Suggestions for Ilfosol 3 and Arista II/APX 400

Hi all,

I'm about to start processing my own black and white. I shoot mostly Delta 100 and Arista II 400, which my local lab has done a nice job with.

On the recommendation of my lab, I am going to start with Ilfosol 3. That seems like a good choice as I will be processing only a few films at a go. Also, it was recommended for Delta.

I am now looking closer at the suggested dev times. The Arista II (which I understand is the equivalent to APX 400) has less options listed than for Delta. With Delta, a range of dilutions and temperatures seem OK. With Arista II, there is only one suggestion, per the Massive Dev Chart: 1+14 dilution for 12 minutes @ 24C.

Is there any flexibility in this? In the interest of keeping things simple, I was going to use 1+9 for Delta and wanted to use the same dilution for Arista II. Also, I would like to be able to develop at 20C -- it's much easier for me to maintain that temperature than the 24C recommended for Arista II.

Any insight into the Ifosol 3/Arista II/APX 400 combination would be appreciated!

The chart also suggests 1+9 for 9 min. @ 20c, for film shot at iso 320. The diff. between 320 and 400 is very small, so I'd suggest a time of 9 min. or just under, then adjust from there.