FP4 at 400... In Rodinal, or DD-X 1:9

[Eric Sæter]

I've read through all I could find on this forum regarding pushing FP4 but still have questions.

This is my first post. I'm excited to have found this forum...

Anyhow, I pushed a roll of FP4 Plus to 400 and can't really find the development times I'm looking for. I'd like to develop it in Rodinal at a 1:100 or even 1:200 solution, which might end up disastrous—but don't much mind. All is up for risk in the name of experimentation. I also have DD-X that I'd prefer to develop it in. Especially at 1:9 or something to that effect. I'm not sure where to start in calculating these times for this film. Does anyone have some insight, or even some firm numbers you've had success with yourself?

Thanks!
Eric

 

[Jordan]

A push to 400 with FP4 Plus is a bit of a stretch. Use the DD-X at approximately 75% longer than the recommended time for EI 125 at your particular dilution.

 

[Eric Sæter]

Thank you. I'll just do it. It's 120 so I'm not going to just be harvesting 16 boulders of grain on a 35mm frame.... : )

I'll post results!

 

[titrisol]

Use DD-X 1+9

The main problem will be to avoid blowing the contrast, so go easy on the agitation

I'd use about 50-60% extra of the time you use for 125 (look in the sep/oct PT magazine in the Dick+Silvia Toolbox section for a good push HowTo)

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

I've read through all I could find on this forum regarding pushing FP4 but still have questions.

This is my first post. I'm excited to have found this forum...

Anyhow, I pushed a roll of FP4 Plus to 400 and can't really find the development times I'm looking for. I'd like to develop it in Rodinal at a 1:100 or even 1:200 solution, which might end up disastrous—but don't much mind. All is up for risk in the name of experimentation. I also have DD-X that I'd prefer to develop it in. Especially at 1:9 or something to that effect. I'm not sure where to start in calculating these times for this film. Does anyone have some insight, or even some firm numbers you've had success with yourself?

Thanks!
Eric

Film speeds are determined at the manufacturing stage and can not be radically altered, you may gain around one-third to two-third E.V. steps of true speed increase at best no matter which developer type/dilution used, anything else is an attempt to rescue an underexposed film. Pushing development also increases both grain and contrast, it is much better to use an ISO 400 film in the first place unless you are looking for a particular pictorial effect.
The latitude of negative films is towards over exposure rather than under exposure, the latter can make negatives a pain to print.

 

[Eric Sæter]

I ended up processing it at 200 (1:4 in DD-X) to avoid extremely blocked up highlights. I prefer the underexposed junk look to turbo contrast. Anyway, futile efforts.. It came out with ridiculously high contrast despite only pushing one stop. However, the grain is virtually nonexistant. Which only leaves me wishing I used rodinal 1:300 for the edge effects and a flatter neg. I got a few usable and interesting images though, so I'm not sour : )