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Old October 29th 04, 06:53 PM
Pete McCutchen
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Default (Mostly) Ilford film question


The other day I was out shooting with a friend of mine, and, lo and
behold, when it came time to put film in the camera, I discovered that
I had none in my kit. (Upon my return home, I found several large
bags of film sitting on my counter, right where I'd left it.)
Fortunately, my friend is a believer in bringing abundant supplies of
film (as am I, usually), so she was able to help me out. Alas, she
usus completely different films than I do. My usual choices are T-Max
100, developed in T-Max developer, the venerable Tri-X in D-76, Delta
400, also in D-76, and Ilford Delta 3200 in Ilfotec DD-X . I don't
claim to have arrived at these film/developer combinations by any
scientific process, but the results seem fairly good, at least within
the limits of my picture-taking ability.

Here's what my friend gave me: Ilford FP4 Plus, Delta 100, HP5, and
some T-Max 3200, which I exposed at 800 because that's what I tend to
do with Delta 3200. I shot several roles of each for the for the day.
I'd like them to come out, but it's not the end of the world if they
don't.

Now, my next step is processing, and I'm curious as to what folks
would suggest. My friend is no help because she sends her stuff to a
lab rather than doing it herself. On hand I have D-76, T-Max, Ilford
DD-X and an unopened bottle of Ilfosol S, which bought by accident and
have never used. I'd prefer to use up what I have on hand, but if all
my choices are clearly unsuitable, I'd be willing to purchase
something else.

Obviously, what I ought to do is to go out and shoot test roles which
I could then cut up and in several different developers, perhaps even
with different dilutions, time and temperature combinations, etc. But
I have neither the time nor the patience for such a detailed
scientific analysis. I was hoping that perhaps I could find sage
advice from somebody more energetic than myself.

To reiterate, the exposed films I have a

Delta 100
FP4 Plus
HP 5
T-Max 3200.

All were exposed at the box rating, except for the Delta, which I shot
at 800.

Oh, and since I'm asking, I currently use D-76 for both Delta 400 and
Tri-X, largely since that's what I've used since I was kid. My
results seem fairly good, so part of me doesn't want to change.
However, I must admit that I prefer liquids to powders, so I was
wondering if anybody knew of a liquid developer that would work well
with these two films.

Thanks in advance for the wisdom which I'm sure will follow.
--

Pete McCutchen