[Leica] Re: Leitz / Japanese BL finders / my eyes

[Jack Gottlob <sam@injersey.com>]

Bill Franson wrote:
> 
> My suggestions on your thread:
> The Negative is a great book to understand the effects of exposure and
> development variations. It's difficult to apply when you string 36 exposures
> under varying light conditions on one roll. Easier if you shoot medium
> format and have several film backs.
> 
> Years ago I used to shoot Tri-x at 200 and underdevelop. This worked well at
> the time but now I need all the film speed I can get. I have switched to
> TMax 400 rated at 400, process in HC110 1:7 at 70 degrees and shave 30 sec
> off the recommended time. I print on variable contrast paper with a cold
> light head. I'm very pleased with the results. I would suggest a head to
> head comparision of Tri-x and TMax. I've tried Xtol developer but don't like
> the results.
> 
> One caution. Short development times can sometimes introduce uneven
> development. 5 min is the shortest I will go.
> 
> Bill
> 
> At 01:57 AM 11/29/97 -0500, you wrote:
> >I've been reading the Negative by Ansel Adams. After doing a loose EI test I
> >shoot Tri-X @ 200 using  N-1 developement (Ansel recommends for 35mm roll
> >film Tri-X) . Using the film chart in Appendix 2 developemnt for N-1 is at
> >4.2 mins in a 1:7 delution of HC-110 (minus 20% from the recommended 5.25min
> >of developement because I use a condenser enlarger). I'm new to this and I
> >plan to experiment with this using different devlopers and maybe film. Has
> >anyone tried this and does anyone have any suggetstions of film/developer
> >combinations for B&W.
> >Have you tried pyro developer.  The results are truly amazing. It's a 
staining developer and although the appearance of the negatives are weak, 
they print up like a dream with great highlight to shadow definition. The 
only problem with it is that there is a warning not to use it if you take 
blood pressure medication. Descression being the better part of valor, I 
dumped mine and went back to FG7.