Anyone for Doubled Volume of Developer?

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Chris surprised me a little regarding how much developer he recommends depending on the dilution of Rodinal you use. It would be interesting to know the basis for that recommendation since Adox specifically says the 5 ml of developer is sufficient to develop a roll of film.

I have used Rodinal since I was 15 years old. Back in the 90s, when I was in high school (graduated 1994) and college (graduated from IU, 1999) Agfa published a technical info book on their film developing chemicals. I have several editions of it, as it was updated frequently, in my archives. They all say that Rodinal needs 10ml per film.

My experience is that Rodinal can work with only 5ml, but I get more consistent results using 10ml. If the films have mostly photos of white tones, they'll exhaust the developer more, and 5ml sometimes gave slightly weaker tonality in those cases.

These developers are so cheap, its just dumb to try to economize. Film costs a lot more than any developer, and some photos cannot be reshot if you mess the processing up. Improperly developed negs are also harder to print. Its so much easier and less work to be conservative in your processing practices.

 

[roscoetuff]

So for the record, my take-away both here and at APUG is that IF the negatives seem to have "improved", the improvement is likely to other factors. High Dilution formulas may require additional fluid volume in a tank (e.g. to provide adequate developer in the recipe), but routinely working with an empty reel otherwise shouldn't make a difference.

Eventually, I'll have to test this more formally - though without a density meter (other than the density in my own head!). For now, we'll get back to a little higher throughput... a handy development given that I shot a ton of film on vacation in middle June.

Thanks for all your input!

 

[charjohncarter]

I have a 2 reel Kaiser tank, and with one reel I can use a clamp so there is no need for second empty reel. And some time ago I started to mix 1 liter of developer and fill the tank to the brim. I dunno if the negatives get better but they are always evenly developed, and with minimum amount developer sometimes I got funky results.

Same here, I use a Kaiser (Arista) 2 reel, and I've never had uneven development. It does cost more but I still will not change.

 

[Ronald M]

If your negs are different, you were not agitating sufficiently or using not using enough developer stock in mixing 8 oz for one reel tank.

Actually I use your method, but only cover the bottom reel. Inversion is like completely lifting the film reel from the developer. This is screwup proof specially if you do not fill from the cap. Just drop in in total dark.

 

[roscoetuff]

Johncarter: FWIW, I find the very wide film thread guides on the Arista (Paterson equivalent) plastic reels the easiest and most consistent to work with. I acquired some new Hewes reels and a Honeywell Nikor tank - and that's the only "total fail" development I've had. Film touched and left marks... but I will get them figured out eventually... perhaps. Need a lot more practice to roll the film out consistently to make it work though.

Agitation technique is a combo of some I've seen: Using a smooth rolling turn over and turn back three to four times (pretty standard) followed by a slap of the container into my palm (Chris Crawford signature move - see the video). I'm agitating for the entire 1st minute, and then once for 10 to 15 seconds every 3 minutes thereafter. I'm using relatively high dilutions to give long development times (HC-110 @ 1:50, 1:63 and 1:100, and Pyrocat-HD @ 1:1;100). Just got a Paterson 5 tank (5 35mm reels, or 3 120) and am thinking I might try 4 reels of film with a 1 reel spacer. Most of my vacation film was FP4+ shot in sunny South Carolina at box speed with an orange filter at 2/3 stop adjustment and spot metered for 2 stops off the shadows or thereabouts.

Yet the 5 reel tank is kind of on the BIG side. A 3-reel to develop 2 reels of film in 3 reels of juice would probably be easier to work with... maybe event the magical size. I wanted a 4-reel tank, but Paterson doesn't seem to import that into the USA.

Some day, I'll test all of this out pseudo-scientifically... whenever it is that I get around to doing that series of tests we're all supposed to do to establish the "true ISO speed" and "true development time" for our equipment/processes. One day...

Thanks guys! Very helpful and encouraging.