HP5 for a year!

[Thomas Bertilsson]

But Rodinal doesn't exactly give an S-curve. It continues to develop the entire tone scale upward and increasing contrast in a pretty linear fashion. It linearly increases the negative contrast in relation to development time.
Terribly difficult to exhaust too unless you use too little solution; it's a very powerful developer.

The strength of Rodinal lies in building texture in the negative, sharpness, and a grain that many find favorable.

The thing about neg scans is that usually it just ends up showing the limitations of the scanner. You're far better off drawing your own conclusions. If you like Rodinal why don't you buy a bottle and try it? Play with it, work with dilution, work with agitation intervals, underexpose, overexpose, underdevelop, overdevelop, etc, to find out how you need to use the film and developer to obtain the results you want. Nobody else can tell you that. They can get you started down a certain path, for sure, but you put the finishing touch on your own personal results with every film and developer combination.

Good luck,

- Thomas

Well I was looking through www.filmdev.org and all I clicked in was combos for hp5. Almost everyone I like ended up using rodinal 1/50, the other developers we kinda hit and miss. I like the very sharp grainy pictures with blacks and whites. I like S curves.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Xtol 1+1 when not pushing, and 1+0 for a push. HC 110 is also nice, more graphic.

Hot tip of the day - if you want to push, use the 1+1. This gives you the ability to develop the film longer, which increases your shadow detail, which improves the push, because that actually increases your film speed. I now shoot Acros regularly at EI200 and EI400 depending on lighting conditions, and TMax 100 (what I have left of it) at EI400. Using Xtol 1+1 I extend development time while I slow down agitation to every two minutes. This raises shadow detail somewhat and compresses the highlights. The resulting film is very reminiscent of Kodak Tri-X 320 tonally, but with finer grain.

- Thomas

 

[yeknom02]

On a very related note, right now I use mostly HP5 in HC-110. Wondering what differences I would see if I switched to XTOL.

 

[cjbecker]

This thread it turning into a a goldmine.

 

[2F/2F]

I'd suggest that you find out if you like the film, and other films, and in what developer/s, before committing to using it for one year.

Why the commitment?

 

[Necator]

I have had good results with HP5+ (although in 35mm) in D76 1+1. It works both at box speed and pushed one stop. At 1600 ISO I think another developer (Xtol perhaps) would work better. I have tried using Rodinal at 1+100 stand development for one hour, which worked out fine as well (box speed). But, for flexibility (push) and reasonable development times, I would go for D76.

 

[Richard Jepsen]

I suggest XTOL and Rodinal for HP-5 roll film (120). No need to try other developers. XTOL can be diluted 1.2 and 1.3 for increased sharpness. Rodinal at 1.25, 1.50 or 1.75 will look different than XTOL. Grain is not a factor at 8x when using 120 film.

 

[Laurent]

I'd suggest that you find out if you like the film, and other films, and in what developer/s, before committing to using it for one year.

Why the commitment?

It's impossible not to love HP5

More seriously, HP5 seems a very good choice for a all purposes film, and works very fine with X-Tol (at least for me)

 

[cjbecker]

The reason is I want to really learn a film and how it reacts to everything. I want to know it like the back of my hand

 

[warden]

This thread it turning into a a goldmine.

Ditto. I love threads like this.

 

[Dan Dozer]

Am I an idiot here? No body has mentioned Pyro for HP5 yet. Am I the only one who does it (maybe I shouldn't be)? I use PMK Pyro and I always thougth my negative turned out pretty nice! Maybe I should try some of the other developers to compare. Note that I shoot 8 x 10 sheet film and develop in trays.

 

[Vilk]

DD-X for everything. Try pretending it's 640 to get better defined grain and a more printable curve, especially when there's no hard light in the frame; at 400 you'll wear out the magenta in your enlarger pretty quickly.

One year is nothing. I have lost count of my years with this combo.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I'm not a fan of HP5+ in HC110 but I hear that it is amazing in D76.

I with patois on this one. I've been using HP5 in all formats (except beyond 8x10), for over 10 years, and it sucks in HC110. I've never used a manufacturer's liquid developer for film, but I have dabbled with Ilford's MG paper developer at 1+49 dilution. Got nice results.
HP5 sings in D-76 1+1, Xtol 1+1, and pyrocat-hd 2+2+100.

 

[brian steinberger]

One year is nothing. I have lost count of my years with this combo.

DD-X for everything. Try pretending it's 640 to get better defined grain and a more printable curve, especially when there's no hard light in the frame; at 400 you'll wear out the magenta in your enlarger pretty soon.

That's funny. That was one of the first things I noticed about HP5 was the fact that it's actually faster than 400, especially with a developer like DD-X or Xtol. And what's great about that is that pushing it to 800 is nothing. I regularly push HP5 to 800 in flat light and develop in ID-11 1:1 and get amazing tones. Rich crisp blacks and beautiful midtones. HP5 to me is more valuable than Tri-x in this regard as I consider Tri-x to be about a 200 to 250 speed film.

 

[Henry Carter]

HP5 has been my main film since the 1990's for both 4x5 and 120 shooting, developed in PMK Pyro. HP5 and PYRO are an exquisite combination, yielding beautiful prints.

