A quick question about Stand Development

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ulrich.von.lich

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Hello,

I would like to try the stand development.

I have a roll of TRIX that I have either exposed at 400 or 800. I think perhaps it's a good idea to use stand development because it seems to be more forgiving with high lights, so I can just develop it using the time for 800 and without worrying too much.

I'm thinking of using 1:100 dilution, with agitation of first 10 seconds and 1 slow inversion every 30 minutes, for 1 hour and 30 minutes in total.

My question is : according to some French website, I need at least 5ml of Rodinal per film, is it true? I need only 250ml of water for a single roll, if I put 5ml of Rodinal, it makes the dilution 1:50, not 1:100. With this rule, I can actually never achieve the dilution of 1:100.

Or should I just develop it using the time for 800 in 1:50 ?

Any idea ?
 
Thanks for the link.

Still, 3.5ml in 250ml makes the dilution 1:71, not 1:100. (I'll check but I think the metal tank I use takes no more than 250ml). Will I then be able to use the above-mentionned time ?
 
It looks to me like the 250ml tank just is not big enough to allow 1:100 developing since there won't be enough Rodinal to fully develop the film. All my stand development has been done with 2-reel tanks, so getting enough developer into the tank was not a problem.

If you used D-76, the processing time for ISO 400 and ISO 800 is identical. That might be a better solution (pun intended).
 
As to the roll, I developed it using 1:50, 20C and 15.5 minutes (time for ISO640), and it turned out to be ok.

I also have a 2-reel tank which takes 700ml of water. So for 1:100 dilution, that's 7ml for 2 rolls, 3.5ml per roll.

I will try the stand development soon on some TRIX exposed at 400.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays
 
All plastic tanks I've seen have the volume of liquid needed for whatever roll of film using. Per 35mm or 120 film. I have a shorter 2 reel tank that requires 325ml & a taller 2 reel tank that requires 375ml of liquid per 1 roll of 35mm film.

Seems to me that if you have a metal tank that holds 250ml liquid that 2.5 ml of rodinal would work. But sometimes logic doesn't quite work out. I may try it one day if I can get to where my metal tanks are stored.
 
I think I have finally understand why it's important to have a minimum amount of developer: because the film is going to use every bit of it. That's why the logic may not be valid, and 2.5ml may not be enough regardless the correct dilution.

Agfa recommends 5ml. I don't know what is the total surface of the 135 film but it might be smaller than the 120, so 3.5ml per roll may be enough.

I will try tonight the 3.5ml per roll.

If it doesn't turn out good, I will use the 2 reel tank to develop a single roll of TRIX so I can have both the correct dilution and the minimum amount of developer.

Also, it appears I need to agitate 1 to 2 minutes at the beginning, not 10 seconds.
 
I've done as little as 3ml per roll, but not much less than that. 2.5 of course is close.

and I routinely stand for more than 2 or 3 hours (because I'm lazy...) without agitation after the first 60 seconds and it's fine. No need to do so every 30 minutes.
 
I am going to do my first film processing (last time 46 years ago, damn!) next week, using Rodinal and stand development after reading 2 articles, Colin Barey @ JCH, and JB Hildebrand at his own site.
Barey sez 5ml of Rodinal per roll, Hildebrand 3.5ml per roll, 1:100 dilution for 1 hour after the first minute of agitation. I am going to split the difference with 8ml + 800ml water for 2 rolls of 35mm in a 4 roll tank.
I like the water bath in a styrofoam cooler method that Barey describes for temperature stability for the entire hour.
Oh yeah, it is going to be a roll of TriX shot at 400 and a roll of Arista at 200, that should be a good test of diversity.
After that it will be several rolls of HP4+ at 125 for a while.
I'll report back here when I have something to report.
 
I have Paterson tanks, which need about 300ml per film. I use a 2 reel tank for one film, and use 3ml of Rodinal for about 350ml of developer, to make sure the film is covered. I just regularise the temp of the water at the start to 20 degrees C.
I leave it 2 hours and turn it gently after an hour.
Fix as usual.
 
I mix 6 ml of rodinal to 600 ml of water to stand develop 35mm film. Yes, this is more than needed but this amount works best for me when developing for 60 minutes.
 
There's a thread here on standing in Rodinal. One person in it (that seems to have a lot of experience) uses 4ml per 120 roll. Not sure what the comparison is to 35, but 3.5ml seems like overkill.
 
From my experience temperature stability is not an issue.
I read that you should use 6ml Rodinal minimum per film (can't recall the source), so i try to stick with that. One hour seems a bit long for box speed, but I have never tried it.
I use stand development exclusively for pushing: 1,5 hrs 1:100 (600ml) for Tri-X/HP5 (135) @1600 with very pleasing results.
Also you might want to invert once or twice (NOT agitate, just a gentle inversion) at half time to prevent ghosts/stains on the negs.
Also I pre soak the film for 4-5 minutes in water.
Might not be the perfect recipe but works fine for me.
 
davidnewtonguitars said:
I like the water bath in a styrofoam cooler method that Barey describes for temperature stability for the entire hour.
Click to expand...

You don't have to worry about temperature at all with stand developing. I frequenly just used room temperature. I used to stand develop Eastman 5222 @ 1600 in rodinal for 2 hours and never had any issues.

Also OP, 1.5 hours for tri-x at 400-800 is probably going to be too much. It's still possible to overexpose and overdevelop with stand developing contrary to popular belief.

Just stick with 1h 10 sec agitation off the top, knock the tank good to dislodge bubbles and let it go for an hour.
 
I've done stand development a few times with great results. My old fixer looks to be expired. I developed a test roll without fixer the other day and everything turned out OK. Should I proceed with another roll without fixer, or mix another batch and use some--I found some powder in my office to mix a gallon. I should add, I don't use B&W much anymore. I had two rolls or TRIX 400 for 120 laying around I ran through the Leotax DL folder I bought recently.
 
Another fixer question please!
I mixed 600ml Ilford Rapid Fixer 1:9. for 2, 35mm rolls of tri-x in a 4rl tank.
Is that batch good for several uses, as long as it covers the film?
Does it change color and then discard it?
 
davidnewtonguitars said:
Another fixer question please!
I mixed 600ml Ilford Rapid Fixer 1:9. for 2, 35mm rolls of tri-x in a 4rl tank.
Is that batch good for several uses, as long as it covers the film?
Does it change color and then discard it?
Click to expand...

A fresh batch of fixer should be good for 10 rolls of 135, at least.

The solution does not change color with use, so color cannot be used to determine if the fixer is worn out. It is best to test your fixer on a bit of film leader. The leader can be cut off an exposed roll of film before developing the film. Use a stopwatch. Put a drop of fixer solution on the emulsion side of the film and note how long it takes to turn the spot clear. Anything longer than 2 minutes means it it time to mix up a new batch. Fixing time should be at least two times the clearing time.

Edit: Adding this note. The above is the shortest possible explanation of using fixer. There are many more resources about the subject on the web.
 
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The outing with 2 rolls of Tri-x, Rodinal 1:100 & stand development for 60 min. went as well as could be expected for my first try. I am greatly amazed at the beautiful negatives, compared to what I was getting from my "budget" lab.
AND I bought a scanner, so that was another learning experience.

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