Turning point in developing film. What made you re-think your technique ?

[Bingley]

Interesting article. I've gravitated toward HC110 as my main developer, and use dil. H. I'm also of the minimalist school on agitation: usually 2-3 inversions every 3 minutes. Seems to work well. The article's comments on temperature are interesting. I haven't tried to develop HC110 at 75 F and use rinse water with the same temp, but maybe I should give it a try. In the summer, my tap water is close to 75 F anyway. All the development times I use for HC110 are based on 20C/68F temps.

 

[John Bragg]

Interesting article. I've gravitated toward HC110 as my main developer, and use dil. H. I'm also of the minimalist school on agitation: usually 2-3 inversions every 3 minutes. Seems to work well. The article's comments on temperature are interesting. I haven't tried to develop HC110 at 75 F and use rinse water with the same temp, but maybe I should give it a try. In the summer, my tap water is close to 75 F anyway. All the development times I use for HC110 are based on 20C/68F temps.

Likewise Steve, I have never tried the higher temp. I am sure it would work in a hot place but 20c has been my norm for ever. I apply most of the other advice though. I am also minimalist with agitation these days. 12 mins for Tri-X @ ei200 with only 5 inversions to start and two at the 4 and two at the 8 minute marks. All I know is it works for me and keeps all the tones as I like them.

 

[Greg M.]

Developing Film

Developing Film

Well... My Goodness... such a suprise!!

This is Greg Mironchuk, and I'd like to thank Mr. Bragg, and everyone else, for their kind words.

I was motivated to write that piece, because... in a very long career as a photojournalist... during the days when B&W was the currency of photojournalism... virtually all the complaints by photographers, about film and processing, were traceable back to a poor understanding of how exposure and development intertwine, to produce a 'readable' and 'useable' negative... and later, a print.

To make a very long story short... since we have all become "digital photographers", we have learned the value of a good Workflow, in getting our images shot, and processed, and ready for delivery. Back then, we didn't think that way... we shot, developed, printed, and either transmitted the image (if you were a wire service photographer), or sent the print along, to "engraving".

The HC-110 piece was an effort to help other photographers find how best to find their OWN point of Consistency... how to quantify the exposure and development process, so that they could get Good Results, with a minimum of work and anxiety.

Soooo... if you like to use D-76, and invert the tank a lot... go for it! Just do it with a Goal in mind, and do it CONSISTENTLY. I had reasons as to why I chose HC-110, as a one-shot (consistency, reliability, availability)...and chose to expose and develop film the way I did (long tonal scale, and high acutance). Those were my goals. Your goals may vary...

I am glad that Rodinal has so many fans... and so many Defenders... my experience with Rodinal was based in Boston, MA, USA, in the late '70s and early '80s... when Rodinal was a rare and exotic thing, and not readily available.

I would buy a bottle, when I could, and work at it... but my experience was that... as a mix-it-up-as-you-go-along one-shot... it simply did NOT stay 'potent', in the bottle. I **wanted** it to work for me... but it didn't. Perhaps the bad distribution into New England was a factor... getting old Product onto the shelves... but, it was never as good (to me) as HC-110.

Finally... I no longer develop film that way... I no longer print. I now scan my negatives, and store and send the images along as digital files (that's what clients want). To optimize for scanning, my Modus Operandi is to continue to meter and expose my 400 speed B&W films at E.I. 200... and I continue to develop in HC-110, diluted 1:64... but these days I add four teaspoons of non-iodized table salt, per pint of developer... and develop at 75 degrees F., for 5 minutes and 45 seconds... and still not much agitation.

The salt makes the grain finer (if you look up what's in Microdol-X Developer, you'll see "sodium chloride" as the largest volume chemical, of the formula), which generally reduces the Grain Aliasing that results from scanning a silver/non-chromogenic dye negative.

I just put up some recent B&W work on my blog (everyone has a blog...), at <http://gregmironchuk.wordpress.com>, of you want to look at how that's going...

Thank you all, again...


Greg.

 

[haempe]

A turning point for me was the read of Willy Beutler's "Meine Dunkelkammerpraxis"
It was encouragement to me to start mixing my developer from raw materials.

 

[kxl]

Consistently crappy results made me rethink my technique.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

It was in 2006 when I was doing overnight development work for a lab in California. Working exclusively with ID-11 and I saw how forgiving film could be. Highlights could get blocked up a bit and shadows could lose most detail but the gray zones that usually mattered the most had so much latitude that I started joking about developing film in my strong black coffee (then I read about caffeinol!)
The sheer volume of that job every night got my process down pat and I learned to pay attention to little things here and there but really, working there showed me that I shouldn't be hesitant in the darkroom ever and although it's chemistry, there is a lot of latitude built in to silver grains that have been exposed to light.
These days I prefer HC-110 and Eastman 5222 (Double-X.) I'm still trying to learn that combo the best I can.

Phil Forrest

 

[tunalegs]

Not much, I develop at lower temperatures than I did when I started since I realized I could add as much contrast as I wanted in printing. But that's about it. Still using D-76, only agitate once a minute rather than ever 30 seconds (I never saw any difference from it either).

 

[Charlie Lemay]

Hi Greg,

Nice blog. I sent the link to Bob Plamondon.

Nice to hear you are still t it.

Charle

 

[Greg M.]

Ha! I had a sneaking suspicion that you were "my" Charlie LeMay... I was just waiting for you to incriminate yourself... ;-)

I've been missing Manchester...

Always... ALWAYS a pleasure to hear from you!


Greg.

 

[Vics]

Fred Picker's book, The Zone VI Workshop. Explained exposure in a way that made sense to my tiny brain.

 

[zsas]

I got rid of mixing developers from powder after loosing a few rolls to a dead batch that got stale, now just use "eternal" liquid devs depending on the film/light/aesthetic (eg Rodinal, HC-110, Diafine).

 

[kwijybow]

I moved to a two bath development method. Thornton's to be exact, that I mix from the bulk chemicals for next to nothing a few times a year depending on how much film I shoot. Very consistent results, much better tonal range on my negatives.

 

[Noll]

My a-ha moment came after looking at some expired tri-x souped in rodinal. Cheaping out and doing things for economy was fine, but I wasn't excited about the results. I was much happier with the results using fresh film and d-76 (1+1)

Agreed. Fresh is best!

 

[filmfan]

When I began printing in the darkroom more often and enlarging negatives larger, I began to notice how important a good negative is.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

.....

Adding salt to a developer is a good way to modify a developer for smaller grain, although it can have an affect on the sharpness of the grain. I do it with Rodinal, at times, which has remained my favorite developer for two decades. I even mix my own Sodium based version now since it's availability has been spotty the last few years, along with it's name. (Blazinol, Adonol, A09? R09? What the heck am I buying?) It lasts years......

most interesting.... how much to add can i ask ? will table salt do ?

thanks!

raytoei

 

[Laviolette]

Well, I'm still pretty new to developing but I remarked a gigantic difference when I went from tap water to distilled water for the developer mix (hc-110) and final rinse. My negatives are much cleaner now.

One point that I would want to get better is my rinsing technique, where the temperature of the first rinses of tap water could be more consistent with the rest of the procedure.

 

[mwoenv]

I realized that simply bringing solutions to temperature was not adequate temperature control when I got underdeveloped neagatives in winter (house cooler than developing temp) and overdeveloped negatives in summer (house hotter than developing temp).

Per the article, temperature control throughout the process is very important. I use a small insulated cooler to bring the tank/reels/film to the developing temperature prior to starting development and perform all processing at the same temperature. A digital thermometer with a probe, calibrated to a color thermometer, is used to measure temperature in the cooler, check solution temperatures, and to make sure the wash water is also at the right temperature. This manual maintenance of temperature is simple and inexpensive .

Solution management is also important - plain seltzer water PET bottles provide an excellent oxygen barrier. Squeezing to eliminate headspace air, storing in the dark, using distilled water to make up solutions, and filtering with coffee filters prior to each use enable you to use the full capacity of the chemicals and prevent debris from depositing on the film.

Since doing this, I have gotten excellent results shooting at box speed and following the film and chemical suppliers' recommendations for C41 and black and white processing. I only use products from suppliers that give detailed processing and chemical capacity information (e.g., Kodak, Fuji, Ilford, Unicolor, Digibase).

 

[mwoenv]

I realized that simply bringing solutions to temperature was not adequate temperature control when I got underdeveloped neagatives in winter (house cooler than developing temp) and overdeveloped negatives in summer (house hotter than developing temp).

Per the article, temperature control throughout the process is very important. I use a small insulated cooler to bring the tank/reels/film to the developing temperature prior to starting development and perform all processing at the same temperature. A digital thermometer with a probe, calibrated to a color thermometer, is used to measure temperature in the cooler, check solution temperatures, and to make sure the wash water is also at 68F. This manual maintenance of temperature is simple and inexpensive .

Solution management is also important - plain seltzer water PET bottles provide an excellent oxyegen barrier. Squeezing to eliminate heafspace air, storing in the dark, and filtering with coffee filters prior to each use enable you to use the full capacity of the chemicals.

Since doing this, I have gotten excellent results shooting at box speed and following the film and chemical suppliers' recommendations for C41 and black and white processing. I only use products from suppliers that give detailed processing and chemical capacity information (e.g., Kodak, Fuji, Ilford, Unicolor, Digibase).

 

[paulfish4570]

blown highlights with d-76 and tmax sent me to hc-110 for arista premium 400/tri-x, dilution H. whole lot cheaper than tmax - and just as convenient for one-shot use - and gives me what i expect from my "style" ...

 

[John Bragg]

blown highlights with d-76 and tmax sent me to hc-110 for arista premium 400/tri-x, dilution H. whole lot cheaper than tmax - and just as convenient for one-shot use - and gives me what i expect from my "style" ...

A true example of less indeed being more. Less chemical giving a better result. My findings are with you. Dilution H is the best way to use HC-110.