Rotary processing with Xtol

Rolfe Tessem · Apr 7, 2017

The pre-soak thing has been discussed endlessly before.

The bottom line is that Jobo figured out that a five minute pre-soak allowed users to use the times already established for small tank inversion processing. That eliminated the need for running hundreds of tests with every possible film/developer combination to establish new rotary times. Kodak came out with Xtol after rotary processing had become established and therefore published times for Xtol in a rotary processor without a pre-wash. There is no other magic to it. Use one or don't, but adjust times accordingly.

Bruce Osgood · May 17, 2017

Tom Kershaw said:
Bruce,

After re-reading the Kodak documentation I'm going to try XTOL without a pre-soak in the Jobo.

Tom

Did you ever try Xtol without pre-soak?

pentaxuser · May 17, 2017

Bruce Osgood said:
Did you ever try Xtol without pre-soak?

Good follow-up, Bruce. As an inversion Xtol user but one who has a Jobo I am also interested in Tom's findings. If you see our posts then we'd appreciate knowing your findings

Thanks

pentaxuser

mshchem · May 17, 2017

I used XTOL 1:1 inversion for 15+ years, never an issue. I started Joboing about 5 years ago. I found Kodak times work perfectly fine. I use at least 125ml per roll of stock per roll at 1:1. After getting underdeveloped negatives a couple times, now I usually use straight XTOL. I prewet for temperature control in most cases.
Love XTOL and the Jobo CPP 2 with the lift.

tokam · May 22, 2017

I would have thought that after pre-wet and drain that you may still have 10 - 15 ml, or maybe more, water clinging to the film, the reels and in the recesses of the tank.

If you are processing with 100 ml of stock XTOL then there is a potential dilution issue here although rotary processing may well cancel this out.

Because everyone's technique with pre-wet and rotary processing is different a lot of fine tuning would be required on an individual basis.

BTW. For those that are doing pre-wet and using XTOL stock. Do you discard the developer or re-use it knowing that it has been subject to some dilution during processing?

Tom Kershaw · May 23, 2017

Yes, I used XTOL 1+1 one shot without a pre-soak in the Jobo and it worked fine; water stop and one shot 1+4 fixer solution.

Tom

Bruce Osgood · May 23, 2017

Tom Kershaw said:
Yes, I used XTOL 1+1 one shot without a pre-soak in the Jobo and it worked fine; water stop and one shot 1+4 fixer solution.

Tom

This has been my routine with slight variation: After water Stop I Fix with 2, two minute doses, of TF-4. Also, when the water bath is at temperature I do a 5 minute "spin" to kinda balance temperatur of bath, tank and film. I doubt this makes much of a difference.

Kawaiithulhu · May 25, 2017

Like others have commented, I find that if I pre-soak (Tri-x, Acros 100, and HP5+) and adjust inversion times downwards by the 15% that XTol 1:1 claims then my negatives are weak.
Following the advice of knowledgeable people like Rolfe above and my results are pretty good either way, now.

Tim Stapp · Dec 6, 2017

Sorry to take so long to get back to this. I did a 5 minute presoak and developed for my normal hand inversion times and the negatives print the same as always. (I use my silver work van with black lettering with a white sided house in the background for testing....has to be the most photographed van in the world ..)

Love the Jobo processing.

pentaxuser · Dec 7, 2017

Something strange here. I replied to you, Tim, late afternoon U.K. time and it has sunk without a trace. It was to the effect that what you found was exactly what John Tinsley wrote in his book, "Rotary Processing Manual" Worth a read if rotary is your thing

pentaxuser

StevieRose · Jul 28, 2024

Richard Man said:
Very simple. I do it all the time.

Whatever dilution of Xtol you use, make sure at least 100ml of stock per roll of 35mm/120 or 4 sheets of 4x5.

Just use the "standard" times you find in Digital Truth etc. You do NOT need to use pre-wash OR reduce the time, when using Xtol in Jobo.

Xtol is the only developer that Kodak tested to have that property. Other developers need either reduction in time or pre-soak.

Hi Richard--I am about to start developing HP5+ with Xtol in a jobo. I see your post here from 7 years ago and want to confirm that you have found no need to reduce the listed standard times for hand agitation or pre-wash when using the Jobo? Thanks a lot!

Rotary processing with Xtol

Rolfe Tessem

Bruce Osgood

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mshchem

tokam

Tom Kershaw

Bruce Osgood

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Rotary processing with Xtol

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