120 Acros & HC-110 (H)

[JDW22]

I shoot Acros at 80 ASA/ISO in my Hasselblad. I am going to stop sending my film to a lab and develop my negatives at my home. HC-110 (Dilution H) is my developer of choice to start. The Massive Dev Chart for HC110 (Dilution H) lists a development time of 7.5 minutes when rating the film at it's box speed of 100 ASA/ISO, using a Jobo rotary tube processor, and at a temperature of 21C.

As noted above, I shoot Acros at 80 and I will be using a Nikor stainless steel tank sized for a single 120 Hewes reel using conventional (non-rotary tube) agitation/processing. Accordingly, I have a question as follows:

How should I adjust my development time to account for the 80 ASA/ISO and the Nikor tank?

Maybe I don't know where to look on the Massive Dev Chart website, but I don't find any info that addresses my circumstances. Your assistance is sincerely appreciated.

Jeff D Welker

 

[DWThomas]

I usually shoot it at 80, and at 68ºF (20ºC) I use 9.5 minutes, 30 seconds of inversions with some thumps to dislodge bubbles at the start, then four or five inversions in about 5 or 6 seconds at each 1 minute mark. (But be advised I don't obsess too much on the "science" of this stuff!) In general you need a little more time to compensate for not using continuous agitation.

 

[bvy]

Well, the Acros data sheet actually gives times for HC-110 (dilution B) when rating the film at 80. And the general recommendation for dilution H is to double the times of B (as a starting point). At 21C that puts you in the eight minute neighborhood. I'd probably bump that up a bit.

If you're new to this combination, my own experience is lots of foam causing uneven development on the top edge of the film. I wouldn't be too aggressive with the inversions, and Fuji's own recommendation is one full minute of agitation initially.

 

[winger]

I shoot it at 80, but use DD-X to develop it. I use a stainless tank and agitate by inverting about 3-5 times every 30 seconds (with the first 30 seconds being relatively continuous agitation with thumps to dislodge bubbles). I use the "normal" time given for DD-X as if I'd shot it at 100. I may start tweaking that in the future, but it's worked well enough so far.
I'd suggest starting with a basic normal time, see how you like the results, and tweak them from there. What you like might not be exactly what someone else likes. But you have to start somewhere and the manufacturer recommendation is a good place to start.

 

[MattKing]

Shoot two identical rolls. Something with a good range of tones, illuminated by moderately contrasty light.

Send one roll to your lab for development

Develop the other roll at twice the dilution B time.

Compare the results.