Developing timing for ISO400 films

Greetings everyone. I'm totally new in film development, though I had tried a couple of rolls already. I'm doing street photography most of the time with ISO400 film, preferably Kodak TMAX 400. Recently I'm using Ilford PAN 400.

I've done some research on the intermet on the exact developing timing. The development chart which serves as a guide, stated that the timing is 8mins for Kodak TMAX400 and 7mins for Ilford PAN 400 respectively.

Howsoever, I developed my TMAX400 and Pan400 at 7mins each @ 20 degress Celsius. Both my negatives turn out to be very dark with high density. I'm sure I have made correct exposures using a hand held light meter.

Was it because of over-development OR was it because of the number of agitation cycles?

I hereby seeking experts' advises on this issue. Greatly appreciate for the effort. Thakns in advance.

You don't say what developer. That makes a big difference.

It also depends on your metering technique.

Ian

My apology. I forgot to mention the film developer I'm using. Currently it's Kodak D-76 at full strength (stock). For Stop Bath, Fixer and Wetting Agent, it's Ilford.

I know that HC110 at Dilution 'B' is six minutes for roll films (TMX, TMY). Not sure about the D76. Stop Bath is generally 30 seconds. Fixer is double the film clearing time.

Sounds like the exposure is off. If you are sure about the exposure then it could be overdevelopment caused by too much agitation when you were processing your film.

Those dev times should be reasonably close, they are the recommended time. You'd need to be almost using continuous agitation to make a huge difference in negative density so assuming the negatives are fixed properly it's something else.

1. Did you mix the D76 correctly - making up the full volume.
2. Is your thermometer accurate
3. Are you sure your metering technique is correct

Ian

For the development part, once I poured the solution in the tank, I covered and tapped twice to get rid of bublles and start the first 5 cycle of agitation. Followed by 5 cycles at 30 seconds interval, for 7mins

Stop bath agitation continuously for 2mins. Fixer timing is 3mins with 5 agitation cycles at 30secs interval. after washing the film, I soaked the film into the Wetting agent for 1min and rinse again for 5mins.

Do I need to dilute the full-strength D-76 as recommended? I need to know what's the best developing timing.

Kodak says 7.5 mins at 20 degrees for the new TMax in stock D-76. Your stop bath time was way too long (though I don't think it hurt anything) and your fixing time may have been a little short. I fix for about twice that time, but I just want to make sure it's long enough since fixing isn't an exact science.

Ian Grant said:

Those dev times should be reasonably close, they are the recommended time. You'd need to be almost using continuous agitation to make a huge difference in negative density so assuming the negatives are fixed properly it's something else.

1. Did you mix the D76 correctly - making up the full volume.
2. Is your thermometer accurate
3. Are you sure your metering technique is correct

Ian

Click to expand...

1. I mixed the D-76 powder as stated i.e. 3.8 litres.

2. The thermometers are newly bought.

3. I took average metering readings to make my exposures.

I would guess exposure is the problem unless it may be fixing.

That sounds fine Martin, you could cut the agitation to 3-5 cycles every minute, but that's not why you have very dense negative though. (You should check your thermometer, I have seen problems with them out by 3 or 4 degrees). If the film cleared quickly it's not the fixer.

Those dev times are short so it has to be exposure - did you have the meter set to 400 ISO, and are you certain your using the hand held meter correctly. Can you remember the exposures & lighting conditions. For instance here at the moment, a sunny day and even at 7pm its sunny and 250th f16 @ 400 ISO or 60th f16 in the shade

Ian

One rule of thumb is that you should be able to just read newsprint through the darkest part of a negative in a well-lit room. If you can't do this, then chances are the film is overdeveloped. If you can, then I'd look to exposure issues.

The way I shoot, I can process any speed of film at the same time and everything comes out fine. I'm no fan of T-Max 400 nor Ilford HP5+ (their 400 speed film).

Great results can come from good ole Tri-X, although I process all my rolls the same.

HC-110 1:50 (straight from the syrup) for 10min with full agitation 1st min then for 5 sec every 30sec.
Water wash for 5 exchanges of water
Stop Bath for 3min of agitation
Water wash for 5 exchanges of water
Hardening Fixer for 3min
Water wash again
Foto-flo for 2-3min constant agitation
open tank check your negs

IF they look a little "milky" merely take the film put it back in the fixer for another min or so (don't have to do anything to it),
take it out, have a look. If OK, then water wash as before, back in foto flo (do not remove Foto-flo from negs)
Hang to dry in dust freen environment (most people use bathrooms).

And that's all there is to it!

The same works with Rodinal 1:50.

The difference? Rodinal will give you images more bite, and HC-110 more of a smooth look.

While there are lots of other developers out there, these are liquid, easier to use/mix, and Rodinal can literally last for years, and HC-110 about 1 year.

Did you let your D 76 develper sit for 24 hrs before you used it ??

Ian Grant said:

That sounds fine Martin, you could cut the agitation to 3-5 cycles every minute, but that's not why you have very dense negative though. (You should check your thermometer, I have seen problems with them out by 3 or 4 degrees). If the film cleared quickly it's not the fixer.

Those dev times are short so it has to be exposure - did you have the meter set to 400 ISO, and are you certain your using the hand held meter correctly. Can you remember the exposures & lighting conditions. For instance here at the moment, a sunny day and even at 7pm its sunny and 250th f16 @ 400 ISO or 60th f16 in the shade

Ian

Click to expand...

Thanks Ian. I'm using IMPACT brand thermometers and they work fine. I used my hand held lightmeter correctly, taking the correct light reading set the rating at 400, mostly out in the open under sunny day and fairly cloudy day.

Am I to change my dev timing to 6mins or 6m30secs?

dances_w_clouds said:

Did you let your D 76 develper sit for 24 hrs before you used it ??

Click to expand...

Hi there, I dun quite get what u mean.

I've stored my D-76 Developer in a air-tight container, mixing from stock, full strength. I did not dilute it for film developing. Perhaps u can kindly advise me on the film dev timing to prevent overdense negatives? Thanks.

Martin Liew said:

I'm using IMPACT brand thermometers and they work fine. I used my hand held lightmeter correctly, taking the correct light reading set the rating at 400, mostly out in the open under sunny day and fairly cloudy day.

Am I to change my dev timing to 6mins or 6m30secs?

Click to expand...

6min or 6½ were always my usual time when using HC-110 Dil-B, D76 (straight), Rodinal 1:25, Studional 1:15. Everything came out fine. No matter what film was used or manufacturer's directions. You ARE rating it @ asa 200 right? That will open up the shadows for more detail. That could be another problem you're having. I always shot HP5+ @ asa 200, and usually overexpose a full stop on all films.

But with all the different dilutions, I needed to simplify. After several months of testing, I came up with the times/dilutions/chemistry I listed for you in a previous posting.

HC-110 1:50 10min
Rodinal 1:50 10min

No way to screw it up. If all your readings are correct, and your negatives are still too dense, it may be a problem with your shutter not being calibrated and actually letting in more light than you've set it for. How long since a CLA?

Remember agitate gently & roll the canister while agitating. Dead simple. Or you may want to try semi-stand development. This is Rodinal 1:100 agitate 1st 5min GENTLY, then for 1 min every 15mins. This will
give you even development, and no worries with grain.

Take a look for yourself and see what I mean:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rolleijoe/sets/