TX 3200 ala Merciful

[neilsphoto]

So here is one image from TX @3200 in Rodinal as per Mercifuls' recipe. I was shooting some stuff for sale here and on eBay. I had a strobe in a softbox.
My grandaughter was over at tthe house wrapped in a blanket on a nearby chair and I took a few frames with just the modeling light in the sofbox. Canon EOS 1nRS and an 85 1.8 lens. @1/180 @2.8 if I remember right. I did some with my M also so there is Leica content.

I made a 9x6 print on the Epson 2200 and the grain is so nice. It has grain, it had better but is very unlike Rodinal grain, very like TX and very unlike TMZ 3200. Smaller finer tighter grain than TMZ. I've got the printer making a 15x11 now just to see how it looks big.

I need to try more Rodinal at "normal" ISO's but with less agitation, less than every 30 seconds for instance.

One thing I did notice is that what I shot and in the light I shot it I had less shadow detail than TMZ would have given me. Normal TX for me is ISO 200, so at 3200 I just dumped shadow detail but what? 4 more stops than normal. I know I would have more shadow detail with TMZ. Having said that in different light it wouldn't have made as much difference.

My TX will get more of this abuse in the future. I hope the little jpg below has teh nice grain/glow that it does on print.

Neil

 

[FrankS]

...Lovely!

 

[merciful]

Good work, Neil. Shadow detail is overrated.

 

[neilsphoto]

The big print is done and except for the fact that the large black/near black area never really can get the deep rich black that a "real" silver print can I'm not dissapointed. FWIW I use the Ebony black from MIS, print on matt papers with a 2200 Epson and use the BO (black ink only) method which I think is ideal for conveying the grainy look of 35mm. The scan was with the Minolta 5400.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Neil,
Nice shot, I need to stress out some Tri-X soon.

Todd

 

[back alley]

i have been looking for the word that captures this 'look'.

drama...

joe

 

[sockdaddy]

can you describe your printing process a bit more - especially the ink/paper choices and the Black Only method?

 

[aizan]

magnifico! i'm itching to go downtown and pick up some rodinal.

 

[neilsphoto]

Quick reply on BO printing. Maybe it should be another thread though sort of of topic. I print BO 'cause it is very easy, don't need to dedicate a printer to a special ink set. no special curves or software needed and while the results are claimed by some to be too "dotty" it is a very good match for 35mm B&W film like TX, TMZ and even Agfa APX 100 in Rodinal.

The film choices above are one big reason I like to scan film vs digital. This is not a film vs blah blah thread. People ask why I don't shoot digital and one big reason is it is too limiting and by that I mean I ca make TX look so many different ways by exposure and choice of developer. I like that. My scanner can see/read/scan grain and I get the look of the developer I choose.

Anyway we could do a BO printing thread and/or check out www.Luminous-Landscape.com Go find Mike Johnstones columns at the bottom of the home page and way back in the archives is an article on BO printing.

Also do a search for a guy named Clayton Jones. He has a great page(s) on BO printing along with full instructions and suggestions.

Also Yahoo groups has a B&W digital printing forum. Very good but very "geeky" too. I hope I didn't ofend anyone with that but some of these guys just beat it to death.

BO printing can be so easy.. Good neg, good scan and great prints are a snap and they have snap.

New thread?

Neil

 

[Stephan]

For those of us who didnt follow the story could you explain what you did please ? I remember reading recently about developing for 2h in 1+200 Rodinal, something like that maybe ?

Cheers 🙂

 

[neilsphoto]

Stephan

All the times were for Rodinal 1:50. Easy way to get 1:50 is 10cc Rodinal with water added to make 500cc. In the US this gets me 16 ounces of Rodinal at 1:50

The times were:

TX ASA12,800 51 minutes

TX ASA 3200 30 minutes

TX ASA 1600 22 minutes

All were at 68F/20C. Agitation is first 30 secs, and then every 5 minutes agitate again for 5 seconds, then wait another 5 minutes. There is always some variation in peoples technique. The key is to always do it the same and you'll find more exact times for you. For example it took me 8-10 secs. to finish my 5 inversions of the tank. Not really a big deal.

Neil

 

[arthur2]

Thanks a lot for sharing this, the picture you posted looks very nice! I will try this out...

 

[djon]

Beautiful girl.

The easiest way to do "black only" is simply to select "black ink only" in your Epson "preferences". The machine will warn you that it doesn't like your aesthetics, but ignore.

You don't have to be working from any particular kind of film or scan. It'll render whatever you see on the screen in the way it sees fit. All you have to do is previsualize and adjust...maybe you want to copy your file more or less contrasty before printing, for example.

 

[Stephan]

I developped some TriX "ala Mercifull" at 6400 ISO yesterday, the results are great... but you'll have to take my word for it, I dont have a film scanner yet 😀

41 Minutes in Rodinal 1+50, shake it 30 seconds then 5 times every 5 minutes.