Religious Experience... TRI-X

[capitalK]

Trying to stay out of a winter funk I decided to test out TRI-X 400. My usual 400 speed B&W film has been HP5 and I have been happy with the results but I wanted to try more.

I decided to order 5 rolls of TRI-X and give it a fair shot. I joked that I was expecting a "religious experience."

So far I've developed 2 rolls, both in Ilfosol 3 (the only developer I had access to) and as soon as I hung them up to dry I fell in love. The contrast was just jumping out at me. They are very grainy, some is probably attributed to me using the wrong developer but I personally find it pleasing to the eye. That's one reason I am shooting B&W film... for the texture.

Maybe not quite a religious experience, but I certainly am excited to finish the last 3 rolls. Yesterday I picked up some Rodinal and HC-110 to further my test.

Comments and criticism not only welcome, but encouraged. Tips on using and developing TRI-X are also welcome.

 

[Florian1234]

Nice results, but also a fair amount of grain in there.
With Rodinal, I guess, you will also get a lot of grain. At least that's my experience with this film/developer-combination.

Next time I will use Tri-X with D-76 1+1, the so called "classic" combination. 🙂

 

[nightfly]

Welcome to the club.

As someone who has always found HP5 really drab and boring, I can imagine Tri-X is a revelation.

If you don't mind grain and like sharpness and great tonality, try it in Rodinal. Play around till you find a dilution that pleases you. I don't mind grain and like to accentuate the contrastiness so 1:25 is my favorite dilution. Others like 1:50 or even 1:100 and some people like stand developing for absurdly long amounts of time.

If you want a little smoother look, again with great tonaity but are willing to sacrifice a little bite and graininess, try some HC-110.

I always find D-76 adequate but not especially good for anything plus I hate powders so HC-110 is my choice for that sort of look but I never use it anymore. Once you acquire a taste for Rodinal you might stop experimenting and just a buy a bunch of Tri-X and Rodinal and take photos.

 

[bidnez]

XTOL for me

XTOL for me

Since a member at an other forum convinced me to try XTOL for Tri-X I haven´t looked back. 😎 This "new" developer gives amazing results IMHO. At 400, but also 1600 and 3200. 😱

 

[nightfly]

Also if you like Tri-X but want a little more modern but very similar look, Neopan 400 is another film to look at. I treat them the same processing wise but I find my Neopan looks a little more "modern" can't say exactly why, maybe just crisper and a tad less grainy. I use them interchangeably and go for long periods with one or the other.

 

[wde60]

I don't know if it's the developer/film combination but the images are quite contrasty here. The first and last ones with the fog/smoke/steam are beautiful.

 

[bmattock]

23rd Kodak Psalm

Tri-X is my film choice; I shall not want.
It maketh me to create perfect exposures.
It leadeth me beside the D76 and Rapid Fix.
It restoreth my highlights:
It leadeth me in the paths of push-processing for Art's sake.

Yea, though I expose through the filter of red,
I will fear no loss of accutance: For thy developer art diluted 1+1;
Thy grain and thy yellow box, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a room for me in the darkness of mine house;
Thou annointest my reel with developer, my tank runneth over.

Surely sharpness and good contrast shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of Eastman forever.

 

[presspass]

Try it with X-tol in any dilution - 1:1, 1:2, or 1:3. The higher the dilution, the greater the sharpness. Semi-stand development helps tame highlights - Anchell's film development cookbook gives good times to start. Also try Diafine for high ISO, although it does produce more grain than X-tol.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I have it work different for me as I shot Neopan 400 for years, filled in with a few bricks of HP5+ on several occasions, and am now shooting the Arista Premium (Tri-X?) for the price.

I shoot them interchangeably, sometimes a few rolls of one and a few rolls of something else at the same time. I expose them the same. I develop them together in the same tank, using either Rodinal or HC-110, consistent times.

When it comes to the final prints, I simply cannot tell any difference between those made from Neopan 400 negs, HP5+ negs, or the Arista Premium negs.

 

[Trius]

With the grain exhibited, I believe the photos posted may be somewhat overdeveloped. AFAIK, Ilfosol 3 is a very fast acting developer, and unless you calibrate your exposure and development, it would be easy to overdevelop. Also, grain tends to increase with agitation (I belong to TCOMA ... The Church of Minimal Agitation), so combine that with a very active developer, and I think you're asking for less than optimal grain.

I concur that XTol is a good choice, but Rodinal does not produce LARGER grain, it simply does not shave the grain as do other developers that have more silver-solvent. Grain with Rodinal is sharp and acutance (sharpness) is optimized.

It is hard to beat the tonality of Tri-X in a high speed b&w film, though the new TMax 400 (TMY-2) is very, very nice with an entirely different grain structure.

TMY-2, Olympus 35SP, Highland Park, Rochester NY 11 - 2007

 

[capitalK]

With the grain exhibited, I believe the photos posted may be somewhat overdeveloped. AFAIK, Ilfosol 3 is a very fast acting developer, and unless you calibrate your exposure and development, it would be easy to overdevelop. Also, grain tends to increase with agitation (I belong to TCOMA ... The Church of Minimal Agitation), so combine that with a very active developer, and I think you're asking for less than optimal grain.

I concur that XTol is a good choice, but Rodinal does not produce LARGER grain, it simply does not shave the grain as do other developers that have more silver-solvent. Grain with Rodinal is sharp and acutance (sharpness) is optimized.

It is hard to beat the tonality of Tri-X in a high speed b&w film, though the new TMax 400 (TMY-2) is very, very nice with an entirely different grain structure.

TMY-2, Olympus 35SP, Highland Park, Rochester NY 11 - 2007

Thanks. I did about 5 inversions to start and then an inversion every 30 seconds, developing for 10 minutes. I would like to see how the grain looks printed in the darkroom. So far I've only done 11x14 prints from PANF 50 and FP4, this is a whole other level of grain than my results with those two films. Rodinal is my step, for sure.

 

[Trius]

Yeah, post-processing for the web can also affect the appearance of grain. Also, broad expanses of lighter values (sky, clouds, snow, etc.,) are not strengths for grainier films.

What dilution did you use for Ilfosol?

 

[WoolenMammoth]

your first photo there is awesome.

 

[capitalK]

What dilution did you use for Ilfosol?

It was Ilfosol 3 at 1+9. I haven't really experimented with dilutions and times.

your first photo there is awesome.

Thank you, I think I'm going to try and print that one. It was -20º C when I took it so I'm glad I got something decent... otherwise I would have frozen for nothing 😀

 

[newspaperguy]

While you're experimenting with Tri-X and HC110, try this:
Rate your film @200.
Develop in HC110 dilution B (One-part HC110 & 31 parts distilled water)
agitating 10-15 seconds with a "bubble rap," then once every 30 seconds
for a total of 5 minutes @68 degrees.

Sound strange? Sort of un-heard of?
According to the late Fred Picker of Zone IV fame,
this was Ansel Adams' favorite recipe.
All I can say is it works for me.
Old Rick

 

[lorriman]

23rd Kodak Psalm

Tri-X is my film choice; I shall not want.
It maketh me to create perfect exposures.
It leadeth me beside the D76 and Rapid Fix.
It restoreth my highlights:
It leadeth me in the paths of push-processing for Art's sake.

Yea, though I expose through the filter of red,
I will fear no loss of accutance: For thy developer art diluted 1+1;
Thy grain and thy yellow box, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a room for me in the darkness of mine house;
Thou annointest my reel with developer, my tank runneth over.

Surely sharpness and good contrast shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of Eastman forever.

I was moved to tears...

 

[RayPA]

23rd Kodak Psalm

Tri-X is my film choice; I shall not want.
It maketh me to create perfect exposures.
It leadeth me beside the D76 and Rapid Fix.
It restoreth my highlights:
It leadeth me in the paths of push-processing for Art's sake.

Yea, though I expose through the filter of red,
I will fear no loss of accutance: For thy developer art diluted 1+1;
Thy grain and thy yellow box, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a room for me in the darkness of mine house;
Thou annointest my reel with developer, my tank runneth over.

Surely sharpness and good contrast shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of Eastman forever.

I believe the correct response is 'Amen' (?).

/

 

[Travis L.]

23rd Kodak Psalm

Tri-X is my film choice; I shall not want.
It maketh me to create perfect exposures.
It leadeth me beside the D76 and Rapid Fix.
It restoreth my highlights:
It leadeth me in the paths of push-processing for Art's sake.

Yea, though I expose through the filter of red,
I will fear no loss of accutance: For thy developer art diluted 1+1;
Thy grain and thy yellow box, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a room for me in the darkness of mine house;
Thou annointest my reel with developer, my tank runneth over.

Surely sharpness and good contrast shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of Eastman forever.

AMEN.


That's the funniest thing I've ever read.

T

 

[capitalK]

I finished one roll yesterday and the other two today, so along with the first two I developed my initial 5 rolls are gone. I'm going to develop them this week in Rodinal and see what I got.

To be continued...

 

[Nh3]

There is one major issue with Tri-X, which is not likely to be encountered by a lot of amateurs, but this so called 'problem' is that Tri-X makes everything look beauitful.