Acros Stand Development?

[MMfoto]

Has anyone successfully process Acros using stand development? I'm starting to wonder if this film just aint made for it. I've tried three times, using FX2 (actually the Formulary's TFX-2), but I keep getting what appear to be air bells. This last time I pre soaked the film for ten minutes, agitated for two, rapped the heck out of the tank on the sink, agitated again at 30 minutes, total time, 90 minutes. But almost every frame, just like my previous attempts, has little low density spots visible in light areas like sky. It would seem that there are tiny bubbles that just aren't coming off the emulsion during development.

Just to add, these are small, not like what I usually think of as an air bell. On a 35mm frame, they look almost look like a bright star in the sky.

Any ideas?

 

[George Collier]

Can you post a scan?

 

[pgomena]

I had no trouble using this same combination of film and developer. My stand times were considerably shorter, however.

I used distilled water that had sat for some time so there was very little dissolved air in it. Did you use water straight from the tap? If so, there may have been dissolved gases that outgassed during development. You might not see that problem in normal agitate-one-the-minute processing, but letting it stand for 30 minutes at a time, it might happen. Try using distilled water or tap water that has sat in a jug overnight or water that has been boiled and cooled.

Peter Gomena

 

[Jim Noel]

YOU might try adding a drop or two off wetting agent to your pre-soak. One problem could be that the emulsion of ACROS is too thin to hold a sufficient quantity of developer within itself which is necessary for successful stand development.

 

[MMfoto]

I don't have access to a scannner at the moment.

I use only distilled water, and of course this would not be an issue for normal agitation periods.

It's too bad, the negs look so great otherwise. They print very well too. I think I'm going to switch to minimal agitation, with 5 minute intervals, instead of stand.

 

[MMfoto]

I had no trouble using this same combination of film and developer. My stand times were considerably shorter, however.

I'm assuming you were not using stand development, but normal agitation? Can you tell me what time you used, and if you used traditional FX-2, or TFX-2?

 

[m_liddell]

After having problems I finally settled on extreme minimal agitation with pyrocat as posted by sandy king.

Pyrocat-HD dilution 1:1:100, 70F, 16mins. Agitate vigorously for one one minute then for ten seconds at the one-quarter, one-half and three-quarter points of development. No pre-soak.

 

[pgomena]

MM:
I was using TFX-2. My time was 20 minutes, standard dilutions. I agitated for the first 30 seconds and then agitated on the 5 min marks, so it was closer to semi-stand than stand.

Peter Gomena

 

[brianmquinn]

See
http://photo.net/black-and-white-photo-film-processing-forum/00SuvX

 

[MMfoto]

OK, I'm still chasing this one: Any chance these low density spots - they are tiny - could be some sort of bromide artifact? My only other conclusion is that these are tiny air bubbles adhering to the emulsion.

Quick recap. Acros, 1 1/2 hour Stand, FX-2 (formulary TFX-2) developer half strength.

 

[clayne]

I've done it in XTOL without issue. Pushed to 1600 as well. Stand time was 2 hours. The only reason I did it was because I couldn't find a normal time otherwise stand development doesn't really do much, IMO.



Results were as expected, high contrast but detail still normal for Acros.