Question on overdevelopment

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Hi,

Preamble: I developed Legacy pro with Rodinal using "stand development"at el 400, and the image is faint, with half of the frame darker than the other. So, I am going to abandon stand for Legacy pro (aka Fuji Neopan 400) and work through the box & digitaltruth.com recommendation on the development times.

My questions:

a. Can i know what happens when the film is overdeveloped ?
b. Does it have the same effect as overexposure ?
c. Also, would there be lots of blowouts with faint details ?

thanks

 

[Finder]

a. Yes. Increased contrast and gain is the usual effect depending on the amount of overdevelopment.
b. No. There is no real increase in shadow detail and highlights are still there, but the increased contrast makes it hard to control the printing.
c. Grain becomes an issue because of density. Some sharpness can be lost depending on how extreme this development is.

I guess the question is how much you are overdeveloping.

 

[charjohncarter]

He is right although it is hard to tell sometimes. But your uneven development is a problem that I had with Rodinal. I was able to get the same 'compensation' with agitation every 3-4 minutes as I got with my best stand tries. So why take a chance. Just as a side note I didn't get uneven development with HC-110 at high dilution and using stand development. But I still prefer the minimal agitation method, but only when I think I need compensation.

 

[Beemermark]

Film density is controlled by exposure.
Contrast is controlled by development.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

If half the frame's darker than the other half, maybe it is the camera. If you're shooting with a camera that has a focal plane shutter, this can happen if the two shutter curtains do not move across the film at the same speed. Its called shutter tapering and it requires a CLA to fix. I've had it happen with a couple of old 35mm SLRs that had never been serviced.

 

[charjohncarter]

If half the frame's darker than the other half, maybe it is the camera. If you're shooting with a camera that has a focal plane shutter, this can happen if the two shutter curtains do not move across the film at the same speed. Its called shutter tapering and it requires a CLA to fix. I've had it happen with a couple of old 35mm SLRs that had never been serviced.

Good point, I was thinking of the frame being horizontally disturbed. Which would be less likely caused by the horizontal shutter on newer cameras.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Hi, thanks everyone for their helpful suggestions.

I had 2 previous badly developed rolls of Neopan 400 (legacy pro film) in Rodinal stand.

This time round, I went through the box instructions and jiggled abit with the mix:

1+50 rodinal dilution, 6ml + 300ml of water in 1 paterson tank
1 minute gentle agitation of 20 inversions
8 minutes with 10s of 3 inversions every minute
I wanted to use tap water which is around 30-33c here in the tropics, so I cut deveopment time from 11 to 9mins.

I developed 2 rolls in this fashion, the first at 400, and for the second, I adjusted to EL 320.

you ca view the results here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11987299@N03/sets/72157623407430929/

This roll has 4 lens of which they all have problems:
Skid - elmar 90 with cleaning marks
Vig - elmar 90 with vignetting
Hektor - 135mm that has consistent problems at f4.5 and very soft 5.6
Canon - 135/f4 which has a bad case of haze.

thanks again.

 

[charjohncarter]

Looks like the uneven development is gone: congratulations.