Long life developer? or help an idiot

I've often found that the highlights form HP5+ can be a bit tricky, so to speak, until I started using HC-110 dil h. This seems to produce much better highlight separation and prints much more easily than my previous HP5 efforts. I've a pile of 7x5 prints from that roll at EI1600, I can honestly say I can't see the grain on the prints and the tones hang together through an 8x loupe (approx 40x enlargement).
 
That’s why I ended up with Aculux, and subsequently the two rolls of completely clear film last night, it is the ease of scanning and highlight detail that was making me consider xp2, I’m assuming it’s as forgiving as the colour c41 films
 
In order to make HC-110 last longer I use glass marbles dropped into the bottle to displace the volume of concentrate I draw out for each developing session. That way, there is essentially no more air in the bottle than when originally full. Be sure to wash and rinse the marbles first.

Ron
 
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