Recommendations for ISO 400+ film for use in Rodinal

S

SebC

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I am pretty new to developing my own film, but am really enjoying the results so far using Rodinal 1+50 with Rollei Retro 100 in 35mm. However, with the recent rainy weather, winter in general, and living in England ISO100 is just not working out too well. Shooting at f1.5 to get a bearable shutter speed is limiting and forces a certain aesthetic, and even at midday I have to hand hold 1/15th at f4 with the horrible grey skies and dim light.



So I need to pick up some faster film. I’ve been really enjoying just using one film and one developer, to try and understand how it reacts in various conditions. For this reason I don’t want to pick up a variety of films for different conditions, but would rather use something quite flexible. I think I’ll stick the Retro in the freezer and unpack it in spring.



Obviously Tri-X comes to mind instantly, but I’ve also thought about Delta 400 and 3200. The results I’ve seen from HP5+ tend to be a little on the high contrast/large grain size for me. Does anyone have any particular recommendations? I’m going to stick with Rodinal for the time being as, being new to developing, I’d like to limit the number of variables.


Secondly – has anyone seen any bargains on film in the UK recently? I bought 20 rolls of Retro 100 for about £25 which, with the minimal cost of developing, has been really quite liberating. Paying £6 for a film (high street prices) and £10 for development made me think twice before experimenting! I’m aware of 7dayshop.com.



Thanks!


Seb
 
If you insist on Rodinal, and 35mm films of 400 and upwards - the grain is going to be inevitable, if you really don't like it - go for something like XP2, especially if scanning the results.
Dave.
PS your local 'Tesco' will dev. C41 for 99p., mine does!
 
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I'm not averse to grain per se, but I thought HP5 had a distinctive look that was very much black OR white but nothing much in between, with exceedingly large grain. I know it's going to be a little gritty, and I really don't mind that in B&W.

However, if something is going to be significantly closer to what I'm after than HP5 then I may as well give it a shot, no?
 
SebC said:
I'm not averse to grain per se, but I thought HP5 had a distinctive look that was very much black OR white but nothing much in between, with exceedingly large grain. I know it's going to be a little gritty, and I really don't mind that in B&W.

However, if something is going to be significantly closer to what I'm after than HP5 then I may as well give it a shot, no?
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I think you must be doing something wrong - with the HP5, with careful use the tonality is superb! - as many here will testify!.
Dave.
 
HP5+ has gorgeous tonality - do please try it as my experience doesn't match your description. Highly recommended, though admittedly it may not show its best in Rodinal (I like it in good old ID-11) nevertheless try it for yourself and decide from the results you get.

Silverprint is very convenient to Waterloo station and a great place to buy from - with some of their bulk buying discounts they are competitive even with 7dayshop, have a huge variety and stock a very wide range of chemicals. If you're up in town anyway and can pop in to pick up things in person you'll save a lot of postage costs. www.silverprint.co.uk
 
Weather is just as bad in my neck of the woods. I took a roll of LegacyPro 400 inside a market hall today. I just souped it in Rodinal 1:50 for 13min and agitating only every 3 mins. Let's see what comes out, I'm not holding my breath though.

BTW, LegacyPro is available in UK through http://www.digitaltruth.com/?uk for a good price.
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
I think you must be doing something wrong - with the HP5, with careful use the tonality is superb! - as many here will testify!.
Dave.
Click to expand...

I think I'm making the mistake of not trying it myself, and just looking at examples on flickr... I have a roll of HP5+ in the fridge but haven't yet tried it!

Austerby - I go through Waterloo about 10 times a week, so that's easy for me!

Mablo - I must admit I have never heard of Legacy Pro.
 
Not to hijack the OP's thread, but we have been having some rotten weather in N. VA in the USA recently. Yesterday I had a couple of hours between doctor's appointments in Falls Church, VA and was wandering around looking for photo ops. I stumbled across a house that had the most amazing eagles carved into a large tree stump. Sun behind a thick layer of clouds about 3:00 pm, light rain, and me with only my Kiev with 400 b/w and my XA with color 800. ISOs were OK but what horrible light. I don't expect much.

As to your HP5 use, I don't understand lack of tonality unless you are dealing with the same crappy flat light. Maybe it just doesn't like Rodinal. I haven't tried it with that myself. Has anybody else, especially in flat light?
 
I go with Tri-X/Arista Premium as my normal usage film. You can pull it down to 200 (or 100 I guess) and push it to well over 6400 with very usable results--all in rodinal.
 
What do you want?

Real 400 speed? Little Grain? Lots of tones? Xtol 1:3 at Kodak's times to start. Adjust to taste.

Less than box speed? More grain? Most all of the tones? Rodinal 1:50 I suppose.

Fine grain and wonderful tones? No clue what happens to the speed-I've only used PanF+. Rodinal. 1:100. Sit. 1 hour. FANTASTIC! It probably works for 400 as well.
 
Rodinal - yes, it's good stuff!, I've used it on and off for fifty years, mainly because it goes on working longer than Status Quo!, but if you believe internet posts - you would think it was the 'elixir of life' - it's not!. It's an acutance developer, best suited to slow, fine grain films, and does nothing for granularity. There are several products ( both liquid and powder form ) that are more suited to the fast films, and especially for 'pushing' - it's worth experimenting a bit!.
Dave.
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
If you insist on Rodinal, and 35mm films of 400 and upwards - the grain is going to be inevitable, if you really don't like it - go for something like XP2, especially if scanning the results.
Dave.
PS your local 'Tesco' will dev. C41 for 99p., mine does!
Click to expand...

That`s what I do. I did use HP5 ( because I used it 35 years ago ) and had it dev and scanned by Ilford.
Horrible.Harsh highlights and big grain.
Then I started scanning it myself and it was much better but now I either use XP2 or Kodak 400 cn and get it dev by Tesco as Dave suggested. I am however keen to do some home dev aswell so I have loaded up some bulk Agafa APXS . It`s only four years out of date :eek:
 
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This was shot today with LegacyPro 400@400, souped in Rodinal 1:50, 13min, agitation first 30sec and then 5-10sec each 3 mins. Settings were f:2.8 and 1/30s. Encouraging, at least for me.
 
You can use comfortably Tri X (or Arista premium 400) - at higher (1+100) dilutions and with minimal agitation you can push the film easily to EI 800. At EI 200-400 Neopan 400 (or Arista Legacy Pro) will be wonderful, and if you want more true speed, try Neopan 1600 around EI 640-800. The key is to agitate once every 3-5 minutes, and making sure you get at least 3cc of Rodinal per film. I suggest you experiment yourself with the exposure and development times, because a lot depends on how big is your tank and how much developer per film you actually use.
 
I'm glad of this thread because I'm facing the same set of choices. I really liked rodinal for MF but in 35 I wonder how bad the grain will look.

Has anyone tried diafine with Tri-X at 400 ... or 800?
 
Mablo, that looks really good to me.

I seem to agitate less than others here - Rodinal 1+50 @20 degrees, agitate for the initial 30 seconds, then maybe 5 inversions at 7 minutes.

How well does Neopan push in Rodinal?
 
Trix in Rodinol is highly regarded. I like HP5 in Rodinol 1/50. May I suggest a search on flicker?

yours
FPJ
 
The problem with Tri-x in England is it cost freaking £3.99 a roll! That's unbelievable. The only cheapish way to get it is the 100ft bulk roll from Firstcall.
 
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