A couple of years ago I began working with XTOL and ran what I considered to be some rather viable tests based on the Kodak times and minimum solution requirements. Initially I was very impressed with the results and began working with the 1:3 dilutions. In my real world use however I began to experience a lot of inconsistency that always tended to be on the low-density side. So I began looking for the cause of the problem. Since my experience with Kodak in the past has been that they are usually very careful about their recommendations for minimum stock requirements I ruled this out early on. I essentially looked everywhere else but to no avail. As you may recall from the XTOL Data Sheet the Kodak recommendation is 100 ml Minimum stock solution per 36 exp. roll. That is exactly where the problem was, after re-testing at 200 ml my results were great. I spoke with Kodak and informed them of my findings and they suggested that I re-test again and sent me both film and developer to do so. I of course re-ran the test and informed them once again of the same results. At the that time I also proposed that they had never really challenged the developer and had only run tests using short strips exposed by a sensitometer rather than full 36 exp. rolls. Their "solution" to this issue has been to re-publish the J-109 Data Sheet and no longer recommend the use of the 1:3 Dilution. There simply has to be enough developer energy present to produce consistent results REGARDLESS of the dilution. So while a roll consisting of low-key images may work fine using 100 ml, a roll containing predominantly high key scenes, i.e. snow scenes, would be under developed and thin if only 100 ml was used. The overall results of working with XTOL using 200 ml minimums are simply the best I have ever experienced in my 32 years of practice.(posted 8637 days ago)B. Halsey Payne