Low contrast developer for P30

[Tumbles]

I'm looking for a low contrast developer that works well with P30. I recently shot a bunch of it and I developed all of my 35mm rolls in FA-1027. Half of my results look normal while the other half are too high contrast to be usable. With backlit trees in particular I'm getting a few highlights on a nearly blank frame. I still have a bunch of 120 film to develop.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for developers that can deal well with the contrast of P30? Some of the developers I have in mind are POTA, CD4-LC, and Barry Thorton's 2 bath. I've had really good results Barry Thorton's 2 bath and Orto 50. So far most of the developing times I've found for these are for film shot around ISO 25, and I shot everything at box speed.

 

[koraks]

Note that the main problem in those negatives is underexposure. You can throw a low-contrast developer at it, but in this case it would just have tempered the highlights, while most of the frame would have remained blank.

 

[Alan Johnson]

If you get the exposure right I found that CD4-LC works well with P30.
I posted one example which is alongside a few others from a walk across central London:

CD4-LC low contrast developer for scanning

I have found that use of high concentrations of CD-4 reduces the contrast of microfilms [pic] and the contrast is further reduced by minimal agitation every 3 min. In combination with reduction of contrast in scanner software this enables some microfilms to be shot at box speed. The CD-4...

www.photrio.com

Rollei Low Contrast developer and Bill Troop's TD-3 are proprietary alternatives.

 

[Alan9940]

I think @koraks has made probably the most important observation, but in my experience shooting P30 at box speed and developing, as instructed just about anywhere, will provide "soot-n-caulk" negatives. To obtain a more "normal" looking negative, I expose at EI32 and develop in D96 at 1:1.

 

[retina_restoration]

I gave up on P30 years ago because I found that I had to expose it at about 10ASA to get usable results.

 

[thinkbrown]

I had very good results from shooting at 50 iso and developing in D96 using the timings on the datasheet. This example was shot on my Pentax 17.

 

[Michael Howard]

Same as @thinkbrown , except with HC110 or Rodinal 1:50. Both with gentle agitation. I've NEVER seen some of the high contrast some people post about. I only shoot at 50, and have nothing but praise for this film. I just wish it was available in 100' rolls.

 

[Tumbles]

If you get the exposure right I found that CD4-LC works well with P30.
I posted one example which is alongside a few others from a walk across central London:

CD4-LC low contrast developer for scanning

I have found that use of high concentrations of CD-4 reduces the contrast of microfilms [pic] and the contrast is further reduced by minimal agitation every 3 min. In combination with reduction of contrast in scanner software this enables some microfilms to be shot at box speed. The CD-4...

www.photrio.com

Rollei Low Contrast developer and Bill Troop's TD-3 are proprietary alternatives.

What time did you use? Was it the 9 minutes suggested as a starting point? I really like the results I've seen with CD4-LC. I just wish I could find a source for CD4 at a reasonable price.

I'm not sure about exposure. I also shot some rolls of Adox CHS II here in the same scenario, and it came out fine. Here is an example.

 

[Alan Johnson]

What time did you use? Was it the 9 minutes suggested as a starting point? I really like the results I've seen with CD4-LC. I just wish I could find a source for CD4 at a reasonable price

9 minutes x 1.3 ~12m 20C to allow for agitation only every 3 min to further reduce contrast. This time to be increased for each successive film as mentioned in the CD4-LC thread. Yes it's not a cheap developer but it keeps well if air is excluded.