scared to commit

if you are indecise please do not read darkroom cookbook or film developing cookbook, you will get crazy...

Logan, I use one of those hanging closets too for drying my film, and it works. I weigh it on the bottom with a brick so it doesn't move around so much, and I leave the zipper open at the top for ventilation.
In humid Minnesota (had 90% RH this morning) it takes about 24 hours to fully dry the negatives, and they are gloriously dust free! There are two cats between my girlfriend and I so I know what cat hair can do to mess it up.

Reading is good. But doing is better. Doing a lot and reading a little is a good recipe for success. Trust what you see in your prints.

- Thomas

I don't have pets, but I do dry my film in the shower. Maybe shut the door for a couple hours to keep the pets out? I just hang them off of a bent-to-shape clothes hanger that goes on the curtain rod.

I see you picked up a developer. Since you've used XTOL in the past, don't be afraid to return to it. It's a great developer, fine grained, speed enhancing, flexible.

One of the main reasons I use XTOL is because I can mix it at room temp. I use distilled water from the store for mixing. I have a bucket with two lines inscribed on the inside for the initial 4 liters of water and then the final 5 liter amount. Fill the bucket to the first line, pour in pack A (with the opening of the pack underwater to cut down on airborne chemical dust), stir until its all dissolved. At this point, the mixture is orangish and translucent - while mixing its a bit murky. Then dump in pack B, stir until its all gone and you've got a clear liquid. Top off with water until I hit the 5 liter mark. I do all this on my kitchen floor - I don't have a dedicated darkroom.

Then I pour it into 10 .5 liter bottles for storage. This insures that only a fraction of your XTOL is exposed to large amounts of air at any given time. Since I use it 1:1 and toss it after a use, each bottle does about 4 rolls (4 oz + 4 oz of water per roll in my tanks). Easy to store, portable, and lasts 6+ months. I've yet to have it go bad.

haziz said:

Agree. All the developers you have used are solid classic developers. If you are not happy then you need to figure out what you are doing wrong rather than look for a magic bullet. I would stick to any of the three developers and mix it yourself. Sprint is a particular favorite of mine and is a liquid, and D76 and Xtol are superb classic developers. D76 is a true classic and Xtol is a modern classic. If D76 (or Xtol or Sprint) mixed correctly is not doing the job then you need to double check your technique including metering and exposure, temp, agitation, dilutions etc. BTW both Sprint (a Phenidone/hydroquinone developer) and Xtol will likely give you a higher effective film speed than D76 but you should at some point do your own film speed test using your selected developer and see, it is more important specially since you are not happy with your current result. Is your meter accurate? Is the thermometer accurate? Mix/dissolve the chemistry yourself to take out that concern.

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Great advice!

Thomas Bertilsson said:

....
There are two cats between my girlfriend and I so I know what cat hair can do to mess it up.

... - Thomas

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This brings rise to a picture in my mind that I'm sure must be different than Thomas intended .

Sicko...

MattKing said:

This brings rise to a picture in my mind that I'm sure must be different than Thomas intended .

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