[Leica] Stand developing and TFX-2

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

> Please let us know how these turn out, I think this is an interesting
> technique to try.  I've not gotten around to it yet, and would like to know
> what you think of it.  The curious want to know!
> 
> Richard Wasserman


Richard,
It's called "stand" developing and I received a very
enthusiastically-written article detailing one writer's enormous success
with the process. He described in detail the incredible properties of his
negatives. Then I asked him if he had done any controls, and he said,

"Controls?"

So then he went back and compared his results to conventionally developed
film, and he found that there was no difference. All of the wonderful
properties he had ascribed to the technique were simply characteristic of
that film in that developer. We did determine that stand developing is less
even, though.

Most of these techniques (stand developing, water bath developing, Willi
Beutler's developer) worked with the old thick-emulsioned films, comma if
they worked at all. There really are no true thick-emulsion films left,
although some at a lot thicker than others.

If you want to experiment with a true super-high-sharpness developer, try
either of the slower Deltas developed in Geoff Crawley's TFX-2 formula,
available from Photographers' Formulary in Montana. It's a non-foaming
modification of his glycin FX developer that they originally marketed as
being specifically for the T-Max films. Don't let that stop you.

- --Mike