what is the result of Ilford Perceptol with Tri-x?!

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HI I am a photographer and have been caught in the digital world for a while,, and my knowledge of developing have long bein forgotten, so I need some advice. I have shot tri-x both at 400 and 800. I was thinking of developing the 400asa film with Ilford Perceptol and the 800asa with Michrophen. please if any one can help asap i would be greatl appreciative. regards Luis http://www.learphoto.com/

-- Luis Enrique Ascui (lear@attglobal.net), April 22, 2002

Answers

What's the intention? I'd process both in XTOL or D-76 1+1.

-- Ryuji Suzuki (rsuzuki@rs.cncdsl.com), April 22, 2002.

no real intention, but acquire a great working neg!! thanks

-- Luis enrique Ascui (lear@attglobal.net), April 22, 2002.

haven't tried it, but would expect speed to be closer to 200 than 400.

-- john stockdale (jo.sto@bigpond.com), April 23, 2002.

Tri-X processed in PERCEPTOL at a normal contrast will give a film speed of around 250-320. In order to get a film speed of 400, you will need to develop the film to a higher than normal contrast. It will give you nice fine-grained results, but you will probably end up printing the negs about one half to on grade lower than normal.

Since you shot the film at 400, I would suggest sticking with a normal developer, such as ILFORD ID-11 or Kodak's D-76.

For the film shot at 800, MICROPHEN would be an excellent choice of developer.

Of course, next time try ILFORD HP5+ instead of the Tri-X. ;-)

David Carper ILFORD Technical Service

-- David Carper (david.carper@ilford.com), April 23, 2002.


Hi Luis-

I agree with David Carper. Obvously there are others here who are more knowledgeable about the wide range of film/developer possibilities than me. While I don't use Tri- X much, I do shoot a bunch of HP5+ and develop it in Perceptol. I rate the film at 320 and develop for 15 min @ 20 degrees Celcius, diluted 1:1. You might want to pull back on the recommended agitation interval though, I agitate for the first minute and then do 4 inversions every other minute. I get really nice luminous shadow detail that way and I have never had a problem with uneven development. I think there are many who think that Perceptol produces mushy results, I totally disagree. But to my eye, XTOL is mushy and totally grainless.

I have rated my HP5 at 320 mostly, but I have shot some at 200 and I don't really see the need to rate at 200. I cannot see any film speed loss by rating at 320. I would imagine that you should should see similar results with your Tri-X, but you may want to increase your development time by 10 or 15%. Just remember to not over-agitate.

-- jeff voorhees (debontekou@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.



Perceptol (or Microdol-X) used full strength will cost a full stop of speed, so Tri-X at EI 200 wouldn't be a bad idea. If you dilute these developers speed, sharpness and grain increase. 1+1 or 1+2 are good compromises. I get great results with Tmax 400 at EI 800 with Microphen diluted 1+2.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@flash.net), April 24, 2002.

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