HP5+HC110+PhotoFlo?

[mike goldberg]

Zowie!

IT IS HAPPENING... I bought HC110 to develop some test rolls of HP5+
at home. Anyone having experience here is invited to comment. Can I
assume that time & temp will be quite similar to Tri-x?

Re: PhotoFlo: Chemicals are expensive in Israel. I remember
something about a dilute solution made from mild detergent, like dish
washing liquid. Enlightenment on this is also welcome.

Ciao, mike

 

[FrankS]

Mike, this site will be helpful for film/developer combos: http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.html

 

[FrankS]

Photoflo is simply a detergent to reduce the surface tension of water to keep it from beading on the film and depositing minerals as it evapourates. A final rinse in distilled water (no minerals) or using a drop of dishwashing detergent should be just fine too.

 

[Trius]

re Photoflo: What Frank said. I do use PhotoFlo as it is relatively cheap here, but to mix it I use water from my dehumidifier, as I do with all other chemicals. Not distilled, but fairly close. And for PhotoFlo, I dilute 1:400, not 1:200. It works much better for me at that dilution. Longer life is a bonus.

 

[FrankS]

It all depends on the mineral content of your water. Mine is quite hard (lots of minerals), so I need to use more Photoflo for it to be effective.

 

[rover]

Hey, the negs I just pulled out looked pretty good.

HP5+, HC 110 Dilution H, 74 degrees 6:30 ish, and finished with photo flo.

 

[mike goldberg]

Thanks guys,

When I headed for Photo Prisma, downtown, I had thought to buy Rodinal,
but they had none, so HC110 it is. Here's an HC110 Link, picked up in a flickr group; there's some good tech info here.

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

I exposed a roll of HP5+ today, with 3 shots of each scene or subject...
thus, bracketing. With a 2nd roll done in the next day or two, the film will
be loaded onto reels in our PC room at night.

Re: PhotoFlo: Jerusalem water is hard. I can make a substitute final rinse from water in the kettle that has cooled down, with a drop or two of dishwashing detergent or liquid hand soap. I'll check with Ruben on this.

More to follow...
mike

 

[FrankS]

Mike, I don't think that boiled water has any advantages over normal tap water. (This is not distilled water.)

Good luck!

 

[mike goldberg]

Hmm...
We can buy distilled water, if need be. A lot of women like it for their
steam and dry irons.

Have a look at this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/funwithcameras/422133243/?#comment72157600025911654

Bill Smith1 is a new Contact at flickr, and this is HP5+ with HC110.
The tonal range, shadow detail... and especially the highs, came out
very well here.
mike

 

[kmack]

Mike: I have also had some good results with HP5 in HC110 at 1:100 dilution and semi stand development. The Covington link you have has some information about time and agitation for 1:100 or 1:119 dilutions.

 

[mike goldberg]

Hey rav & kmack...
Highly dilute developer is a new one on me!
Remember, I'm coming back to 'my own at home,' after a dozen years
or so.

Here's rav's method:

>>I have 9.45mins at 24C/75F in 1+63.

That is 1ml developer in 63ml water... let's say, Brita filtered water.
That comes out to a very economical use of the HC110. And, the discarded developer is gone... NOT used again. Thus, we have no replenishment issues and good quality control.

Like Celine Dion sings, "It's all coming back to me now."
Cheers, mike 😉

 

[Trius]

Frank: Do you have a dehumidifier? Once it gets warm and humid again, you might collect the water from it. I run mine through a Brita to remove any particulates. I store it in plastic gallon (yeah, the locals are allergic to metric in these parts) milk jugs and/or larger plastic jugs that some brands of cat litter come in. I use that water for all solutions, including wash water ... using the Ilford wash method.

Mike: Another good site on HC-110 and processing is here.

 

[nk.]

HP5+ and HC110 at Dil. H (1:63) are an awesome combo. I've been using 10 min at 20C. After being introduced to it, I'm hesitant to develop HP5+ in anything else, though I still go back to D76 occasionally.

There's no need to use distilled water. De-ionized or reverse osmosis water will also work well and tend to be a lot cheaper than true distilled water. A Brita Filter won't really do much. As ravinder_walia mentioned, you only need it for the last rinse--and I live in a v. hard water area. I don't know how much it would cost in Israel, but reverse osmosis water (which is more expensive than de-ionized water) costs about $0.35/3.785 L if you provide you own container.

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi Rav., nk. & all...

First Rav:
I love that Viper sports car and the detail in the engine.

And nk.
We've done a bit of research on water filtration here.
Reverse osmosis is NOT healthy [for humans]; it removes too much of
whatever is good in the water.

Re: DEVELOPMENT, TIMES & TEMP.
Please see my Post here "First B & W Dev in 12 years."

The Dilution I used was 1:24 at 69f for 12 minutes with well exposed HP5+.
Each scene or subject, was bracketed above and below the 400 meter readout
of my Bessa R.

And, my negs were about 10% under-developed!
So, I'm left wondering, nk. and rav. too...
Is 10 minutes at 68f with HC110 at a 1:63 Dilution...
is it enough development time?

See Fence-1 below.
It was Resized with NO post-processing.
Thanks, mike

 

[mike goldberg]

Hi Daniel, Rav and whomever...

First Daniel, with the most recent Reply:
Can you share here, what might be the difference in using Dilution B,
and higher Dilutions? What I'm looking for here, we all recognize, in
investing in B/W processing at home. And that is, grain pattern, contrast,
shadow detail and highlights that do not block up.

Rav, from what you write in the Reply just before Daniel's... supports the
likelihood that I'm easily 2 minutes under in my development time.
The grain pattern was OK, but my negs lacked 'snap.'

And, it may be that with 1.5 to 2 minutes more development time [with any Dilution] my ISO setting will need adjustment. Thus, ISO 800 may be preferable. And Rav, if you are doing
some tests at 800, I look forward to seeing them.

Consider this: I live in a land of abundant sunshine; thus, I'm left with some obvious choices... a slower emulsion, let's say ISO 100 for bright outdoor
work, and 800, for low light and indoors.

Thanks!... there's a lot of enjoyment in the journey.
Cheers, mike

 

[kaiyen]

Mike,
Let's see...it's impressive that detergent is working in place of photo-flo, as it is more akin to Jet-Dry than detergent. But if it works, it works.

You might not need any purified/distilled water at all. Depends on your water source and its quality.

If your negatives are lacking "snap" and you add more time, then you need not nec. adjust our exposure at all. They are two different things, though one does affect the other.

The first question is about exposure. Do you have enough shadow detail? ESpecially since you have so much sun, you have a lot of contrast. So take a shot, look at your shadow areas on the negative, and see if you have good density there. If not, then you need to expose more (lower EI).

If shadow detail is good but your negatives are dull, then you need to increase development time to increase contrast. Your exposure is fine; leave it as is but increase dev time. HOWEVER, remember that a _negative_ that looks like it's got good contrast to the naked eye will generally have too much contrast once printed or scanned.

allan