer. The diluted developer is an aid to producing thinner negatives. Because today's paper does not have as much silver in it as older papers did, thinner negatives print more easily. D-76 should be mixed at 125 degrees as directed by Kodak. It is important to let the developer sit overnight so the chemicals can jell. If you have to use D-76 right away, wait one hour if possible.

There has to be a better solution to this. In 4 x 5 sheet film, the only tri-x film made is tri-x professional. Someone somewhere has to have a developing technique to work with this film. From what I have read, the professional 120 is designed for carefully controlled conditions like tungsten lighting and studio lighting where you can control the light and thus advoid lens flare. They are two completely different types of films. In order to to get better midtone separation, you are supposed to develop film longer. Then the highlights and shadows are dodged and burned in. You can also try rating the film at iso 50, and develop 30% less than recommended for iso 400. This is called pulling film. It results in overall less contrast and less grain. I am not sure what it does to midtones, althought I suspect it provides less midtone separation. You might also try using D-76 at 1:1 ratio, which again, will provide a less contrasty negative, which will probably result in less midtone separation. I wish I could be of more help, and I will let you know if I find anything on this.

I have the Bronica ETRSi camera with a polaroid back. To my knowledge they don't make a back that will take 4 x 5 sheet film. I don't see why you can't cut a 4 x 5 piece of film and place it in the back. Then put a polaroid pack on top of it to hold the film flat. If anyone has tried this, I would like to know. I could get four 6 x 4.5 negatives if the film was cut carefully, but two would be more realistic. If the cost of one piece of 4 x 5 is more than a roll of 120, it would not make to much sence to try this, except you can get some films in 4 x 5 that are not in 120. You can simply shoot one picture on a roll of 120 and throw the rest of the roll away.