120 Film, Rodinal, 1+100, stand development.

[Larry.Manuel]

I write to recount my experience with semi-stand development of 120 film. I tried FP5+, Rodinal at 1+100, 1.5hrs, with very gentle twirl agitation at 15 minutes and one hour. Paterson one-reel tank, 600 ml of developer. The film was developed fine on one side - I think the side on the top of the reel. Also, three frames at one end were developed well; I suspect those were on the outside of the spiral.

The half that was less developed was 2 or 3 stops underdeveloped. Lately, I've done two FP5+ 120 films with all same parameters, 18C, with one gentle inversion/swirl agitation every 7 minutes. I've not printed them, so don't know the contrast or graininess. The exposures are nice and even and sufficiently dense. My enlarger is a condenser type; B22 Omega and dense negatives are what I like. Also, I strive for moderate contrast at most, I like creamy, silvery midtones, with a long tonal range, if I can manage that.

That's why I've begun developing at 18C, not 20C. Some write that Rodinal was intended for lower temperatures. The SLOW FILM MOVEMENT, eh?

[currently using my Rolleicord Vb mostly, M3 somewhat; Elmarit-M 28 f/2.8 Aspheric on order].

PS: I suspect diffusion of developer is sufficient for 135 film in full-stand development. My findings suggest not so for 120.

 

[Lee L]

You only swirled the uneven set, didn't invert the tank? But you inverted and swirled the even set? Is that accurate? Perhaps that's the difference and you should invert during agitation.

Lee

 

[david b]

So is it HP5+ or FP4+ that you used?

Also, when I did 1+100, I did inversions for the first minutes and then 3 inversions every 5 minutes.

I used APX 100 for 22 minutes. Lovely results.

 

[juan]

It's been my experience (more with other developers than Rodinal) that one needs to agitate rather vigorously at the beginning. Invert the tank and agitate for 30-seconds to a minute - then do minimal agitation thereafter - but still agitate vigorously when you do agitate.
juan

 

[Larry.Manuel]

Correcting typo: HP5+ is what I used.

Sorry about the error. It was HP5+ at EI 800. The point made vis-a-vis two different types of agitation is taken. No, I did not invert and swirl the first time. I used the stir stick, twirling the reel, very gently, once back-and-forth.

Admittedly, I changed more than one variable, jumping to the second method based on my gut feeling.

In trying to control contrast [and hopefully granularity] with high dilutions and meager agitation, I've read some suggestions that all agitation is additive, thus, I did not think it advisable to agitate generously in the first minute. That might solve the uneven development problem. I don't know.

Thanks for your constructive criticisms.

L.

 

[Lee L]

I've read some suggestions that all agitation is additive, thus, I did not think it advisable to agitate generously in the first minute. That might solve the uneven development problem. I don't know.

Every suggestion for stand or semi-stand development that I can recall seeing calls for reasonably active agitation for the first minute or so. I'd try inversions on the other agitations as well and see if that helps.

Lee

 

[mckenna]

in the last 3 weeks I have developed 4 - 35mm rolls Fuji ss 100, 9 rolls 120 hp5 and 6 rolls 120 fp4 in rodinal at 1:100. Started with 3 inversions at the beginning then 3 inversions at 30 minutes and let stand for 60 minutes total . From my observation the film was evenly developed and the negs were sharp and crisp. The few negs that I have printed show good separation and tonality. I am looking forward to getting back to the darkroom and working on the final prints. I have used rodinal for 3 years at 1:50 and used agitation every 60 seconds for the selected time. I believe that the semi-stand negs are superior to the negs that are developed using the normal method. I had read that with longer development times it wasn't necessary to worry about temperature and that different brands of film could be developed together - so far that seems to be the case.

 

[toadhall]

The Film Developing Cookbook suggests that for very dilute developers, such as Rodinal 1:100, 1 liter of solution should be used. Might be worth a try?

 

[erikg]

My experience matches up with the other posts regarding agitation. However, and this is based on what I have seen, you should be aware that the appearance of grain will be enhanced with this method. Yes, the negs will look sharp and crisp, edge effects certainly are at play there, and tonality and separation can be excellent, especially in the lower values. But, depending on the subject, the grain can be a bit too much so I think it is a method that should be chosen with some thought to your subject matter and compositions.

 

[petrosh]

When I use 1:100 dilution, I do only stand development and I use 1x120 film in 500ml dilution. It always works fine after 1.5 - 2 hours...

 

[reellis67]

I develop FP4+ and HP5+ stand using Rodinal 1:200 for 1 hour. 1 minute standard inversion agitation up front, then nothing for the rest of the hour. I have never gotten uneven results, streaking, or under development with this method, for what it's worth. I usually do one roll of 120 in a two-reel tank (400ml total) at a time.

- Randy

 

[pgomena]

Exposing HP4+ at 800 probably is part of the problem as well. If you like a thick negative for your printing, more exposure will be required. Semi-stand development will give you some film speed increase, but it's not magic. If the shadow detail isn't on the film in the first place, you can't create it in the developer.

Peter Gomena

 

[m.prezioso]

Hi there, there might have passed quite a few years from when you left the message. However, I wanted to thank you for your informative and to-the-point message. I was looking for a dev. time to have my TMax 400 (pushed 1600) developed with Rodinal 1:50. I couldn't find it, but this page kept popping up. As so was your message.
So I decided to give your suggestion a try and there you go, the neg came out fantastically well.

Thanks again, so many year later your message is still working the net