What am I doing wrong?
- Thread starter VTHokiEE
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Bingley
Veteran
Here is TMax 400, exposed at 400, and developed in HC110 dil. h for 10 mins.:
At attention by bingley0522, on Flickr
At attention by bingley0522, on Flickr
Bingley
Veteran
And here is TMax 400, exposed at 250, and developed in HC110 dil h for 11:45 mins:
Twin Lakes by bingley0522, on Flickr
Twin Lakes by bingley0522, on Flickr
Bingley
Veteran
Good suggestion. If you look at the dev times for Tr-X in HC110 dil B (twice the dilution of h), you'll see that the dev times for Tri-X exposed at 200 are longer than for the same film exposed at 400.
Moto-Uno
Moto-Uno
^ Thanks . Peter
Steve M.
Veteran
I shoot Tri-X at 200-250 and develop it normally, as from everything I have seen this is the true speed of Tri-X. But being Tri-X, it's not going to make a rat's behind of a difference either way because....it's Tri-X. Very flexible film. However, temps and times are not so flexible. You should have 3 thermometers (I used only one for a while and it was a royal PITA, but it worked. Sorta) and keep the temps as close as you can.
For developing you need to be within a degree or two at the most. Stop bath and fixer are not as critical because the developing has been done, but you still want it as close as possible. Keep your agitations consistent too, and follow the film's instructions for your developer. This is something I failed to do on a recent outing w/ Fuji 400 Neopan, and you can see the before and after effects in a thread I have here on the forum. When I used Fuji's agitation protocol it made a HUGE difference. For Tri-X, (this is for D76, but I think it's the same for HC-110) Kodak says to agitate initially for 5 cycles, or 5 complete agitation cycles. I go with 30 seconds initially. Afterwards, Kodak says to use 5 seconds of agitation every 30 seconds, so I do 2 inversions every 30 seconds. I don't do anything the last minute, although now that I look at Kodak's recommendations I don't see that anywhere. When you agitate, use a sort of rolling or swirley motion.
Follow Kodak's directions for your particular developer (I recommend D76, but lots of folks use what you have w/ success), keep your temps on the money, agitate properly and you will get great negs. Obviously, you need to have complete darkness for getting the film into the tank, and your film needs to be metered correctly on a camera that exposes correctly. Then you get this: By the way, I goofed on this developing and used the times for 1:1 dilution for Tri-X in D76 and accidentally gave it the same times w/ full strength developer. Hey, it's Tri-x! Yes, it's a little grainy, but man, it made a nice print.
When you develop it correctly it comes out like this:
For developing you need to be within a degree or two at the most. Stop bath and fixer are not as critical because the developing has been done, but you still want it as close as possible. Keep your agitations consistent too, and follow the film's instructions for your developer. This is something I failed to do on a recent outing w/ Fuji 400 Neopan, and you can see the before and after effects in a thread I have here on the forum. When I used Fuji's agitation protocol it made a HUGE difference. For Tri-X, (this is for D76, but I think it's the same for HC-110) Kodak says to agitate initially for 5 cycles, or 5 complete agitation cycles. I go with 30 seconds initially. Afterwards, Kodak says to use 5 seconds of agitation every 30 seconds, so I do 2 inversions every 30 seconds. I don't do anything the last minute, although now that I look at Kodak's recommendations I don't see that anywhere. When you agitate, use a sort of rolling or swirley motion.
Follow Kodak's directions for your particular developer (I recommend D76, but lots of folks use what you have w/ success), keep your temps on the money, agitate properly and you will get great negs. Obviously, you need to have complete darkness for getting the film into the tank, and your film needs to be metered correctly on a camera that exposes correctly. Then you get this: By the way, I goofed on this developing and used the times for 1:1 dilution for Tri-X in D76 and accidentally gave it the same times w/ full strength developer. Hey, it's Tri-x! Yes, it's a little grainy, but man, it made a nice print.
When you develop it correctly it comes out like this:
Pioneer
Veteran
I agree with this. Not that I have any problem shooting Tri-X at ISO200, it certainly works. But IMHO it just adds unnecessary complexity to the process in the beginning.
I shoot Tri-X at ISO200, ISO320, ISO400, ISO800 and so on. Its all good but that really isn't the issue here. The OP is struggling with his developing and scanning technique so advice regarding this will make a huge difference to the quality of his results. But until he tightens up his developing and scanning (or printing) processes, whether he shoots Tri-x at ISO200, ISO250 or ISO400 is just so much useless noise.
charjohncarter
Veteran
I use very close to your times for HC-110h and Tmax400 (TMY-2). My first impression for Tmax400 in 35mm was, 'why use 120 with this film.' Consistency is the most important thing in any chemical process. So, write down what you have to do and do it as close the times, temp, and agitation as you can. Plus, wait for the changing bag to be delivered. You will have great success if you stay focused, but if you are scanning read up on that too. You maybe doing something incorrectly there.
Chris101
summicronia
The Massive Dev Table at digitaltruth.com is a bit ambiguous:
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 200 5.75
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 200 4.75
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 200 6.75
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 400 7.5
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 400 4.5-6
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 200 4.75
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 200 6.75
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 400 7.5
Tri-X 400 HC-110 B 400 4.5-6
Confusing isn't it? It is more important to find a time/temperature/agitation that works for you and stick to it, than it is to follow any reference.
ps: dilution B is half the dilution - twice the concentration - of dilution H. B is 1+31, H is 1+63.
Bingley
Veteran
Right you are! I misspoke.
VTHokiEE
Well-known
I developed a roll today and I believe I have found the culprit. My best rolls were always developed in winter. Living in warm Florida was causing my developer to steadily increase in temperature to room temperature during development. This time I kept the tank in my cooled bucket of water the entire time to maintain temperature and the roll looks much better (of course I'll know more after I scan it tomorrow).
Also, the changing bag seems to really help me get the roll on the reel faster.
Thanks for everyone's help and hopefully I'll post a few frames from the latest roll in the next day or two.
Also, the changing bag seems to really help me get the roll on the reel faster.
Thanks for everyone's help and hopefully I'll post a few frames from the latest roll in the next day or two.
VTHokiEE
Well-known
This isn't Tri-X, its some left over Neopan 1600 @1000. I was much happier with the results:
Beach Renourishment #3 by VTHokiEE06, on Flickr
Beach Renourishment #3 by VTHokiEE06, on Flickr
