T-Max 100 in Rodinal - Shoot/Dev at Box Speed or Shoot + 1 stop push in development?

[Filson Back]

All -

I have been shooting HP5+ at 400 and developing at 800 in Rodinal for some time - I like the contrast, grain, and slight improvement in shadow detail
with a one-stop push in development. I have decided to try out T-Max 100. Assuming I will develop in Rodinal should I shoot and develop at box speed or
overdevelop one stop (shoot at 100 / develop at 200)? I have looked at the output for recipes posted online but this exact combination doesn't seem to be covered. Thanks in advance.

 

[santino]

I don’t really know the answer to your question but I think TMax - Rodinal isn’t the best combination. TMax is rather comparable to Delta and benefits from its designated developers.

 

[Slumgullion]

I can't speak to your experience with pushing HP5, but in general Rodinal is not a good developer for speed. If you want grain and sharpness at box speed or slower, Rodinal is a great choice. On to the matter at hand - Rodinal and TMax 100 (at box speed) are an awesome combo. You get the fine(ish) grain with smooth gradation of T-Max with the bit of texture and edge sharpness than Rodinal gives. Honestly, one of my favorite film/developer combos.

No Clos Radio by Jim Fischer, on Flickr

Jordan by Jim Fischer, on Flickr

Dad by Jim Fischer, on Flickr

 

[Slumgullion]

Dog in Parked Car by Jim Fischer, on Flickr

Taylor by Jim Fischer, on Flickr

Jess by Jim Fischer, on Flickr

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Neither. Tmax 100's true speed in Rodinal is only 50. You shoot at box speed and you'll have underexposed images, and pushing is even worse.

 

[Filson Back]

Neither. Tmax 100's true speed in Rodinal is only 50. You shoot at box speed and you'll have underexposed images, and pushing is even worse.

Great insight - will try exposing at 50 and developing at 50

 

[p.giannakis]

This is definitely a strange way of developing - I cannot imagine the outcome. You are going to lose film speed by about 1/3-1/2 stop because of Rodinal but you are also going to overdevelop the shadows by almost 50% more time at the expense of the highlights 🤔

If you do it, please post some pictures here, I would like to see the results.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Great insight - will try exposing at 50 and developing at 50

Don't develop at 50, whatever that means. Develop for normal contrast and you'll find that the film's true speed is only 50.

Rodinal 1+50 for 11 minutes at 68 degrees (20C) should give normal contrast and speed of 50.

 

[Filson Back]

This is definitely a strange way of developing - I cannot imagine the outcome. You are going to lose film speed by about 1/3-1/2 stop because of Rodinal but you are also going to overdevelop the shadows by almost 50% more time at the expense of the highlights 🤔

If you do it, please post some pictures here, I would like to see the results.

This is HP5+ exposed for ISO 400 but developed based on the Massive Dev Chart recipe for ISO 800 in Rodinal 1/25 dilution. This is my usual thing - develop for one stop faster than the exposed speed to get some shadow detail.

 

[sojournerphoto]

Hard to tell from just a couple of pictures but I’d expect overdevelopment to increase the contrast and, probably, increase highlight density significantly without giving much more shadow detail. The ‘pushed look’ is usually more contrasty with blocked shadows, but with normal exposure the shadows will be fine alongside the increased contrast.

@Freakscene discussed varying exposure and development to optimise film for different light recently, and a vary exposure only version when you don’t want to carry 3 bodies.

 

[Pioneer]

I shoot TMAX 100 professional at EI200 and develop it normally in Tmax Developer as advised by Kodak themselves on their datasheet. Seems to have reasonable latitude. Please remember I am shooting TMAX at 7000 feet elevation in normal sunny conditions so contrast can be a problem at times. It may not work for everyone.

Probably not in England or Indiana.

 

[p.giannakis]

This is HP5+ exposed for ISO 400 but developed based on the Massive Dev Chart recipe for ISO 800 in Rodinal 1/25 dilution. This is my usual thing - develop for one stop faster than the exposed speed to get some shadow detail.

Thank you for posting this. Your technique makes a lot of sense when light levels are low and you need the extra speed but in normal light you get what @sojournerphoto mentioned. Plus the grain appears more exaggerated.

If you want to give it a try, I would start with 1+50 for 14mins. Rodinal is not a linear developer for low dilutions but I would use it as a starting point.

 

[titrisol]

Many decades ago TMX @50 developed in Rodinal 1+50 used to be the ticket for most medium format
Grain was under control and you got a long tonality

Havent used that combo since 2005 but IIRC the trick was to agitate sparingly, something like the 1st 30s and then once every other minute
I'll have to dig in the archives to find some examples

Search in Photrio and the old photo.net for threads on this from 2003-2004