Best deveoloper von Trix-X and /or Efke ?

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Thomas78

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Hello,

I just recently started developing my own b&w film.

Up to now I have worked with Ilford Ilfotec DD-X as developer, Iford Ilfostop and Ifotec Rapid Fixer.

I think it is a good developer for the Ilford Delta series and (hopefully) also for HP5.

But would it be also a good and flexible developer vor Tri-X (in the iso range of 100 - 1600) and/or Efke R100 (in the iso range of 100 - 400) or should I look for a different developer for that films ?

Could I use the stop and fixing bath form Ilford together with the other developers ?


Thanks,
Thomas
 
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Thomas78 said:
But would it be also a good and flexible developer vor Tri-X (in the iso range of 100 - 1600) and/or Efke R100 (in the iso range of 100 - 400) or should I look for a different developer for that films ?
Click to expand...

Thomas,
I use for Efke/Adox a acutance-increasing developer (Rodinal; Neofin, ...).
For TX the classic D76 or (for pushing) Xtol;Diafine.
Stop/fix as desired...
 
XTOL is great

XTOL is great

I´ve ended up using XTOL for Tri-X, mostly diluted 1+1. Works great at box speed, and amazingly well when used to push for 1600 and 3200.
 
Thomas,

DD-X is fine for Tri-X. It is Ilfords equivalent to Kodak's X-tol. You can always try Kodak d76 with TX also. Its the "classic" developer for TX.

And yes, the Ilford stop and fixers are fine for TX and any other branded film you might use.
 
Anybody got their act down when pushing Tri-X one stop (to ISO 800) in D76?

Care to share some times and M.O.?

:angel:
 
Thomas78 said:
should I look for a different developer for that films ?
Click to expand...

Since you are a beginner, as you've said, do you believe you have your process under sufficient control so that you are able to tell the difference between developer/film combinations? I understand, that playing around is part of the fun, and most people here probably will encourage you to follow "their" way. But let me give you one advice from beginner to beginner: Have patience.

I started filmprocessing a bit more than a year ago. Apart from very very few exceptions, I use only one developer and one film-type and only now am I slowly getting the results that I am after.

Bye,
Michael
 
mile said:
Since you are a beginner, as you've said, do you believe you have your process under sufficient control so that you are able to tell the difference between developer/film combinations? I understand, that playing around is part of the fun, and most people here probably will encourage you to follow "their" way. But let me give you one advice from beginner to beginner: Have patience.

I started filmprocessing a bit more than a year ago. Apart from very very few exceptions, I use only one developer and one film-type and only now am I slowly getting the results that I am after.

Bye,
Michael
Click to expand...

Good, if not excellent advice. There is plenty of time to 'branch out' but get one (maybe two) films and one developer down, then you can fool around. Knowing what a negative should look like for your after negative processing is very important.

You will probably not see much difference in different developers. I can see some on negatives but really the differences are so minor; I can't see wasting my time one looking for the 'perfect wave' (as they say around here).
 
I use D76 at 1:1 for Tri-x, I have experimented with other developers, but I get my favorite results with that combo. For Efke I used ADOX ATM 49 with some great results. These films are very similar emulsions so one developer will give similar results on both films
 
charjohncarter said:
Good, if not excellent advice. There is plenty of time to 'branch out' but get one (maybe two) films and one developer down, then you can fool around. Knowing what a negative should look like for your after negative processing is very important.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I should add, I have some friends who gave me accesss to sensi-/densitometry so that I could just test my development under varying conditions. That and Ansel Adams famous Negative-book helped me a lot to understand what's going on.

Bye,
Michael
 
I used to use Xtol (1+1) with Tri-X but now got lazy and use DD-X (1+4), since I don't develop that often and I got Xtol bad once. I only do medium and large format, so the difference is difficult to tell. If you are happy with DD-X I would probably stick with it.
 
Efke films are typical single layer type films and are doing the best around box speed in a high acutance developer:

Beutler A+B, FX-1, Neofin Blue/Blau, Rodinal are typical developers for this type of films.
In a reel development you can still develop without additional hardener because the emulsion of Efke is pretty soft.
Do not over expose Efke films and never touch the wet emulsion. The film is made acording the 50's technology including sensitive for reticulation due to temperature changes during development. But it's a sharp film, especially the Efke 25 which is even an Orthopan film (so is the iso 50 version). The Efke 100 is a regular panchromatic film.

Here an example (35mm) of Efke 25 in Beutler A+B. This formulae has been made (by Willi Beutler) especially for these type films.

Efke 25 in Beutler 1+1+10 for 7:00 minutes (20C).

3531595018_f19fb577aa.jpg
 
Hi Johann,
Don't have my act down at EI800 modern Tri-X, but with the original Tri-X, for a one-stop push, I used to increase development time by 50%. A two-stop push was a 100% increase and worked quite well for me at the time.

Here are some starting times from DigitalTruth with modern Tri-X:

http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php?Film=Tri-X+400&Developer=D-76&mdc=Search

I like thick negatives myself, with lots of detail. I'd start at 9 1/2 minutes at 20C and then back off the time if necessary. Should be reasonably close. 8 minutes is my normal Tri-X/XX developing time in straight D76 type developer.


buzzardkid said:
Anybody got their act down when pushing Tri-X one stop (to ISO 800) in D76?

Care to share some times and M.O.?

:angel:
Click to expand...
 
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The highest acutance you will reach with FX-1, in fact a modified Beutler by adding a very small amount of Potassiumiodide. It was one of the inventions of Geoffrey Crawley, the famous British chemist. But I must say the difference with Beutler is neglectible, even on a 35mm negative.
The above picture has been made with a M7 + Summarit 2,5/75mm lens.
 
And talking about Efke 100. This shot has been made on Rollei Retro 100 TONAL, in fact an Efke 100 film with Orthopan sensitizers. A mixture which is pretty unique (in iso 100 films). Only the Acros 100 has a bit of these characteristics. This TONAL film can be developed under dark Red X-ray bulb by sight.

C.V. Bessa III 667 RF camera. Almost 7:00 minutes in AM74 1+9 (20C).

4720717596_6ebf9f61a9.jpg
 
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