Response to presoaking film

Ilford recommends against presoaking their films, stating that a wetting agent is included in the emulsion. Jobo says do not presoak if you're using Xtol. So...I've used a five-minute presoak in a Jobo with Xtol 1:1 and the world didn't end etc; in fact it was the only way to avoid airbells with the Jobo. Otherwise I have and haven't used a presoak without any real difference in results. If you use a presoak of more than than about a minute your results will be slightly different for the same film/developer/time combination. Phil Davis found that some films gain a little speed and contrast while some films lose a little, but there weren't tremendous differences. Also I'd suggest that perhaps anyone who's getting airbells or unevenness with a manual inversion tank simply isn't giving sufficient complete agitation. Anyway...I'd recommend that you try it without the presoak and if all's fine, don't bother with the presoak.

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