Larry Dressler from Photo.net recommended "May I suggest Xtol or D-76 or HC-110" as possible developers, any thoughts on using one of these as a universal developer if we could use that route...
If you are hell-bent on mental suicide, then fine. I'd suggest D76. I built my entire b/w career around it, using it with all my b/w stuff. But, the secret to retaining
my sanity was this: I used a minimum range of b/w film: TXP120 for mf and HP3/4 and FP3/4 for 135. I didn't like Kodak b/w on 135. Same with colour: only Kodachrome 64 or Ektachrome 64, depending on whether I could get away with 35mm or had to go up to 6x6. If 6x6, it would invariably be the Ektachrome - I never got to using the Kodachrome on 120. I did buy some 135 Kodachrome 200 but still have most of it today, decades later...
The key was simplicity and learning what your stuff could give you in the situation in which you found yourself. I don't know a single pro who likes surprises in his chemistry set. Trouble is, if you want to start to play with very fine grain film, then you also need to go for different chemistry to take advantage of the emulsion characteristcs, which is where we came in, and I'd offer a prayer for an early exit!
As for labs: I seldom used them for anything other than giant blow-ups that I simply couldn't handle in my own darkroom. Other than its great ability to retain speed during long periods between exposure and development, Kodachrome, for me, kept itself out of 'commercial' labs and was hand-delivered to Kodak at Hemel or sent by post to Lausanne. The Swiss way was probably the better, but impractical on most shoots. Handing E6 and its predecessors to 'local' labs was a terrifying experience - I lost an entire stock shoot to one, and the best I could get was a return trip...
Rob C
