Advice for Developing Arista 50

[navilluspm]

Hello!

Because of the price, I just order a 100 ft roll of Arista B/W 50 (Which is supposedly Ilford Pan F) and a bottle of Rodinal from Freestyle photo. I have never used either of these. (Up until now I have been using Ultrafine 400 and D-76 1:1).

Could anyone offer me advice on developing this film so I don't have to reinvent the wheel. Specifically I want to know:

1) What should I rate the film at when shooting it? (Is 50 good, or is it better to rate the film lower).

2) What dillution ratio and developing time would you suggest with Rodinal


3) Is there anything else I need to know about this film and developer that would make it different than what I am use to (Ultrafine film 400 developed in D-76 1:1)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[EmilGil]

I shot some Arista 50 in Paris a few weeks ago at EI25 and put them in Rodinal 1+50 for 8 minutes. I haven't had time to print or scan any of it yet but the negs look great. It was bright sunshine and PanF is known to have a pretty high contrast which is why I downrated it. I think you can go for EI50 if it's not too harsh light (11min 1+50 at 20'C).

For other development times, check Digital Truth.

Rodinal is a different type of developer than D76 and will give you a more distinct/sharper grain. With PanF this won't be a problem but I wouldn't recommend running an important roll of high EI film through without testing first as it can get pretty gritty. Also, don't be surprised if the Rodinal has turned black when you pour it out of the development tank, it does that with some films (at least APX, but not PanF from what I remember).

Good luck!

Edit: Corrected dev. times, should be 8 minutes, not 12 for EI25.

 

[navilluspm]

Thank you for the reply. I will be getting the film today and can't wait to try it. Unfortunately I will have to becasue all my film cartriges are full and I still have another half roll of film in the bulk roller. Sigh.

How did you pics finally turn out?

 

[kully]

Emil talks wiseness.

I've developed two rolls of this in Rodinal (1+50, ISO50) and it's been lovely and sharp.

Now I am not so impressed with my ISO400 film

 

[lex]

i was researching the past-date deal on the 50. one comment many people made was that the first four wraps around the 100' roll need to be thrown away. apparently the tape used bleaches the film 4 layers down.

 

[kully]

Maybe I got lucky, the two rolls I have developed were from the very first bit of the bulk roll and there was nothing untoward.

May be they had some even older stock going out before?

 

[jtzordon]

I have only shot a couple of rolls of the Arista 50 so far; no problems with bleaching for me either. I develop in Rodinal 1+50 for 17 minutes; agitate for the first 30 seconds and then 5s every 5min. There are some examples at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonthomas/tags/ilfordpanf/.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonthomas/sets/72157600067735336/ shows my film test for shadow detail at this developing routine. I found f5.6 1/125 as my default setting to capture the full shadow detail. Open up two stops for a subject in shadows; two more for really deep shadows.

 

[navilluspm]

Thanks for all the advice and warnings about the film. Sadly it will probably be a couple weeks before I actually get to shoot it (I seem to have more film in my bulk roller than I thought).

Jason, I like your pictures of what I think is Seaworld. They are really nice. Thank you also for the shooting advice.