Xtol

I took this yesterday evening. The sun was catching the leaves in the Aspens whose leave had turned a wonderful bright yellow. Unfortunately there's a bit of what looks like (I hope¹) lens flare in the top of the trees on the right. I should have had a lens hood, but I have to figure something out when I've got the Cokin filters on the front of the lens (which is all the time).   

The pic was taken at about 4pm and developed by 5:15; by 7:30 it was scanned and spotted. Not only is this a bit more fun than waiting three weeks for Fuji to return the film (which they no longer do), but I like the results better. There is less grain, particularly in the sky. Since the film still Fuji Acros Neopan 100, the difference must be the developer (Xtol).

I will probably also try Eco-Pro which is supposed to be the same formulation.

¹ Because if it isn't lens flare it's a developing problem; and I'd rather it wasn't.

Home darkroom #3

My third darkroom is much like the second, but smaller. Certainly not enough room for the enlarger, but just about enough to mix the chemicals and shake the tank. There've been several "innovations" since the last time I developed any film. First, I now have a handy calculator to match time to temperature, film, and dilution. It makes the assumption that the relationship between temperature and time is a function of activation energy for whatever reaction is going on and that a log function is a reasonable approximation of the number of molecules with sufficient energy to take part int he reaction. The real answer involves integrating the area under a Boltzman distribution which I haven't yet been able to do. A quick look at the three films I just developed suggests it works.

The second innovation is not storing mixed developer. It's going to be easier to keep (I think) in power form, and mix only as much as I need just before processing the film. In order to do this I bought a jewellers scale.

Proper laboratory grade chemical balances start at about $850 for the most basic unit. Instead I found the little scale in the picture above for about $12, which was advertised as being accurate to one hundredth of a gram!  Just to make sure, I also bought two calibration weights and, astonishingly, the advertised spec was accurate (error < 0.01g).        

Another novelty are the measuring jugs - I was about to buy some Paterson measuring cylinders or similar, when I found these plastic measuring jugs at the Dollar Store. They are perfectly adequate for gauging the 12 fluid ounces the tank takes.       

The last innovation is Xtol, which according to Kodak delivers the second finest grain, the second most shadow detail and the highest actuance of all Kodak's developers. This looks like an unbeatable combination, and if it lives up to Kodak's marketing material, this will be my developer of choice. (I used to use D-76 which has been Kodak's workhorse developed for more than half a century. Xtol is apparently Kodak's latest - and its last - innovation in black and white film processing. 

The films is currently hanging up to dry. Apart from a few snafus (the clip covered some of the last frame, the first film was kinked and has a spot where the developed seems not to have reached the film),  not bad for my first film in over 10 years and my first roll of 6x7.

The next post, once the film is dry will report the results. Stay tuned.