Best developer for Arista EDU Ultra/Fomapan

[Disaster_Area]

I picked up a bunch of Arista EDU Ultra 200 which is generally known to be Fomapan for my Rollei TLR. Unfortunately when I looked at the dev chart it lists HC110, my go-to developer, as not recommended. After some googling I found some good advice on using HC110 with this film but I get the feeling that most people aren't too happy with the results... it works, but doesn't look amazing. So now the decision is what to pick up to soup this stuff (I bought a BUNCH, so if I have to use a seperate developer for it than all my other film I'm willing to do it). What's everyone else using? I'm thinking Rodinal for a couple reasons; A) I know where I can get some locally, B) I like one-shot liquid developers, the main reason I use HC110 now and C) it stores for a long time so if I dont use it all now it'll keep till later. But if people have found other developers far superior I'm willing to give anything a shot.

 

[wde60]

I like using Rodinal 1:80 for 20 minutes. 1:100 for an hour, stand developing, works well too.

 

[Disaster_Area]

Does Rodinal have a minimum amount that must be present in high dilutions? HC110 specifies that no matter how dilute there should be 6ml's syrup for each roll of film even if it means using a much bigger tank than needed.

 

[totifoto]

xtol stock

 

[luketrash]

Arista EDU Ultra 200 was the only film in 120 size I've found that I hated. Mine had emulsion problems. I love that film in 35mm though.

It looks good in D76 1:1

My experiments in Xtol looked promising.

That being said, here's some 120 that I dunked in HC110, Dilution G for 18 minutes:

My back had a light leak, so the photos are less than optimal.

Trust me though... It looks good in D76 1:1 for 9 minutes (a look of a hybrid between Tri-X and Tmax)

I don't have any examples of this film in 120 size in Xtol, but here's a link to some 35mm shots that I think exhibit really decent tonal range:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=arista edu ultra 200 xtol&w=82088782@N00

 

[wde60]

I think 5-7ml of Rodinal concentrate per roll of film should be fine. At 1:80 that's 400-560ml of soup.
I agree with Luke that I much prefer Arista Edu Ultra in 35mm. The 120mm has a blue tint in the negative that bothers me.

 

[luketrash]

Oh, both their 100 and 400 also have the blue tint and curl up really badly, but I like those films. They had a different emulsion that didn't mess up on me at random. The price kept going up, and I just quit buying it in favor of Tri-X. I used to pay $1.19/roll.

Here's T200 in D76. Just posting to show that it seems to give a smooth, wide latitude. Xtol works even better though for contrasty situations:

 

[luketrash]

Examples of emulsion problems.

Most likely scratching (weak emulsion):

Weird manufacturing defect lines:

The film travels in the direction perpendicular to these lines so it's not scratching.

 

[luketrash]

And finally, I'll end with some shots in Rodinal 1:25 for 5 minutes. These are better than I remember. Maybe Rodinal would give you a look you like. Rodinal works well with all Fomapan films. I just don't like the super-old fashioned look I get sometimes.

Here's a shot that has decently fine detail. Check out the fabric on my coveralls at bigger size...

link: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/143/393007548_b85e792a79_o.jpg

 

[Disaster_Area]

Thanks for all the advice! Hehe... Luketrash, that shot of the door and brick wall I'd actually bookmarked on flikr last night as the discussion thread had some good info on Arista Ultra! I think I'll try my first roll in HC110 as I actually like the look of those shots but I'll definately be picking up some rodinal ASAP.

 

[mfogiel]

I have only tried it so far in FX39 1+19 - it comes out a bit flat which is good for scanning, you could try smaller dilutions for more contrast:

these were shot with a TLR Rolleiflex.

 

[Fotohuis]

http://www.fotohuisrovo.nl/documentatie/Rodinal.pdf

So officially 10ml is the minimum amount of concentrate for each 135-36 or 120 roll film in Rodinal.
5-6ml is still possible to get reproducible results.

About Fomapan T200 (Creative) in a para-amino phenol developer:
The effective iso rate is going down to iso 125-160.
The film is a mix between cubical and a type of hexagonal crystals which give a pretty classical look.

Here some examples of Fomapan T200 in 35mm:

 

[Fotohuis]

 

[naruto]

Rodinal 1:50. It gives beautiful results in both 35mm and 120.

 

[Thardy]

Is the smooth slightly lower contrast look a characteristic of the film, size of negative, exposure or processing?

BTW, I like that look.

Thanks

 

[Freakscene]

>The film is a mix between cubical and a type of hexagonal crystals

Fomapan Creative 200 (or whatever it's currently called) is a monosize, dye sensitized cubic crystal emulsion. There also used to be an 800 speed version that used the same technology but it was discontinued. it always struck me as particularly absurd that this film was once called T200, resulting in legal action by Kodak, when the technology Foma used was not the same as the monosize tabular / flat grain used in T-Max films and when there was no apparent advantage for Foma in calling their film T200.

Unless you develop in a speed-enhancing developer, Fomapan 200 usually works best at EI 100-160. Rodinal lowers the midtones somewhat, resulting in the classic, 'dark' look that you get. Either D76 or Xtol (or the equivalent Fomadon Excel) work very well with this film with more open midtones. What developer you use depends simply on how you want the film to look.

In my experiments Fomapan 200 had poor image latency, so store carefully and develop promptly after exposure where possible.

Marty

 

[jbf]

So far I've used D76 1:1 and I love the results:

 

[Fotohuis]

Fomapan Creative 200 (or whatever it's currently called) is a monosize, developer incorporated cubic crystal emulsion. There also used to be an 800 speed version that used the same technology but it was discontinued.

The T800 film was discontinued in 2001 due to a lack of interest and the film was indeed pretty grainy.

Low contrast: Not really, depends on the film-developer combination. Here a 120 roll film example of the T200 in Xtol.
http://gallery.fotohuisrovo.nl/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=0

About the typical crystal structure of this film.
Here an electronic microscope view of the T200 Fomapan film:

 

[Freakscene]

That's interesting Robert - it looks like an epitaxial emulsion, though I'm finding it a little hard to interpret because everything looks almost too flat - even with t grain emulsions scanning electron micrographs of film grain usually have a little depth to them.

This wasn't what the Fomapan 200 I tested looked like. I might check it out again.

Thanks,

Marty

 

[Fotohuis]

Hi Marty,

Isn't it a bit late for you in Adelaide?

Some Foma news for the Photokina (world of imaging) in Cologne/Köln (Germany) next week:

Two new Baryta papers: Fomatone MG 532 II and MG 542 II

Here the Foma codes: