ACUROL-N and SILVERMAX 21 @ ISO 100

[JPSuisse]

Hello all you experienced film experts...

I have been waiting a while to try SILVERMAX 21 and finally shot a roll. Unfortunately, I could not find any real instructions for this so I had to experiment. But I am not happy with the results. To me I think I over developed.

The paramters for the experiment were the following:
MP, Summicron 35mm
Exposure ISO 100, development time 14 minutes, 20° C, 1+50, agitation for first 30 seconds, then 1 agitation every minute.

Can anybody who has done some experimentation share some thoughts about the attached picture? I have never had a whole roll of film that looks like this. Maybe the film is actually just faster than ISO 100?

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[JPSuisse]

For reference, here is shot of Pan F Plus with ACUROL-N developed for 27 minutes. It gave beautiful results when processed. (This is again a raw scan.) Unfortunately, I found the whole roll of SILVERMAX 21 I shot not very useable. So, any commentary on the development would be very appreciated.

 

[Koolzakukumba]

Hi,

Acurol-N is a superb developer but it's very sensitive to agitation. Stick closely to SPUR's recommended agitation cycle. In particular, if you're in the habit of banging the dev tank on a work surface at the end of each period of agitation to dislodge air bubbles, then DON'T! A single bubble dislodging tap right at the end of the very first agitation cycle is OK but no more after that.

If you live in a hard water area then it's probably a good idea to use distilled or filtered water when mixing the developer. I use the filtered water that comes from my fridge.

I use Acurol-N as my main developer and love the bite it gives to darkroom prints.

More info here:

http://www.theonlinedarkroom.com/search?q=Acurol


Hexar AF, Agfa APX 100, Acurol, Silverprint paper

~

 

[Photo_Smith]

In order to really tell what's going on I'd have to see a negative. They do look overexposed and or over developed but from a scan who knows!
Exposure is easy to guess if you're ballpark as in sunny conditions you'll be 1/125 @ ƒ11-16 so if your meter tells you 1/60 @ ƒ4 in bright sunlight the metering is wrong.

Development is harder to judge from a scan, but place the dark parts of the negative like the sky on the text of a book and you should be able to make out the characters.

Good luck.

 

[Koolzakukumba]

In order to really tell what's going on I'd have to see a negative. They do look overexposed and or over developed but from a scan who knows!
Exposure is easy to guess if you're ballpark as in sunny conditions you'll be 1/125 @ ƒ11-16 so if your meter tells you 1/60 @ ƒ4 in bright sunlight the metering is wrong.

Development is harder to judge from a scan, but place the dark parts of the negative like the sky on the text of a book and you should be able to make out the characters.

Good luck.

Happy New Year Mark!

 

[JPSuisse]

Bruce, Mark, thanks so much for posting and giving some insights!

In fact, "I banged" both rolls during the development process after each agitation... I didn't realize this was a bad thing for this developer...

Experiment number 2 with this combination is planned for sometime in January. As I have never over-exposed a whole roll of film, I am going to reduce the development time to 12 minuts and NOT bang the development tank after each agitation.

 

[Photo_Smith]

Happy New Year Mark!

Happy New Year Bruce.

 

[waileong]

Looks fine to me

Looks fine to me

The scan looks fine to me. A bit of overdevelopment is ok, just burn the light areas a bit more in the darkroom. Negs have latitude.

It's underexposure that bother me-- I can't recover detail that's not there, and even if something is there, it's too grainy for my liking once I expose it on the paper.

Hello all you experienced film experts...

I have been waiting a while to try SILVERMAX 21 and finally shot a roll. Unfortunately, I could not find any real instructions for this so I had to experiment. But I am not happy with the results. To me I think I over developed.

The paramters for the experiment were the following:
MP, Summicron 35mm
Exposure ISO 100, development time 14 minutes, 20° C, 1+50, agitation for first 30 seconds, then 1 agitation every minute.

Can anybody who has done some experimentation share some thoughts about the attached picture? I have never had a whole roll of film that looks like this. Maybe the film is actually just faster than ISO 100?

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[Koolzakukumba]

Bruce, Mark, thanks so much for posting and giving some insights!

In fact, both "I banged" both rolls during the development process after each agitation... I didn't realize this was a bad thing for this developer...

Experiment number 2 with this combination is planned for sometime in January. As I have never over-exposed a whole roll of film, I am going to reduce the development time to 12 minuts and NOT bang the development tank after each agitation.

Heribert Schain is the man at Spur behind Acurol-N and his agitation technique does not include the constant tapping to dislodge bubbles. Perfectly reasonably, he arrived at his recommended dev times according to his own agitation technique without appreciating that there are lots of "bangers" out there. 😀



~

 

[waileong]

Bruce, Mark, thanks so much for posting and giving some insights!

In fact, both "I banged" both rolls during the development process after each agitation... I didn't realize this was a bad thing for this developer...

Experiment number 2 with this combination is planned for sometime in January. As I have never over-exposed a whole roll of film, I am going to reduce the development time to 12 minuts and NOT bang the development tank after each agitation.

Banging is a bad idea, and not just for this developer. As is vigorous agitation (washing machine style).

 

[JPSuisse]

Waileong, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I am usuing Lightroom 4 and import as a RAW DNG from Viewscan. In fact I can really recover very little in the first shot using SILVERMAX 21 I showed, whereas the 2nd shot with Pan F Plus and ACUROL-N (also "banged") gave a nice a print.

I think I am going to NOT BANG, REDUCE THE DEVELOPMENT BY 2 MINUTES and to CHANGE THE FILM IN A CHANGING BAG next time.

 

[JPSuisse]

By the way, Koolzakukumba, nice shot of the abandoned farm. This pretty much where I am from...

 

[Koolzakukumba]

By the way, Koolzakukumba, nice shot of the abandoned farm. This pretty much where I am from...

Thanks. I like shooting in snow but haven't seen any yet this winter. I don't want lots and lots: just a few days worth would be fine. 🙂