Re: HIE developing

[Eckhard Stephan <eckhard.stephan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Barry B. Bean" wrote:
> 
> I'm getting ready to take the leap and begin developing my own b&w
> and b&w IR film. I need helpwith the following questions:
> 
> 1) Is D-76 the best generalpurpose developer to use?, and

D-76 is currently my standard developer. It's a good developer not only
for HIE, but for almost any bw film. Besides that, once the solution is
made it is quite easy to use and offers a certain "mistake tolerance".
Therefore it is probably a good choice for the beginning. However, you
may want to try other developers too, e.g. HC-110 (some like it
contrasty...), XTOL (even finer grain than with D-76, nice tonal range)
or even Rodinal (Grrrain !). 

> 2) Will the black plastic lid on my Adorama stainless steel tank be
> IR proof?

Almost certainly yes. I develop my IR films in a cheap, all-plastic tank
with a red plastic lid. At first, I worked in complete darkness. Then I
found out (through an "accident"), that I can switch the lights on, as
soon as the film is in the tank. No fogging problems at all. BTW, that's
what most people say about their dev. tanks.

> 3) Other than being particularly concerned with light tight
> procedures,anything specialI should be doing with HIE that I wouldn't
> need to do with Tri-X?
> 

Due to its lack of an antihalo layer, HIE is thinner than normal bw
stuff. It's also prone to curling and kinking... Therefore

1.) NEVER try to load HIE on wet reels (not recommended for other films
either...).
2.) If you have difficulties getting HIE even on a dry reel ;-), cut off
the narrow part of the film's leader and try again.
3.) You may find HIE negs easier to deal with, if you let the dry film
hang an extra day or two. It reduces the film's curl.

Happy developing ;-)

Eckhard


-- 
========================================
*          Eckhard Stephan             * 
*          Freiburg (Germany)          *
*     eckhard.stephan@xxxxxxxxxxx      *	
*   http://www.eckhards-photobox.de    *   
========================================
*
****
*******
******************************************************
*  To remove yourself from this list, send:          *
*         UNSUBSCRIBE INFRARED                       *
*       to                                           *
*         MAJORDOMO@xxxxx                            *
*----------------------------------------------------*
*   For the IR-FAQ, IR-Gallery and heaps of links:   *
*  http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/mainpage.htm  *
******************************************************