P. Lynn Miller
Well-known
Keith,
Keep us posted on how the next few rolls turn out or what you learn along the way. I am back on-line at RFF for a few days, so will keep checking this thread.
Stand developing(or even developing in general) can be very personal and individual. Several photographers I know have had to change the method, time, dilution, etc, just a bit to suit their particular situation.
In you case, here is what I would try next...
Make sure the reel is in the center of the tank vertically, instead of at the bottom. I found this to make a difference when developing 120 roll film. It seems that the developer 'drops' to the bottom of the tank as it exhausts leaving the film 'under-developed'.
Also I would use a higher dilution, say 4ml of Rodinal to 500ml of water. In stand-developing, the global amount of developer seems to be as important as the dilution in particular to the ratio of film surface. Example, I found the moving to a larger 800ml tank for 120 roll film caused over-development when using the dilution of 1:100(8ml), but when I used 5ml of Rodinal to 800ml of water all was well. So with only one roll of 24 frames, you could use as little as 3ml to 500ml. But try 4ml first...
Also you may want to give the tank a swirl, just like you would a wine glass, maybe 5 seconds at the most around the half-way mark. Remember that the developer will keep circulating for a while after you put the tank down, so do not over do it. You are only wanting to move the solution enough to prevent uneven distribution in the tank, not speed up the development. So a little goes a very long way.
Also remember we are going into winter, so you may need to either add some time or increase the time of the initial agitation, to compensate for the lower ambient temperatures.
Don't do all of the above at once because you will never know the what the cause of the problem was. But with a little experimentation, you will get is figured out and working fine.
Keep us posted on how the next few rolls turn out or what you learn along the way. I am back on-line at RFF for a few days, so will keep checking this thread.
Stand developing(or even developing in general) can be very personal and individual. Several photographers I know have had to change the method, time, dilution, etc, just a bit to suit their particular situation.
In you case, here is what I would try next...
Make sure the reel is in the center of the tank vertically, instead of at the bottom. I found this to make a difference when developing 120 roll film. It seems that the developer 'drops' to the bottom of the tank as it exhausts leaving the film 'under-developed'.
Also I would use a higher dilution, say 4ml of Rodinal to 500ml of water. In stand-developing, the global amount of developer seems to be as important as the dilution in particular to the ratio of film surface. Example, I found the moving to a larger 800ml tank for 120 roll film caused over-development when using the dilution of 1:100(8ml), but when I used 5ml of Rodinal to 800ml of water all was well. So with only one roll of 24 frames, you could use as little as 3ml to 500ml. But try 4ml first...
Also you may want to give the tank a swirl, just like you would a wine glass, maybe 5 seconds at the most around the half-way mark. Remember that the developer will keep circulating for a while after you put the tank down, so do not over do it. You are only wanting to move the solution enough to prevent uneven distribution in the tank, not speed up the development. So a little goes a very long way.
Also remember we are going into winter, so you may need to either add some time or increase the time of the initial agitation, to compensate for the lower ambient temperatures.
Don't do all of the above at once because you will never know the what the cause of the problem was. But with a little experimentation, you will get is figured out and working fine.
