Re: HIE and Xtol, ghost of an image?

[Cor Breukel <cor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 21 Nov 1998, David Riecks wrote:

On Xtol: in the rec.photo.darkroom ng. there are repetitive messages about
failing Xtol (and also lot of praise for the same brew)
You can do a DejaNews search on it; but I recall it boils down to this: Do
not dilute to much, use a minimum of 100ml stock per roll. But most
important: there have been/still are (?) quite a few defective packagees
of Xtol around. More specifically the 1ltr packages; part A (the smaller
package). It's caked, andf not effective anymore. Maybe that's your
problem, call KOdak in that case. As far as I can tell this is not the
case with the 5ltr packages. In fact I am a happy user of the stuff; mixed
5ltr 1,5 years ago, stored at 4dC, used it with no problem, but not on HIE
yet...



> What are others using for exposure index and dilution/development time with
> HIE and Xtol?
> 
> I had shot some HIE a few months ago and did some test head to head with
> D-76. I liked the look of the negs better, as the highlights were less
> extreme and they were fairly easy to print. 
> 
> All seemed well and good except the last three rolls I've shot came out
> ghost like with the image all but missing. At first I thought this might be
> exhausted chemistry, so I mixed a fresh batch. Second roll, with new Xtol
> chemistry...same problem. Though I did notice that I did have shadow detail
> (faint as it was) it simply looked as though the midtones and highlight
> areas were not completely developed. I would have suspected the chemistry
> again, except I had developed a roll of plus-x at the same time (just
> dropped it in the tank about 1 1/2 minutes after the HIE started) and it
> looked great. 
> 
> I shot this last roll as a deliberate test with a very wide bracket. Outside
> full sun from f5.6 and a half at 1/125 to f16 and a half in half stop
> increments both early on in the morning and at noon on a full sunlit day
> (Nov 11, 1998, central Illinois, USA). It also came in looking very ghost
> like, even the images a full 2 to 2 1/2 stops over exposed from my normal
> settings. I selenium toned the negs for over 3 minutes in a 1:3 dilution of
> selenium toner and while that helped, they are still too thin for me to
> consider printing.
> 
> My effective ISO for HIE shot with a Red#25 filter when using D-76
> (straight) is about 100-125. In other words my normal exposures are about
> 1/125th at f11 1/2 to f16. The first test I ran with Xtol actually seemed to
> be giving me MORE exposure, so I cut back the exposures to f/16 1/2 or f/16
> at 1/125 for the first four or five rolls that I shot.
> 
> Could it be that the amount of IR reflecting off of subjects at this time of
> year has changed dramatically enough to cause this? The only other thought
> I've had is that I may have done the first tests with the developer
> straight, rather than 1:1 dilution. I checked the Kodak PDF file that I
> downloaded, but can't come up with a development time that matches what I've
> been using if I were a full strength.
> 
> The suggested Xtol development time for 1:1 dilution at 68 degrees F was
> something like 8:75 minutes...but I've been using 9 minutes. If anything I'd
> expect denser negs, but I'm getting the opposite effect. I'm aware that
> Kodak reccommends that you use at least 3.5 oz of the developer in any
> dilution, as all of my development dilutions have been 1:1 with about 4.5 oz
> of developer and 4.5 oz of water when processing a single roll.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that this isn't the batch of film, as I switched bulk rolls
> a while back and believe I've been using the same 150 foot roll since about
> April of this year (bought before traveling last spring).
> 
> I'm stymied, anyone have suggestions to test?
> 
> David
> David Riecks                    *       riecks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
> 701 W. Washington St            *                 or
> Champaign, IL 61820             *       riecks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx       
> ph/fax 217-239-FOTO (3686)      *        Midwest/Chicago ASMP   
>           http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/riecks            
> 
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Cor Breukel

http://ruly70.medfac.leidenuniv.nl/~cor/cor.html
"The Infrared Gallery"
http://ruly70.medfac.leidenuniv.nl/~cor/ir-gallery.html


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