Response to Discussion TMX in Xtol or T-Max developer...

I have used TMY for years - virtually since it's introduction. I dabbled with various developers for a while and eventually settled on HC110 @ 1:62. I was pretty much settled on this for a number of years until Xtol came along and as a result of the glowing reviews about it I decided to give it a try. I used it with consistent results for some time and even though I personally couldn't see what all the fuss was about I decided to stick with it as a standard, my thinking being that it was basically a universal developer that you could use for pretty much any film. Then one day I had some film that came out grossly under developed. I thought it may have been something I did until it happened again. I became very careful after that about the mix dates and discarded any partially filled containers at 30 days. Then I began having trouble with overly dense - overdevoped negatives. I went back to HC110 and everthing was great. I have stopped using Xtol. I still don't know if it was me or the product. I have been developing film for 20 years and am pretty careful and consistent with my habits. I don't know if Tmax films are the best out there but they can give great consistent results. I have never read much good about them and have never read much good about HC110. I guess thats why I keep looking for something better. I haven't found it yet. By the way I used to shoot mostly 120 but have been using 4x5 for a couple of years. HC110 does a great job with TMX also.

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