hp5 in neofin blue, how long?

[pierods]

I cannot find anywhere times for hp5 in neofin blue.

I think reason is it's considered too fast a film for neofin blue, but I want to try anyway.

Or, is there a way to determine the time empirically?

 

[edtbjon]

Given the previous threads, where you are not content with contrast etc. I think that the time should be some 15-25% (45-60 sec) more than for FP4. Now, this is a clever guess, nothing more.
As times are short, do go for the times with 60 sec agitation rythm ("Kipprhythmus alle 60s").

An alternative would be to do some kind of stand or semi-stand development. You will gain very high "apparent" sharpness or acutance, a bit like almost apparent "unsharp mask" in Photoshop. Also note that stand dev. works best where the contrast in the scenes are high to begin with. (As this type of development self-masks the highlighs, so that they don't blow away. Actually in theory somewhat similar to unsharp masking.)
It's worth a try if you are experimenting at the moment. Don't experiment with important pictures before you know what you are doing.

Anyhow, if you want to try stand development, a short description:
Go for 20 deg. C, not more.
Mix the Neofin tube with e.g. one liter of water. (Or e.g. Rodinal 1:200)
Start with a pre-wet for say 5 minutes.
After pouring in the developer, agitate for the full first minute.
Let it stand still for an hour.
Stop/fix etc. as normal.
(There's a risk for streaks etc. with this method, but if it works it's very nice.)

Semi-stand development is a little bit safer (with streaks etc.):
Same as above, but agitate for 30 sec. at 15 minutes and 30 minutes. You are finished developing after 45 minutes.
While waiting, make and have some coffee, read a book, surf the internet...

Please note that I'm not an expert on Neofin. I had some very good results with it, but most of my developers from the -70'ies and forward was in yellow boxes (and Rodinal). Neofin was just so much harder to find in the shops. Since a couple of years I'm hooked on Pyrocat and I'm very pleased with what I get, both with continuous agitation and semi-stand development.

//Björn

 

[Ole]

Willi Beutler made Neofin Rot for those who were too impatient to develop fast films in Neofin Blau. IIRC the "normal" time for HP5+ in Blau is about 25 minutes.

I have done "semi-stand" of this, with prewash, agitation for 30 seconds, stand for 30 minutes on a heated bathroom floor, 30 sec agitation, an hour stand, 30 sec agitation, and another hour stand. That usually works - just cut the last hour if contrast is too high the first time.

 

[pierods]

thanks for the advice

 

[pierods]

Ok so I gain tons of acutance and compensation with stand or semi-stand.

What happens to grain, as opposed to non-stand development?

Also, the developer I bought must be 5 yrs old I think, it was on the floor of a store, i got it for 1 euro.

I put a drop of it on a piece of film and it cleared it.

Should I still use it?

 

[edtbjon]

My Neofin is some 15-20 years old and it works perfectly. There should be no problem with yours.
I have found that grain is fine and distinct with stand/semistand. An important part is to use the developer diluted. E.g. as I said above, use one tube with one liter of water or so. But you have to find out if you like it yourself.
Just so that you know, in my opinion the 2½ hours that Ole suggests is very long, but that is my opinion. Most receipes takes 30-45 minutes as a starting point for semi-stand and 1 hour or so for stand development. (I will not go into "the typical norwegian thing" , which for you translates into "the typical dutch thing". )

//Björn

 

[pierods]

Uhhmm...Norwegian...Dutch...

Wait till you try the typical Belgian thing...