I'm not a darkroom perfectionist but I consider myself to be pretty careful with temperatures, mixing, film agitation, etc.(posted 8430 days ago)The problem I've been having lately is with highlight blowout on my negatives. I shoot 35mm Delta 400 and HP5+ and use the sunny f/16 rule or an incident light meter. It seems like all my shadows are placed nicely but that my highlights consistently require a great deal of burning in. I'm aware of Delta 400's tendency to do this, so in very high contrast situations I'll take a reflected reading of the lightest highlight with detail and open up two or three stops. I print with a cold light head.
I'm starting to investigate ways to control this situation, and I thought I would start out by experimenting with a general "low contrast" developer, if one exists. I know that increasing the diluation of my Rodinal and XTol might work, and so might controlling my agitation. But can anyone recommend a stock developer that is known for good low contrast development?