Microphen pulling Trix to iso 200

MingMingPhoto · Mar 8, 2023

Hey Guys.

I made a thread the other day about trying to find a developer good for pushing TX but getting similar grain to Rodinal (I don't like D76)

Someone suggested microphen, and I do like the results.

However now I'm trying to pull process it, and I see no data about developemnt times. I also don't see any developent information about develpoing at 400 (nothing on Digital Truth, only 500 and up)

Does anyone know a good way to go about this?

aparat · Mar 8, 2023

MingMingPhoto said:
Hey Guys.

I made a thread the other day about trying to find a developer good for pushing TX but getting similar grain to Rodinal (I don't like D76)

Someone suggested microphen, and I do like the results.

However now I'm trying to pull process it, and I see no data about developemnt times. I also don't see any developent information about develpoing at 400 (nothing on Digital Truth, only 500 and up)

Does anyone know a good way to go about this?

I have not tested Microphen, but I did test ID-68, which is considered to be very close (interchangeable) to Microphen. In my experience, ID-68 stock tends to work quickly, building contrasts quickly, at least with rotary processing. I am afraid that if you process in stock Microphen, you're going to end up with very short development times for the pulling scenario you describe (in the range of 2-4 minutes, or so). So I am thinking that, instead, maybe you should try a 1+1 dilution and run a test starting at 6-7 minutes at 20C, and go from there.

fomapan100_id68 by Nick Mazur, on Flickr

delta100id68family by Nick Mazur, on Flickr

Anon Ymous · Mar 8, 2023

According to the Microphen datasheet, the development times for Tri-X at EI500 are 6' and 11' for stock and 1+1 dilution respectively. You could try decreasing them by 20% as a reasonable rule of thumb for a 1 stop pull.

MingMingPhoto · Mar 8, 2023

thank you both

I'm gonna try the 20% thing

P.s. I pray to one day be able to understand those graphs

MingMingPhoto · Mar 8, 2023

also how do i mix 1to1? Since it is all poweder Idk how to calculate

Anon Ymous · Mar 8, 2023

MingMingPhoto said:
also how do i mix 1to1? Since it is all poweder Idk how to calculate

You make the stock solution according to the instructions on the box. You then dilute one part of stock solution with another part of water right before development.

MingMingPhoto · Mar 26, 2023

Anon Ymous said:
You make the stock solution according to the instructions on the box. You then dilute one part of stock solution with another part of water right before development.

You mean if I have 500ml of stock solution I jsut mixed I add another 500 ml of water and that's 1 to 1 right?

And Also 1+1 must mean it's less contrasty and softer on the film no?

Steven Lee · Mar 26, 2023

@aparat great curves, as always. They mimic my anecdotal / perceptional experience with Microphen quite well. By the way, have you thought about uploading all of your curves to the Resources section? IMO that's what it's for. This way you can just link to them, and they also nicely show up in Google search results, just give them good titles, like "Fomapan in Microphen characteristic curves".

Anon Ymous · Mar 27, 2023

MingMingPhoto said:
You mean if I have 500ml of stock solution I jsut mixed I add another 500 ml of water and that's 1 to 1 right?

And Also 1+1 must mean it's less contrasty and softer on the film no?

Yes, 500ml plus 500ml of water.

1+1 isn't less contrasty per se. If you keep all other factors the same (temperature, development time, agitation) then it will be less contrasty. If you develop long enough it will be contrasty.

Craig · Mar 27, 2023

MingMingPhoto said:
You mean if I have 500ml of stock solution I jsut mixed I add another 500 ml of water and that's 1 to 1 right?

And Also 1+1 must mean it's less contrasty and softer on the film no?

An important point is that 1:1 dilutions are to be used one shot, not reused. They also don't keep, so mix right before you develop your film.

The procedure is dilute your stock solution with an equal part of water to make up whatever volume you need to cover your film in the developing tank you are using. If your tank needs 500ml per film (just a random number for an example) you would mix 250ml of stock and 250ml of water together. You then develop your film right after mixing the diluted solution, and then when development is finished discard the diluted solution, do not reuse it.

Also keep in mind the minimum capacity of the developer, I think Microphen requires at least 100ml of stock solution per 36 exposure film (or equal area of film) in order that the developer isn't exhausted.

Another rule of thumb is to keep the developing times to 5 min or longer. Times less than 5 min can have uneven development. Microphen is a high energy developer, so the dilution is a way to make the developing times longer than 5 min. You can also use lower temperature to lengthen the developing time.

aparat · Mar 27, 2023

Steven Lee said:
@aparat great curves, as always. They mimic my anecdotal / perceptional experience with Microphen quite well. By the way, have you thought about uploading all of your curves to the Resources section? IMO that's what it's for. This way you can just link to them, and they also nicely show up in Google search results, just give them good titles, like "Fomapan in Microphen characteristic curves".

Good point. I am working on putting together all of my tests and uploading them to Photrio, so I will probably use the Resources section. Thanks for the advice!

Alex Benjamin · Mar 27, 2023

I'm very curious to see what you'll get with this combo, as you are pulling using a developper that is essentially made for pushing—hence why no data for Tri-X under ISO 500. From the Ilford data sheet:

ILFORD MICROPHEN is a fine grain film developer which gives an effective increase in film speed. A speed increase of up to half a stop can be achieved with most films but with faster films such as HP5 Plus, Delta 400 Professional and Delta 3200 Professional it is more. Many developers that give an increase in film speed usually produce a corresponding increase in grain size, MICROPHEN is formulated to overcome this disadvantage, the low alkalinity of the developer reduces grain size and grain clumping. Therefore MICROPHEN is said to have a high speed/grain ratio, i.e. it gives a speed increase while retaining much of the grain characteristics associated with fine grain developers. MICROPHEN is particularly useful when using extended development times to push process fast films such as HP5 Plus, Delta 400 Professional, Delta 3200 Professional and SFX200.

I've tried Tri-X at 200 a couple of times, but either with speed maintaining, or decreasing, developers. Never liked the results as Tri-X at that speed loses too much contrast for my taste and, to me, much of what makes Tri-X Tri-X. I would have had to experiment on increasing developing times but, in the end, fell that all that experimental gymnastics, and the time it would have taken, was worthless—from a practical, not experimental, point of view—as there are already good options for when one feel one needs a 200 ISO film.

All this said, very interested in seeing the results with Microphen.

Microphen pulling Trix to iso 200

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency