One year, one film, one developer?

[robbeiflex]

Four suggestions:

1. Mix your XTOL stock solution in distilled water.
2. Invest in a good thermometer.
3. Consistent with Kodak recommendations, I get good results exposing 2TMY at 400 or 800 with identical development times in XTOL.
4. Bulk loading of 2TMY is about half as expensive as buying rolls.

Thanks semilog. I've got numbers 1 and 2 under control, and will give 3 a try. I probably won't get to number four any time soon, but have a friend with a darkroom I can ask. For now it's a case of buying them already loaded.

 

[Ljós]

I think sticking with one film, ie: arista premium 400 for myself, and when out in daylight just using a 3 stop ND filter to take it down. THis seems more practical than multiple films and developers.
.

Using 400 speed film in daylight and "taking it down" with a ND filter certainly is an alternative. But - using a 3 stop filter takes you down to iso 50. If you want to be able to use your lenses wide or close to wide open and run out of shutter speeds, that makes perfect sense. But routinely using a 3 stop filter... you would probably get occasional artefacts (glare/flare) from the filter itself, and sacrifice the benefit of higher shutter speeds. You would not even get a pictorial "return" from the filter (ok, different aesthetics from the change in aperture...) as you would get with a yellow or orange filter etc.

So I see why a ND filter can earn its place in a photographer's toolbox - but if you can afford to take down your 400 speed film THREE stops, something like Acros would make a whole lot of sense.

 

[Tom A]

The idea of one film/one developer works. In the 60's I worked as photographer (press) and all one used was Tri X and D76! You learn quickly what the limitations of the "kit" and shot with that in mind.
As for using ND filters - I never bothered. If you had to shoot in bright light and with shallow depth of field. Just down rate the speed of the film and pull it early! Tri X can be done at 25 iso in a pinch - and it looks really good at 100 iso with 1/2 time in D75 1:1.
One piece of advice. Stock up on whichever film you intend to use - enough for the year and also on the developer. Murphy's Law applies: If you run out before the year is over- you will find that something has gone missing from your regular source!!!!
Currently I am mainly using Kodak's XX, rating it from 250 to 640. Developer does vary though, depending on my mood.

 

[robbeiflex]

Tom, as usual your advice is much appreciated. I tend to use the ND just for when there are still a few shots left from an evening/night roll and I find myself wandering around in mid-day sun, for full rolls I pull.

Meanwhile, I've discovered macodirect.de has great prices on single rolls of various brands and affordable shipping to Luxembourg! So step one is now to switch from LC29 to XTOL and try various brands of film, including my remaining HP5+. Then in a few weeks when I'm hopefully sure about the XTOL and found "my film" I'll make my big order and start my "One developer, one or more films (some digital here and there), one long period of time!".

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Ljós]

Rob,
thumbs up for macodirekt from me (located in Germany). They ship fast, communication is very transparent. All the best for your film-and-developer-journey!

Greetings, Ljós