Thank you Chris, and Nokton48.
I have looked into HC110, and this looks too hard, it is a liquid, and posting it to me is just too hard, believe me I've tried.
Maybe I will just try Rodinal and see, can't hurt.
Thanks to both of you.
Gary
Anyone with a recommendation of their films to produce "film noir" images?
Dave,
Stumbled across to see this unanswered. I'm no cine guy, but I think film noir was more a lighting effect than it was a specific film. They would put complex masks on the lights (from memory, a "cukaloris", 'cuke'). If your current film gives you a deep rich black that you like the next step might be Wikipedia or your local lending library's film history selection.
hth,
s-a
So, I developed my first roll of Double-X yesterday. Man, everything went wrong that could have gone wrong!
Anyway, while I was looking at the film can before developing, the top popped off! So, I immediately turned the lights out and hid the role in the drawer. Got the scissors, got it into the developing tank, then poured in the developer only to find that HC-110 does not mix well by itself... Grabbed a spoon and extra water mixed... Poured the rest in.
Finally, ended up developing for 7 minutes (1+7) for a roll shot at EI 320. Continual agitation first 30 seconds, each following minute 10 seconds of agitation. The negatives are definitely overdeveloped and slightly overexposed (I am guessing.)
My observations...
Double-X is by far the easiest film to load into the reel. The substrate is really strong. I liked the grain structure with HC-110 quite a bit. Now I need to dial in my exposure and development processes. Finally, the quality of the closing of the film cannister is critical with these pre-loaded third party canned films.
Below the last picture from the roll.
.....<snip>.....
Now I keep them in old leftover AgfaPan 100 canisters (solid black plastic can and top) when carrying them around in the field.
.....<snip>.....
You take a 400' or 1000' roll into total darkness and spool it into a 100' length. I have a formica work table in my darkroom that I use for this purpose. I use Fuji or Kodak spools from 100' rolls of their bulk film. Best is the Kodak, which is a metal spool, enclosed and light-sealed. I then put the loaded 100' roll into a 35mm Bulk loader, like a Watson, I have four or five of them around.
001 by Nokton48, on Flickr
I liked the results but found it to be a little too high in contrast and grainy for my liking. This was probably due to the fact that I pushed the film to ~400 with Rodinal 1:50. Results with ID-11 1:1 were smoother, had better tonality and less grain. I've read the Elmar 5/3.5 is a rather low-contrast lens so I am interested to try the 400ASA + Rodinal 1:50 combination once again.
I've got a 400' roll heading my way and im looking for some of those metal 100' spools. Do you have any idea where I can find them without film on them?