Re: [Largeformat] Re: Developing Problem with Tmax

["Karl Wolz" <wolzphoto@worldnet.att.net>]

From: "Karl Wolz" <wolzphoto@worldnet.att.net>

I've been kinda half following this thread, and may have missed your ruling
this out, but If these ten sheets were developed in one batch, I would tend
to suspect that you somehow managed to contaminate the developer (or perhaps
the tank or your mixing graduate) with fixer.  A small amount of residue
form the last batch would reactivate the fix and considerably reduce the
activity of the developer.

Karl Wolz

----- Original Message -----
From: Pete Caluori <pcaluori@hotmail.com>
To: <Largeformat@onelist.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 6:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Largeformat] Re: Developing Problem with Tmax


> From: "Pete Caluori" <pcaluori@hotmail.com>
>
> >From: Pete Groh <pjgroh@cros.net>
> >
> >Let me add my two-cents worth. While lurking on another forum, there
> >was considerable discussion -- and displeasure -- that Xtol, unlike
> >many other developers -- exhausted itself quite quickly.
> >
> >Might want to consider approaching your problem from that angle.
> >Personally, I have never tried Xtol, so I'm passing this info along for
> >what
> >it's worth.
>
> Greetings,
> I appreciate the input Pete.  I posted this, because I can't come up with
a
> reason for why this happened.  I've been using Xtol for a couple of years
> and actually like the stuff.  I have read quite a bit about the debate
this
> stuff has spawned, but feel that, like anything else, one needs to learn
its
> quirks; nothing is "ideal."  What I used on this particular day was fresh,
> stock solution and solution from the same batch successfully developed
some
> Delta 100.  With very few exceptions, I always use the developer as one
shot
> and this day was no exception.
>
> If I hadn't developed 10 good negs from the same box a couple of months
> earlier, I would have thought the film was defective, but I did get 10
good
> negs.  If they were all very dense, I would have figured they got fogged,
or
> perhaps been exposed to excessive heat, but what I got was the exact
> opposite.  The same batch of stock Xtol developed the 10 previous negs 2
> months earlier and the same batch subsequently developed 10 Delta 100
negs.
>
> Even if I wasn't paying attention and developed the the negs for twice the
> normal time, or half the normal time, I wouldn't have gotten the results I
> did.  I've made errors in the darkroom before, but I could always track
down
> the problem/mistake, but this one has me stumped!  I guess what I'm
> thinking, but not wanting to say, because it does sound preposterous is:
is
> it conceivable that half a box of negatives is defective?
>
> Regards,  Pete
>
> >