Reddit reviews The Film Developing Cookbook (Darkroom Cookbook, Vol. 2)

I found the film developing cookbook to be a great primer on how to develop b&w film at home.

Darkroom cookbook and developing cookbook maybe? Also Ansel Adams's "The negative" might be helpful

Here is the mobile version of your link

https://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Darkroom-Dataguide-Publication/dp/0879856025/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492160981&sr=1-2&keywords=Black+and+white+darkroom

https://www.amazon.com/Film-Developing-Cookbook-Darkroom-Vol/dp/0240802772/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492161106&sr=1-4&keywords=Black+and+white+darkroom

https://www.amazon.com/Way-Beyond-Monochrome-Traditional-Photography/dp/0240816250/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492161323&sr=1-1&keywords=way+beyond+monochrome

And, of course, Ansel Adams trilogy, The Camera, The Negative, and The Print.

May I ask what film you will be developing with the XTOL? The Film Developing Cookbook states that: " XTOL is now the developer most highly recommended by Kodak for Tmax films. It has been observed that dilution increases speed and sharpness with XTOL. Dilutions of 1:3 or more are frequently recommended. At these dilutions XTOL is effectively a nonsolvent developer, but because of its careful buffering, grain is still fine."

Michael Covington also has an informative page on XTOL including its use at dilutions higher than 1:1

Not sure why you're using TMaxRS developer. HC-100 Dilution B would probably be a better choice. I'd expose the Acros at ASA 50 and develop in HC-110B for about 5 1/2 min @68F.

Pretty much no film (or very few) will give you full ASA speed if you want to preserve shadow detail. (The only example I've found in he past 25 years or so was the Efke 100 which did just fine at rated ASA.) By rating the film at ASA 50, you get lots of shadow detail. Then you UNDER develop just a bit to make sure the highlights don't blow out. Hence my recommendation above - which is just a first estimate to get you going.

But you want to push - i.e., You want to severely underexpose the film by pretending it's faster than it really is. You can do this, but at a cost of grain, typically. See, development mostly affects the highlights (and exposure the shadows). So, since you are really underexposing the shadows, you REALLY have to OVER develop to get anything to show. The longer the film sits in the developer - usually - the more grain you build up. So, in this case (and I don't have times for you), I'd use HC-110 1:7 and see if you can figure out the required time.

If Kodak products are super expensive, you can get Ilford's ID-11 - which is just their own version of Kodak D-76, probably
the most used developer in film history. It can be used 1:1 for full strength (which might be a good choice for your push).

For more details, see if you can find a copy of:

https://www.amazon.com/Film-Developing-Cookbook-Darkroom-Vol/dp/0240802772


I will repeat the most important rule here:

• Shadow detail comes from EXPOSURE.
  
• Developing mostly affects HIGHLIGHTS.
  
  P.S. If Kodak stuff is expensive, you might also see if you can get the Ilford Delta films more reasonably and/or HP5+.