I have tried HP5 with DDX and Microphen at ISO 400 and for push processing up to ISO 1600, but at ISO 400, nothing beats PMK PYRO!!!!

 

[Jim Chinn]

I have not shot HP5 for quite awhile but when I did I prefered XTOL at 1-3 with. But when you go up to 120 format prints will pop in either XTOL or D76. Like a lot of others have pointed out it really depends on the kind of lighting you shoot in and how large you are going to print. If you are shooting at box speed or overexposing by a stop I think they are both good. If you are going to really push exposure I like XTOL at 1-3.

If you are going to commit to one film for a long period of time and really learn to use it I think it would be in your best interest to test some rolls in various light conditions and test two developers. keep notes and decide between the two.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I have tried HP5 with DDX and Microphen at ISO 400 and for push processing up to ISO 1600, but at ISO 400, nothing beats PMK PYRO!!!!

Sorry mate, pyrocat-hd does! PMK does not work for rotary processing.

That was one of the first things I noticed about HP5 was the fact that it's actually faster than 400, especially with a developer like DD-X or Xtol.

Not what I found, but I cannot comment on DD-X. Isn't that just Ilford's liquid version of Xtol? For me in Xtol at whatever dilution, EI 250 gives me nice shadow detail. Depends on the person's equipment, work flow, etc.

 

[Henry Carter]

"PMK does not work for rotary processing". Sorry mate, but it does!!! Ask Bob Carnie at Elevator in Toronto who has been using PMK PYRO as his main developer in his lab's JOBO since the mid 1990's.

I have had thousands of sheets of 4x5 HP5 and many rolls of 120 HP5 processed in PMK PYRO in the JOBO at Elevator.

I know that part of the secret is that Elevator uses one-shot processing.

HP5 + PMK PYRO + JOBO rotary processing = EXQUISITE FILM

If you want to see the results on the walls of a major museum, visit the 'House Calls with my Camera' exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (untill 17 July 2011).

This exhibit was printed traditionally by master printer Bob Carnie, and it was all shot on HP5 processed in PMK PYRO in a JOBO.

 

[garysamson]

I want to second Henry Carter's comments about HP5+ and PMK Pyro. I have processed hundreds of roles of 120 and several hundred sheets of 4x5, 5x7 and 11x14 film using PMK Pyro in trays, tanks and in a Jobo CPP processor and this is a great combination for optimum quality negatives. Grain, sharpness and tonality are all excellent.

 

[Vilk]

Isn't that just Ilford's liquid version of Xtol?

No.

 

[topoxforddoc]

Clark,

I don't shoot much 120 nowadays, but I shoot lots of 35mm HP5. It's always in my freezer - several bricks of it - and my Leicas. It's been my only film stock for over 5 years. I didn't like Tri-X, but Neopan 400 is pretty good. I routinely shoot at 1600 and process in XTOL 1:1; there's very little extra grain compared to shooting HP5 at box speed. HP5 in XTOL works really well whether you wet print or scan; I do both.

Charlie
www.charlie-chan.co.uk

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Re: DD-X - I view this developer more as TMax. Great film speed, but normal grain. Good sharpness.

HP5 can be shot at fairly high exposure index, and it does push well. Some people really like that extra contrast that you get when you give less exposure and over-develop. The shadow detail is still going to be there, just not as prominently. What's going on is a shaping of the film curve, to suit how the user likes to print. Some people like gobs of shadow detail, to reveal every single little detail on the linear part of the film curve. Others like a deep, thick, and rich black. The beauty with HP5 is that you can have both - in one film.

- Thomas

 

[Steve York]

Still so many good B&W films to use.

 

[cjbecker]

Re: DD-X - I view this developer more as TMax. Great film speed, but normal grain. Good sharpness.

HP5 can be shot at fairly high exposure index, and it does push well. Some people really like that extra contrast that you get when you give less exposure and over-develop. The shadow detail is still going to be there, just not as prominently. What's going on is a shaping of the film curve, to suit how the user likes to print. Some people like gobs of shadow detail, to reveal every single little detail on the linear part of the film curve. Others like a deep, thick, and rich black. The beauty with HP5 is that you can have both - in one film.

- Thomas

I am a fan of the Deep, thick, and rich blacks. That is the look I want to get.

 

[brian steinberger]

Re: DD-X - I view this developer more as TMax. Great film speed, but normal grain. Good sharpness.

HP5 can be shot at fairly high exposure index, and it does push well. Some people really like that extra contrast that you get when you give less exposure and over-develop. The shadow detail is still going to be there, just not as prominently. What's going on is a shaping of the film curve, to suit how the user likes to print. Some people like gobs of shadow detail, to reveal every single little detail on the linear part of the film curve. Others like a deep, thick, and rich black. The beauty with HP5 is that you can have both - in one film.

- Thomas

Exactly Thomas. I had a love/hate relationship with HP5 until I realized that (to me) this film really shines when under-exposed and over-developed. I like regularly shooting it at EI 800 and developing in ID-11 1:1 for 17 minutes. This is in overcast light. On even darker days or situations I want to try to push it to EI 1600 and develop in stock ID-11. I'm sure it will handle it easily. All I heard growing up was how easily Tri-x pushes. But from my experience I believe HP5 pushes better than Tri-x.