One Roll of Tri-X 120 - Request Opinions on Developers

One Roll of Tri-X 120 - Request Opinions on Developers

  • Ethol T.E.C.

    Votes: 1 6.7%

  • Rodinal 1+50

    Votes: 4 26.7%

  • Rodinal 1+100

    Votes: 1 6.7%

  • Old D-76 - let's see how bad old D076 can be!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • New D-76 - throw that old stuff out!

    Votes: 6 40.0%

  • HC-110

    Votes: 3 20.0%
  • Total voters
    15
  • Poll closed .
bmattock

bmattock

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I have one roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 in 120 roll film, which I shot at EI 400 (in a G690, so well on topic for RFF). It is in the tank as I write this.

However, I do not yet know which soup to use.

I have a nice fresh bottle of Ethol T.E.C., but I can find no dev data for it for Tri-X rated at 400 (yes, I checked the Massive Dev Chart).

I have a half-bottle of Rodinal.

I have a very old half-gallon of D-76 stock, and a fresh packet to make a new gallon if desired.

I have a half-bottle of HC-110.

The photos taken were of barns in the country in winter - fairly high-contrast stuff. Mostly taken at 1/125 and f/8, no filters.

Within the hour, I am going to use one of the developers listed above.

However, I solicit your opinions.
 
Rodinal, if you have it (and you do!).

Seriously, for one roll mixing the required amount from the rodinal is just sooo easy.
 
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D-76 is a good developer for Med film.
Rodinal is to be high contrast developer; D-76 is medium contrast developer. Since you shot high contrast scenes using D-76 would pull the contrast down and make t easier to print.
 
My first choice would be Rodinal, then D76 1:1.

Rodinal @ 1:100 would be very good for the high contrast range you indicate, Bill. It is only "high contrast" at lower dilutions or if over-agitated. I would give about 20 min, 20C, 30 sec agitation then 3 inversions every 3 minutes thereafter.

I haven't used D76 in a long time but picked some up today to develop some Neopan 1600 I have exposed. Alkis proved to me that Neopan 1600/D76 is a great combination.
 
MikeCassidy said:
D-76 is a good developer for Med film.
Rodinal is to be high contrast developer; D-76 is medium contrast developer. Since you shot high contrast scenes using D-76 would pull the contrast down and make t easier to print.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have mentioned - I live in a 9x12 room. No print - scan.
 
Trius said:
My first choice would be Rodinal, then D76 1:1.

Rodinal @ 1:100 would be very good for the high contrast range you indicate, Bill. It is only "high contrast" at lower dilutions or if over-agitated. I would give about 20 min, 20C, 30 sec agitation then 3 inversions every 3 minutes thereafter.

I haven't used D76 in a long time but picked some up today to develop some Neopan 1600 I have exposed. Alkis proved to me that Neopan 1600/D76 is a great combination.
Click to expand...

Well, I have taken the one bit of advice everyone has agreed on so far - I pitched the D-76 and made up a fresh batch. However, it is hot right now, since I mixed it at the recommended 122 degrees F. So if I use it, I have to wait for it to cool.

I was leaning towards the Rodinal at 1+100, but I got to thinking - this is a very, very, small amount of Rodinal - my tank only holds 450 ml. That's 4.5 ml of Rodinal, yes? I can measure that small of an amount, with my little medical children's medicine syringe, but is that too little?

Similarly, if I go with HC-110 - is that enough of the juice in that dilution for a 450 ml tank?
 
You got the right tool to measure it (the rodinal) with even. Provided you're not going to use the syringe on the little one's medicine again!
Yes, it should work for the HC110 also...
 
With what you gave as choices, I'd go with HC-110, dilution B, as others suggested. As far as enough HC-110 at dil.b, the bottle or the Kodak web site should tell you minimum volumes per film.

Eli
 
Ethol, for purely selfish reasons since I spotted it in the photo store the other day and got curious. (If it was me, I'd try 11 mins 1+15 at 21C)
 
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Quote: "Within the hour, I am going to use one of the developers listed above."

O.K., bmattock. It has been more than an hour, in fact the stuff should be about dry now. What did you do?
 
Bryce said:
Quote: "Within the hour, I am going to use one of the developers listed above."

O.K., bmattock. It has been more than an hour, in fact the stuff should be about dry now. What did you do?
Click to expand...

I chose to go with the Rodinal 1+100! It is in the soup now, with another 8 minutes to go. Then fix, rinse, and hang. I may not have any scanned results for you this evening - I am heading out for an event I'm photographing in a few hours...but we'll see. And I will return results as soon as possible.

And thank you all for your advice!
 
Good gravy! I just poured the Rodinol out, and it's bloody purple! I mean so bright even I can tell it's purple, and I'm color-blind!

I've used Rodinal a bit - never seen that before. Any thoughts???
 
bmattock said:
Sorry, I should have mentioned - I live in a 9x12 room. No print - scan.
Click to expand...


Even more of a reason to stay away from Rodinal, which I do use. If you had some Microdol X I'd say use that; it would bring the contrast down even more.

If you had several more rolls shot at the same time; I'd say experiment with your development time.

From what I've read here and my experience scanning admittedly just for 'contact proofs' scanners seem to have a hard time getting through dense highlights so maybe take some time off like 20% - somebody here could give more advice.
 
Mike: It turns other devs purple too, it's the (anti halation?) backing coming off.

edit: TriX in Diafine at box speed scans gloriously. It's virtually impossible to get too-dense highlights with Diafine and it makes for great scans.
 
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MikeCassidy said:
Even more of a reason to stay away from Rodinal, which I do use. If you had some Microdol X I'd say use that; it would bring the contrast down even more.

If you had several more rolls shot at the same time; I'd say experiment with your development time.

From what I've read here and my experience scanning admittedly just for 'contact proofs' scanners seem to have a hard time getting through dense highlights so maybe take some time off like 20% - somebody here could give more advice.
Click to expand...

Well, too late for this batch - I did go with the Rodinal 1+100 after all. I do have a bag of Microdol-X powder, but neglected to mix it up - I've never used it and then got discouraged when all I read about it online seemed rather negative (no pun intended). Low contrast, low accutance, and a speed loss into the bargain. So I admit I did not consider it.

We'll have to see what I end up with here. Should be out of the fixer shortly.
 
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