> that tabular grain films exhaust fixer at the speed of light
That may be a misinterpretation. Tabular films contain much more iodide (indtead of bromide) which fixes harder. It is not uncommon to fix the film for 10 minutes. If you count the "freshness" of the fixer measuring the fixation time you may come to the conclusion of exhausted fixer. But it isn't. Tabular films simply need a longer time.
One of the things that draws me away from Tab films and keeps me with TRI-X and FP4 is that I can get a "sharper" image with the non-tab films. Now hear me out ... with certain low sulfite developers such as pyro or ascorbic acid types, there is a certain erosion of grain that causes a ridge to form in the terminator between light and dark areas of the negative. This line adds to the apparent sharpness of the image. Super fine grain films will not have the grain structure to allow this formation and although they have better resolution, they will not appear as sharp. For most of my work I like the apparent sharpness I can achieve with non tab films. I still use and enjoy tab films at times and do appreciate some of the things they can do with smooth tonality and grainless prints but for most of my work, a little grain is fine and a lot of sharpness is better. I shoot 6x6 through 8x10 ... For 35mm or smaller, I think I would prefer tab films. (But I almost never shoot smaller than 6x6)
Yes but that is not apparent if you fix by time and temperature and only discover you have unfixed negs when you look at the film while drying or later.
If you fix by inspection and use two baths it is easier to ensure archival fixing.
Because I use plain hypo I normally need to fix the tabulars for more than ten minutes at 20C and in a multi tank it is easy to see which films are tabs.
You can stand tabs and non tabs 1:100 in Rodinal...
T-grain films really call for a rapid fix. It's inexpensive, readily available and liquid concentrate so why not use rapid fix? Fox for three times (rather than the old two) the time it takes a fogged piece of film leader to clear - no problem. Even t-grain films typically clear in less than a minute in fresh rapid fix, no more than two minutes in used but within capacity rapid fix.
I can understand if one uses plain hypo for prints that it might be easier to just use the same thing for film though.
I disliked Delta 400, and then one day I exposed and developed it properly and it came out beautifully. I then apologized to the Ilford gods.
What were you doing wrong before?
I disliked Delta 400, and then one day I exposed and developed it properly and it came out beautifully. I then apologized to the Ilford gods.
Same. My first rolls og Delta didn't get enough agitation. Once I fixed that it became my favourite film. A combination of fine t-grain and classic arty look.
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