XTOL/Tmax & DD-X/Microphen

[Teus]

I'd like to move fully to Delta 100 & 400 for my BW needs, and I'm looking into my developing. XTOL is a nice developer, fine grained and sharp with good speed, but sometimes it's too contrasty. Especially under bright weather with a Leica lens, I totally lose the shadows. When scanning, I can easily scan -2 or +1 exposure: that's really nice, but this doesn't help when the brightness range is too great.

TMAX developer is wonderful, designed for T-grain and it gives lower contrast through more speed/shadow detail but it's too coarse I think. Kodak has this lovely chart but Ilford doesn't. How do Microphen and DD-X compare ?

DD-X is designed for T-grain films as well, supposedly it gives full speed, good sharpness and fine grain. Microphen would gain the most speed I think, but I don't know how sharp and contrasty it is?

 

[venchka]

Thanks for the chart. I had not seen it. Before giving up on Xtol, what dilutions have you tried? I'm just beginning to use Xtol after years with D-76. I started with 1:3 dilution. My results so far are good. I may stay with Xtol diluted 1:3.

 

[Matt(1pt4)]

I just souped a bunch of rolls of Delta 400 in Xtol, some at the stock dilution, some at 1+1, some at 200, and others at 400. Overall, Delta 400 looks better in Tmax developer. In xtol, the upper midtones seem to lack a bit of sparkle.

 

[mfogiel]

Try higher dilutions for compensating effect, and also try FX39 , especially for Delta 100.

 

[titrisol]

Delta 100 is quite forgiving but 400 is not
I have tried it in several developers but DDX was it, shoot a couple of rolls at 400-500 EI and developed in 1+4 as recommended. Negatives were exttremely easy to print, I do not know about scanning but I think you should try it,

 

[ChrisN]

For contrasty conditions, try giving 1-stop over-exposure, then cutting the dev time back by 20%. That will have more impact than switching developers.

 

[ath]

If the contrast of the negative is too high, shorten development time. 20% is a good start.
If the shadows are empty, expose more.

There's nothing magic about this.

 

[Teus]

Try higher dilutions for compensating effect, and also try FX39 , especially for Delta 100.

FX39 is second on my "to buy" list, but I'll have to order it. apparently its pretty sharp and gives a more classic tonality to T-grain films

thanks to the others for the good feedback. nobody tried & compared all of the developers in the topic, or can tell me more about just DDX & microphen?
I'll first find the right developer, I don't want to play too much yet with dilutions and pulling 🙂

 

[titrisol]

Since you are in Belgium, Amaloco has some interesting stuff
I have only tried the Am74 myself in classic pan films and I'm pretty happy with it.

DDX vs Microphen IMHO is a matter of liquid vs powder

FX39 is second on my "to buy" list, but I'll have to order it. apparently its pretty sharp and gives a more classic tonality to T-grain films

thanks to the others for the good feedback. nobody tried & compared all of the developers in the topic, or can tell me more about just DDX & microphen?
I'll first find the right developer, I don't want to play too much yet with dilutions and pulling 🙂

 

[Teus]

Since you are in Belgium, Amaloco has some interesting stuff
I have only tried the Am74 myself in classic pan films and I'm pretty happy with it.

I used AM74 a while, its too grainy for tri-x usually. I still got a fresh bottle around somewhere. With Fuji Acros it was way too grainy and quite contrasty

 

[Turtle]

Teus,

My experience with Xtol 1+1 (about 150 rolls of film) is that it is:

Of good speed - Gives box speed or more
Very fine grain
Very smooth tonality
Lowish acutance - no edge effects
Good resolution
Excellent highlight control

If you are losing shadows, increase exposure - this is not the developer. XTOL provides better speed than many developers and is great for pushing. If you are losing shadows with Xtol you would have it far worse with D76/IDll/Ilfosol/Perceptol/Aculux

Xtol 1+1 introduces a slight shoulder and helps control hot highlights - it is actually very handy in bright sunny conditions for this reason. I know some say 1+0 is rather 'hot' however, but I have never used this dilution as I would not like the reduced acutance and slightly reduced speed - 1+1 will give better speed.

IMO DDX produces larger grain than Xtol 1+1 but marginally better speed. HP5 is about 500.

 

[Teus]

thanks Turtle, very useful. I'm mostly using a handheld incident light meter, or just f11 under bright sun, and I haven't been opening my aperture enough. I'll give another 5L of XTOL a chance, with classic grain film and under slightly less contrasty light its wonderful.

some shadows fall away under f11 sun, i'll play with exposure and dilution a bit. exposing for the highlights did give me a few nice surprises though - Delta 400 xtol 1:1 here: