Religious Experience... TRI-X

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 brother,
and thou shall not stray into the evil land of pixel and photoshop :angel:
 
D76 is the classic "soap" and somehow it gives acceptable results with all the films. Rodinal on the other hand is a far more mysterious and enigmatic developer and in IMO the best developer for Trix...

tri-x at ISO 3200 with rodinal:

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Sorry folks and kindly excuss me, but what the hell can any of us understand from tiny screen computer images ?

With all due respect, Nh3, your image seems to suggest you are a master film ph technician. And you may be indeed, despite your image shows a very favourable low contrast at the race, against your claim of iso 3200. But perhaps you have just better scanned your neg, or used a much better scaner than Trius and capitalK ?

The same question goes for you too, Trius and capitalK - starting with capitalK, what can we possibly see about your negs from these small sized images ?

Now kindly you all scan with the same scaner, using the same scanning techique, enlarge the picture to 100 cm x 100cm, then post just a tenth of it, and perhaps, just perhaps, we may start seeing something about film qualities, film processing, film developers - etc.

Sorry again,
Ruben
(an atheist)
 
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Nh3, you may want to rescan that image to get rid of the newton rings. Also, save it at a higher JPEG setting to get rid of all the digital artifacts. I don't think you're going to sell anyone on Tri-X + Rodinal with the image you posted.
 
Sorry folks and kindly excuss me, but what the hell can any of us understand from tiny screen computer images ?
Sorry again,
Ruben
(an atheist)

Ruben: you and I are thinking the same here. But then I am one of those that believes the world already has too many technically excellent but absolutely boring photos already.
 
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

i use this recipe and can vouch for it .
 
Tri-X and D76 is a classic combo @ 400asa or less. I prefer Divided D76, because it prevents the highlights from blocking up and gets you good shadow detail and grain. Also try Barry Thornton's 2-Bath (400asa). Three ingredients and can be mixed in minutes.

If you're going to push Tri-X as high as 1250 or 1600 Diafine, XTOL or DD-X are good picks.
 
Sorry folks and kindly excuss me, but what the hell can any of us understand from tiny screen computer images ?

With all due respect, Nh3, your image seems to suggest you are a master film ph technician. And you may be indeed, despite your image shows a very favourable low contrast at the race, against your claim of iso 3200. But perhaps you have just better scanned your neg, or used a much better scaner than Trius and capitalK ?

The same question goes for you too, Trius and capitalK - starting with capitalK, what can we possibly see about your negs from these small sized images ?

Now kindly you all scan with the same scaner, using the same scanning techique, enlarge the picture to 100 cm x 100cm, then post just a tenth of it, and perhaps, just perhaps, we may start seeing something about film qualities, film processing, film developers - etc.

Sorry again,
Ruben
(an atheist)

You're welcome to come visit Canada anytime to see my prints. I don't know if there's any other way to appease you :D Maybe if you saw them you would lament that they are only on RC paper, not fibre? :p

Until then low-res resized scans will have to do. I agree that the web is not necessarily the best medium for viewing B&W photos.

In the meantime I'm just excited to be trying something new.
 
Mr. Harry Lime, I have been using Barry Thornton's teaspoon two bath (actually, my version of it), and I'm wondering if you have ever tried it. I use it with Rodinal or HC-110 but you could use it with D-76 and TriX. It seems to work for me, so I wondering if the extra effort of Barry Thornton's original formula is really needed. It's not that hard to control highlights with TriX, but I especially like it with TMax100 (which is a little harder film to control the highlights, at least for me). Or if a 'Third Man' has a TriX two bath opinion, that would be nice too.
 
I'm just going to remind people that whatever images we get to see of Tri-X on this board are those scanned for our pleasure. Asking people to "do a better job please" is out of bounds. You might as well say "don't bother if that's all you got."

I, for one, will not bother to rescan purely for the convenience of a forum member who wants some kind of scientific data for a personal project. Even if it's for Ruben :)

Just for fun, here's a crappy scan of a crappy shot on Tri-X (Those are my friends, not random bar patrons) :
http://lakespc.com/pics/BlackAndWhite/TriX_At_6400/Haley.jpg
 
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I'm just going to remind people that whatever images we get to see of Tri-X on this board are those scanned for our pleasure. Asking people to "do a better job please" is out of bounds. You might as well say "don't bother if that's all you got."

I, for one, will not bother to rescan purely for the convenience of a forum member who wants some kind of scientific data for a personal project. Even if it's for Ruben :)
[/url]

Agreed. Fully.

I recently posted comparison images shot and processed purely for the purpose of answering a question posted here. When the responses posted all read along the lines of, "You can't tell ANYTHING from these small images, etc.", well, I learned to simply not bother as well.

To the original spirit of this thread and its poster - As a long time, monogamous Tri-X user, I've found the temptation to adulterate with NeoPan 400 or HP5 Plus fueled by threads here and elsewhere almost worth considering. Thanks for reminding me of how good I have it, right here at home with those familiar yellow boxes!

Ta,

-J.
 
Sorry folks and kindly excuss me, but what the hell can any of us understand from tiny screen computer images ?

With all due respect, Nh3, your image seems to suggest you are a master film ph technician. And you may be indeed, despite your image shows a very favourable low contrast at the race, against your claim of iso 3200. But perhaps you have just better scanned your neg, or used a much better scaner than
Trius
and
capitalK
?

The same question goes for you too,
Trius
and
capitalK
- starting with capitalK, what can we possibly see about your negs from these small sized images ?

Now kindly you all scan with the same scaner, using the same scanning techique, enlarge the picture to 100 cm x 100cm, then post just a tenth of it, and perhaps, just perhaps, we may start seeing something about film qualities, film processing, film developers - etc.

Sorry again,
Ruben
(an atheist)

Ruben, in the words of Julies Caesar, "I came, I saw, I pressed the shutter!"
 
Nh3, you may want to rescan that image to get rid of the newton rings. Also, save it at a higher JPEG setting to get rid of all the digital artifacts. I don't think you're going to sell anyone on Tri-X + Rodinal with the image you posted.

I checked your flicker images and i forgive you...

lol
 
You're welcome to come visit Canada anytime to see my prints. I don't know if there's any other way to appease you :D Maybe if you saw them you would lament that they are only on RC paper, not fibre? :p

Until then low-res resized scans will have to do. I agree that the web is not necessarily the best medium for viewing B&W photos.

In the meantime I'm just excited to be trying something new.


Dear capitalK,

I will be most pleased to actually see your high aesthetical prints, or even just travel to Canada to help that nice lady fight CIA infiltration into Canada's "Intelligence One" tv series, or her own domestic treacherous politicians there.
But my point was that computer screen images lie about the original neg tech qualities, furthermore when other photogs prints are shown for comparizon. This is about grain and other film and processing qualities - not about aesthetics, for which your images suggest you are indeed strong.

Now, it is my opinion you have done good in submitting your technical or/and aesthetical question to RFF. But two points should be taken into account. For aesthetical judgement, most of the prints will manage to pass through somehow the small size RFF is able to offer.

For technical assestment, it is my opinion that RFF size is absolutely unfit. It is not the fault of RFF, RFF acts according to his resources and other factors - good will there is. But you could spare me and everybody else the trip to Canada, by simply posting a big size print to flickr, and then post us the link.

I insist. Provided good scanning was given, show me a tenth of your neg, after scaning at a square meter, and then we may start learning something.

Your scanning and wet processing data will not hurt either.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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I'm just going to remind people that whatever images we get to see of Tri-X on this board are those scanned for our pleasure. Asking people to "do a better job please" is out of bounds. You might as well say "don't bother if that's all you got."

Dear Friend,

Have you been talking in general, I would agree very much with you. No doubt.

But the photog opening this thread specifically said:

"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".

Had he asked for aesthetical commentary I would strongly back his work.

Although in general too, asking for aesthetical commentary via techincal issues is not the taster choice.

Yet it is true, and must be said on his behalf, that our friend capitalK, posted his technical or aesthetics post with several appealing aesthetical images, within the Critique forum, instead of the "film" forum.


Cheers
Ruben
 
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Ruben, in the words of Julies Caesar, "I came, I saw, I pressed the shutter!"


"You too, Brutus ? " (*)




(*) Caesar words at Shakespear's "Julius Caesar', by the moment of his assasination.
 
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