HI Scott - Never did Tri-X in Dektol, but I did do Plus-X. You probably know this, but if not look up reference for D-72 - pretty similar to Dektol but D-72 was marketed as a film developer.
I've only had about a 50% success rate using Dektol - it's high potency and fast acting - miss the timing a bit an you get way too dense shadows. Sort of like D19, but more potent. I used it 1:5, at 66 F, for 6 minutes. This is roll film in a small tank. Agitated for 10 second after filling the tank, then at 1 minute, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes. Rinsed, then stop bath. My goal with the colder temps, high dilution, and modest agitation was to get a controlled and even development. It still produced a very high contrast neg. I have an old lab manual here that says dilute 1:1, develop about 5 minutes without agitation or 4 minutes with agitation for average contrast at 68 F (20 C). They may have been talking about older emulsions, because on my first try with that I got a bunch of black rectangles. I went with the more dilute and colder mix. Without agitation for roll film you get uneven developing. Two shots using Dektol and Plus-X (Sepia toned in Photoshop) - http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga10.htm http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga11.htm At best, the negs are very crisp, very clean, no fogging, high contrast, snappy almost Rodinal like grain. Good stuff for film but you have to be careful - a little too long in the tank and the highlights are totally blocked up. I have a couple packets of Dektol sitting in the basement waiting ot be mixed up - man, the K10D really put the brakes on my B&W work. At least temporarily. Have fun! - MCC Scott Loveless wrote: > Do any of you recall how a newspaper darkroom might have developed > Tri-X in Dektol? From what I've read it would have been used 1+1 or > 1+2 for a very short amount of time, 1.5 or 2 minutes, and then > immediately fixed (skipping the stop). > > I recently acquired a bulk roll of Tri-X that's well past its > process-by date (thanks, Godders!) and need work around a slightly > higher than normal base fog. The first test roll, shot at 400 and > souped in D-76 1+1, resulted in good acutance, but not enough exposure > to overcome the fog in the shadows. So I'm looking at over-exposing > (IE 200 or so) and developing for a bit more contrast. Plus, I have > this Dektol taking up space..... > > Thanks, folks! > -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Photography Kalamazoo, Michigan www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
