A question for Bill.

[waltere]

Bill, it's nice to see you having a forum on here! I recall reading your columns way back when in Camera 35, and I remember reading some film developing recommendations. I think for Tri-X, and it was Rodinal !:75 with a "pinch" of Sodium Sulfite...don't recall the times, maybe 10-12 minutes...it worked wonderfully and I stuck with it for many years untill I got into view camera's....am I remembering this correctly?

 

[Dogman]

Waltere--I'm not Bill but I also remember his "Camera 35" column fondly. I learned a lot from his writings, including using Rodinal with Tri-X and sufite. I wrote down his formula sometime in the 1970s and I still have it in a folder in the room that once was my darkroom. Rodinal 1:75 with a 2/3 Chock-Full-Of-Nuts coffee scoop of sodium sulfite per roll. The time originally given was 11.5 minutes at 70 degrees F. That gave a low contrast negative that printed well on a condenser enlarger with the #3 paper of the day (IIRC, it was Kodabromide...but it could have been Medalist or Agfa Brovira).

I continued to use his Rodinal/sulfite formula as well as D76 for many years with both Tri-X and Ilford HP5, adjusting it to the changes that came about in printing papers and the various enlargers I used during that period. If I ever return to shooting film, I will use this formula again--I still have several bottles of Rodinal and most of a 25# tub of sodium sulfite in a cabinet.

Bill can give you more information on this, I'm sure. Your post just reminded me of how much I have learned from him through the years.

 

[waltere]

Haha Dogman, great memory! I had forgotten about the "Chock-full-of nuts coffee " scoop! I haven't shot 35 b&w in a long time, but Rodinal is my favorite dev for it...I think his 'formulas' must have sparked my love of the chemistry of photography!

 

[PKR]

We need to ask Bill about the "Stealth -- Dog Food Bag" ploy. It's variations are used here from time to time. I think that one was in Camera 35 too. p.

 

[Bill Pierce]

We need to ask Bill about the "Stealth -- Dog Food Bag" ploy. It's variations are used here from time to time. I think that one was in Camera 35 too. p.

For a long time I lived and worked in 2 floors of a small industrial building in Manhattan's Noho district. The fire department, when they went to put out a fire in an industrial building after hours presumed no one was living there and the first order of business was to put out the fire. As light industry exited the City, artists who needed large work-living spaces started to take over the spaces and make the fire department's job harder. They asked the live/work tenants to put AIR signs at the front doors of the building they lived in. If the firemen saw a sign on the building that said, for example, "AIR 5" they know an Artist was In Residence on the fifth floor, and now their first responsibility was to get the people out of the burning building.

When Noho and loft living became trendy, a city run Loft Board displaced the fire department in certifying whether or not you were an "artist" and could live in these buildings. An ex Miss America who was well connected headed up the board which looked at submissions and decided whether you were an artist. I was "grandfathered" in my building and didn't have to submit work. Nonetheless, I submitted 20 slides. Kodak mounted everything you sent them for processing; so, I was able to send the board framed slides that were the light struck film leader and those first blind frames when you were just advancing film to the first usable frame as examples of my abstract art. Apparently these were accepted.

As more and more rather well off "certified artists" purchased loft spaces at skyrocketing prices, the increasing number of somewhat naive people living in a non residential area in a building without doormen or much else in security attracted thieves. As the neighborhood changed, one photographer friend actually built a cinder brick, walk-in camera closet with a steel fire door. I never walked in or out of the building obviously carrying cameras. Since I was taking relatively long trips, often out of the country, I had to find some way to conceal the gear that was going in and out of the building. I needed containers that were large, rugged and inconspicuous. I settled on bags that each originally held 30 pounds of dog kibble. I have yet to find something more rugged, durable and discreet than a large dog food bag. And it carries the inference that you live with a very large, and possibly vicious, dog.

 

[Ljós]

Nonetheless, I submitted 20 slides. Kodak mounted everything you sent them for processing; so, I was able to send the board framed slides that were the light struck film leader and those first blind frames when you were just advancing film to the first usable frame as examples of my abstract art. Apparently these were accepted.

Priceless!

 

[PKR]

I had to find some way to conceal the gear that was going in and out of the building. I needed containers that were large, rugged and inconspicuous. I settled on bags that each originally held 30 pounds of dog kibble. I have yet to find something more rugged, durable and discreet than a large dog food bag. And it carries the inference that you live with a very large, and possibly vicious, dog.[/quote]

Thanks Bill. As I remember the piece in "Camera 35" you suggested that they were good for subway travel too. I currently use grocery bags with rags on top. For extreme protection, dirty (paint will do) diapers are the topping of choice. A small Domke fits the bag with room to spare. I can leave it in the car in plane sight for a brief period if necessary. p.

 

[Dogman]

Haha Dogman, great memory! I had forgotten about the "Chock-full-of nuts coffee " scoop!

I started drinking Chock-Full-O-Nuts coffee after reading that article. Just to get the scoops--the coffee was pretty wretched. That's been at least 35 years ago but the coffee canister in our kitchen has a blue CFON scoop in it that we use every day.

I guess I believed there was something magical about those particular scoops when it came to film development. Maybe there was.