Kentmere 100/HC-110 Suggestions Please.

[marcmarc]

Hi Everyone. I've been using Rodinal 1+100 (9 minutes, standard agitation) to develop Kentmere 100. My results have been OK by my standards although even exposing at iso 50 sometimes the shadows are still a bit thin. I've read a few times that other users prefer HC-110 for this film. I have HC-110 on hand as well so I want to shoot a couple of test rolls to compare. Digital truth didn't have any info except for the 400 speed emulsion. Can anyone suggest a time/dilution to start with? I do have to shoot at iso 50 due to the hard contrasty light here in Southern CA. Thanks.
Regards,
Marc

 

[Jeff Bradford]

I would start with a test roll at around 7 1/2 minutes in dilution E.

 

[Nodda Duma]

Tagging this thread since I'll be testing this combination soon.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Rodinal 1+100 (9 minutes, standard agitation)

For that dilution I think 9min is too little.
Try stand development for 1 hour next time.

BTW, what is your standard agitation? The Koda way, the Ilford way or your way?

 

[marcmarc]

Thanks for replies. Ricardo, I arrived at my agitation method based on what I learned in photo classes as well as forums like this. For Rodinal I agitate for a full minute and then three inversion every 30 seconds. I used to use Rodinal 1+50 for Kentmere 100 for 9 minutes but noticed the highlights were blocking up and I just didn't care for the look that this dilution produced in my prints, thus I dropped to 1+100 and kept the same time which worked out a lot better. As far as stand developing, I often develop a roll before heading out to work in the morning so I like to keep my developing times short. Plus, living in LA I have to keep adding small bits of ice in my little bowl of water where I keep the tank during development otherwise the temp could rise quite significantly and affect the results. I'm afraid that I may get distracted while getting ready for work and forget to stay on top of this hence my desire for shorter developing times.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

It is quite different from the standard Ilford way that I use: 4 inversions for 10 seconds every minute.
Your way favours shorter times.

 

[Jager]

If the problem you're trying to solve is thin shadows, I wouldn't think that moving from Rodinal to HC-110 would fix that.

Sounds like an exposure issue to me.