Help me with my processing: Ilfosol 3

kemal_mumcu

kemal_mumcu

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Hi everyone, I bought a bottle of Ilfosol 3 cause it was all that was available plus I wanted to try something out of a bottle that I didn't have to mix. Normally i use Xtol or D76.

I'm having a hard time controlling contrast on my negs. The following shot illustrates the type of neg that I'm getting out of the tank; dull, heavy blacks with no detail, high contrast and a very low tonal values. Can you suggest what I might be doing wrong?

I followed the massive dev chart's recommendations - Tri-X @ 800 Ilfosol 3 1+14, 18.5min @ 20C

The lens was a CV 21 f4
 

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ilfosol 3 is normally for slower films.. it's my least favorite developer... even when I "used it correctly"... I say do urself a favor and dump it out and get some rodinal...
 
...and I'd say forget Rodinal for any film over ISO 100, and probably for any 35mm film of any kind ... (Rodinal is great on 4x5 inch and bigger, OK on 6x9cm).

This does not mean that heespharm is wrong and I am right, or vice versa. It just means thst B+W is alchemy and TOTALLY dependent on how it works for you. My own recommendations for Tri-X (high speed, high sharpness, big grain) would be Ilford DD-X -- as against low speed, high sharpness, huge grain with Rodinal.

Heespharm and I do however agree that the only reason to use Ilfosol 3 is lack of alternative...

Tashi delek,

R.
 
If you want better gradation with less contrast, ie less blown whites and blocked blacks, then do not push trix to 800! In fact try pulling it half a stop to 300ish. I've never used ilfosol, but if you like using a liquid developer (measure and mix kind) then give hc110 a try. Develop trix at iso 320 in dilution h (17mL of syrup to 1L) for 9 to 10 minutes to taste.
 
I like Ilfosol 3 because it's easy to use one-shot. I find two things:
1. Keep the bottle full - I use marbles. I think it oxidizes more quickly than some other developers, especially Rodinal.
2. Be generous with your developing times. I think the times Ilford gives are a bit optimistic. I tend to add a good 10% to the time. Of course, variations in thermometers and light meters could be a cause.
Just my experience.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Maybe convenience is for the lazy...

I'm tempted to dump it but I'm trying to give it a chance. It took me a while to work out D76/TriX when I first started developing. I've developed about 6 rolls with this developer and I just can't seem to make it sing for TriX and PX125. I've found that diluting seems to help, as well as keeping the agitation gentle too...

What kind of film would this ilfosol stuff be good for? I have a roll of PanF 50 that I wanted to try, its a slower film at least.

Thanks for the ideas.
 
Chris101 said:
If you want better gradation with less contrast, ie less blown whites and blocked blacks, then do not push trix to 800! In fact try pulling it half a stop to 300ish. I've never used ilfosol, but if you like using a liquid developer (measure and mix kind) then give hc110 a try. Develop trix at iso 320 in dilution h (17mL of syrup to 1L) for 9 to 10 minutes to taste.
Click to expand...

I know that pushing TriX doesn't help gradation but I've never had such a problem with TriX at 800 or even at 1600 either with D76 or Xtol. Thanks for the hc110 idea though, I want to get around to trying all these developers eventually.
 
the time and dilution and temperature you mention are correct, according to the ilfosol manual (there's a pdf online). I haven't used it on tx, however using it on rollei 100 i have found that i need to develop it for less time, something like 9 minutes instead of 10-11 i think.

The Ilford figures are directed towards englands low contrast light. Living in a country where the sun shines even in winter, i find their figure to result in too contrasty a neg, perhaps that's your case as well?
 
Oddly, I found Ilfosol3 to work better for me on Kodak film than Ilford (at least 100/125 ASA)

Works just fine for (out of date) Pan-F though 🙂

Goes off suddenly, ie just "goes bad" if you don't use it quickly. (in my limited experience)
 
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