Developing B&W Film is An Exact (Or Inexact) Art

After miscalculating my chemical amounts w/ my last batch of fixer, I was ready to screw up some developing, and it didn't take long. Whilst developing the film I lost track of the time on the clock and couldn't figure out whether I had developed it for 11 minutes, which was the scheme, or for 12. So I pulled the roll out and fixed it w/ my miscalculated fixer (just gave it extra time). Slid the hose into the Paterson tank, and let the water run for 40 minutes, which is what I'm used to w/ Tri-X to get the purple out.

However, I had turned the hot water on, not the cold. It had washed for 40 minutes in 120-130 degree water! Pulled the film out and it looked pretty good, considering that this Shanghai film has a very fragile emulsion. Hung it up to dry and noticed that the water on the negs looked odd. Well, I had forgotten to use the photo flo. Tried to put the wet film back on the plastic reel, which was a disaster. After getting hung up about half way through I had to rip it out of the reel. Ended up just pouring the photo flo solution into the open tank and dipping the film into that, which worked surprisingly well. I'm amazed there is anything left on the film after a 40 minute hot water bath.

So here it is. Argoflex TLR w/ a yellow filter, Shanghai GP3 Pan 100 developed for 11 minutes (or 12, maybe) in full strength Microdol-X. The negs are a little thin but look good. These were shot on a real cloudy, grey day, and this is probably a developer for bright, contrasty days. Not the sharpest developer under these conditions, and I didn't help anything w/ my lack of expertise, but it has beautiful tones and really tight grain.

Well done, not too shabby for a screw up.
I like GP3 a bunch, I bought 200 rolls of it a couple of years ago, sold some and still have about 40 rolls left. It's expired now, but I never have had any issues with it like some have. I develop it in either D-76 or PMK.

Developing film is an exact art, however there is a lot of latitude so that mistakes are not critical.

The more you try to achieve repeatable results by repeating your process over and over again, the better you will become.
The better you become the tighter your control gets, and the more room you get for screwups.

There is a lot of latitude in the system of black and white photography. You can get decent results by being fairly laid back in your process, but then you probably won't get those top notch results until you pay attention to every painstaking detail.

There is even latitude in processing C-41 color [negative print].

Those don't look too bad for rge abuse they suffered!.....

Logan.... I've got way worse ones, Pal!

look fine to me -- a one-minute extra won't hurt a thing. When you figure the slop for when you pour it in, or dump it out, times are imprecise anyway by a 5 percent factor, at least.

You are lucky that hot water didn't wash the emulsion off, though, or cause reticulation.

Best be careful - you may be using your luck up!

The worst mistake was with the hot water, and yet you survived.

By the way, I never leave the film on the reel for the photo-flo. That way I don't have to worry about photo-flo on the reels. Same approach with the tank.

I use a 1 litre plastic container with about 600 ml in it. The film is removed from the reel after the wash and then just lowered into the photo-flo. Then the photo-flo is swirled around. I finish with a short amount of see-sawing the film through the liquid, before hanging it to dry.

Wow

Amazing, just amazing. Hang in there!

Absolutely nothing amazing... I mean people have been getting away with the absurd/crazy/stupid stand-development "technique" with substandard results and they rave about it on all the forums.

Getting a film to develop will always be easy. 5 or 10 minutes in a 20 or 30c developer, or stand, the film will come out developed.

Accurately? No.

Thanks Matt for the great advice on the photo-flo. Now I won't have to scrub my developing tank and reels after every developing session, I'll just use your method and dip and dunk, like I did this roll.

It's the hot water wash that really surprises me. Didn't seem to do a thing to the negs, although it did turn the black Paterson tank white where it ran off on the outside for 40 minutes.

Here's a couple more from the roll, and I agree, my luck has been used up for this year. Thank goodness it's almost 2015! This film really needs to be overexposed about a stop using this developer at full strength, while w/ Rodinal at 1:25 I usually underexpose it the same amount w/ this film. The Rodinal negs are a lot sharper, but don't have the tonality of the Mic-X. Looking forward to trying the Arista clone version of this developer. From my limited experience w/ Mic-X I think it gives all the tonality of D76, it's not as sharp (but sharp enough), and the grain....what grain? Just click on the shots and use the little magnifier. It's just not there. I should have been using this when I was shooting a lot of birds in flight in the sky. You just get large expanses of smooth tone. Works really well w/ this Shanghai film.

This cracked me up.

Slow down.

Also, if you have an iPhone or android I suggest the "Massive Dev Chart" app, it will help you keep track of time much better.

I had forgotten to use the photo flo. Tried to put the wet film back on the plastic reel

Click to expand...

I take mine off the reel before I use photo flo every time - I use a different tank for last wash with flo and just swirl it around so the wash goes through the coiled film - emulsion side faces in anyway, so film doesn't rub against inside of tank.- I prefer to keep my process tank and reels away from the wetting agent. I then squirt the hanging negs down with a flo mix using a squirty bottle (I dry over my sink), and then lightly wipe the non-neg side dry with a soft lens cloth I keep for this (i never touch the emulsion side at all - don't like squeegees or running through fingers). Seems to work well for me!

I have a plastic container that I use for PhotoFlo and I put the film in it and move the film around. No squeegees!

I agree that having a separate container for wetting agent is a sensible idea. Just in case it is ever useful, to get a wet film on to a reel, do it with both the film and the reel under water (at process temperature, as most anti-reticulation luck has been used up by now).

Why not use photoflo in the same developing tank?
I see absolutely no harm in doing so.

NB23 said:

Why not use photoflo in the same developing tank?
I see absolutely no harm in doing so.

Click to expand...

In my case, I wash in the developing tank, then I use another container for photo-flo.

I prefer that, because it means I don't have to worry about removing any photo-flo residue from the developing tank. It also allows me the opportunity to get both the reels and the developing tank air drying while I am dealing with the photo-flo and film drying.

Photoflo doesnt interfere with developer activity in case you are scared about that possibility.

It can accumulate gunk in the plastic reels over time, but then again, the error is obvious: don't use plastic reels.

It can accumulate gunk in the plastic reels over time, but then again, the error is obvious: don't use plastic reels.

Click to expand...

In my experience it is difficult to wash away completely. I used to find my fixer a bit foamy when I poured it back, despite washing the tank. Now flo and fixer no longer get into the same tank, this foaming has disappeared. I have zero issues with plastic reels on either 35 or 120.

Plastic has many downsides. One of them is precisy what you are doing, making you waste time and efforts. Dealing with Gunk, dealing with avoiding Gunk... Thanks to plastic.
Also uses much more chemistry.
Breaks.
Fiddly.
Clunky.
...

Metal all the way, dude!

NB23 said:

Why not use photoflo in the same developing tank?
I see absolutely no harm in doing so.

Click to expand...

Normally not a problem but Jobo recommends against it for their equipment since it messes up the reels and drums.

Why use photoflo in the first place? Deionised water is all you need. No drying marks ever.

cliveh said:

Why use photoflo in the first place? Deionised water is all you need. No drying marks ever.

Click to expand...

Some places the water is such that PhotoFlo is needed. I do not use deionized water as it is not needed for mixing the chemicals and PhotoFlo is more cost effective.

Silly. Why use deionized water when you can use photoflo??

NB23 said:

Silly. Why use deionized water when you can use photoflo??

Click to expand...

Deionized water is $2.49 a gallon and PhotoFlo is $7.99 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=photoflo&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search= for 16 ounces that dilute 1:200.