My first developed film.

[MattKing]

My workflow uses developer that is always at the ambient room temperature, so when I develop film, I measure its temperature, and then look at a dial (essentially a chart) and develop for the necessary time shown.
All the other steps happen at room temperature, using chemicals that are either already at room temperature, or allowed to come to room temperature before starting. The biggest requirement is enough water for the end wash.
The variations you will encounter at anything approaching room temperature won't matter much for the 10 minutes or less that the film is in the room temperature developer. When the developer and the surrounding environment are so close in temperature, the temperature drift for the developer will be inconsequential.
It is different if you have need to develop at a temperature that is a long way away from room temperature. That is why colour film processing is more demanding. But for black and white, and normal indoor temperatures, just work at the room temperature measured at the beginning.
With Rodinal, you need to mix up the working solution each time. You can either fiddle with adjusting the temperature before you start, or mix it up a half hour earlier, using water somewhere close to room temperature, and then let it come to room temperature.
Or, let your mixing water come to room temperature ahead of time. A covered bottle sitting on the counter for an hour will probably do.

 

[mshchem]

Yep, like Matt mentions use ambient temperature and adjust the time. The old Kodak darkroom dataguide had a "computer" that allowed for temperature, condenser vs. diffusion light sources etc.

Back in the day there was no Jobo.

 

[MattKing]

Yep, like Matt mentions use ambient temperature and adjust the time. The old Kodak darkroom dataguide had a "computer" that allowed for temperature, condenser vs. diffusion light sources etc.

Back in the day there was no Jobo.

One of these - what I use (I have 4!)
Each film and developer combination yields a Development Number. I use "38" for a couple of different combinations

 

[Twiggy]

I already have my distilled water in the most temperature controlled room in the house, so that will be at room temp.

I will of course let the rodinal be there over night before use as well.

 

[koraks]

I will of course let the rodinal be there over night before use as well.

The 4% rodinal isn't going to affect the temperature of your working strength developer in any meaningful way.
Also, during a 6 to 10 minute development time, temperature drift is really a non issue. It might become an issue if you do stand/semi stand with long times if it's extremely hot or cold in the work area. Were talking about pretty extreme temperatures though.

Let mole hills be mole hills and try not to turn them into mountains.

 

[Twiggy]

I'll read the directions on the bottle when I get it, and decide from there.

Will probably be a while until my next development, as the Chaika II just came in, and I will get 72 shots from the 36 exposure rolls I just ordered today.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I wouldn't recommend getting rid of the Df96 yet -- it's a good, convenient developer, though the way the push or pull depends on temperature does require some attention to that detail. It's mainly aimed, of course, at "on the road" processing and folks who have just a tank, dark bag, and bathroom sink to work with.

 

[MattKing]

I wouldn't recommend getting rid of the Df96 yet -- it's a good, convenient developer, though the way the push or pull depends on temperature does require some attention to that detail. It's mainly aimed, of course, at "on the road" processing and folks who have just a tank, dark bag, and bathroom sink to work with.

For someone new to this, it probably would be a good idea to appreciate that Donald's advice comes from the perspective of someone who has lots of experience with monobath developers, including the particulars of their somewhat unusual requirements, advantages and disadvantages. In fact, indications are that at least some of the work behind Df96 was actually based on Donald's earlier, publicly released experiments.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Matt, I don't know of any reason to believe Cinestill based their Df96 on my experiments with HC-110 and rapid fixer -- there was a monobath that was pretty openly based on that work, as well as the "goop" in New55 instant material, but as far as I know, Df96 is much closer to the fairly common commercial monobaths of the 1950s and 1960s -- which were quite popular with photojournalists, who would use them to develop film in their hotel rooms so as to have negatives, instead of exposed film, to bring home.

 

[MattKing]

Thanks Donald for the clarification.
However, my observation about how much experience you have with monobaths stands - in case @Twiggy jumps to the conclusion that the apparent simplicity of monobaths equates to suitability for use by beginners.

 

[Lee Rust]

I've had good results with Df96... paying close attention to the temperature and adjusting timing as the total number of processed rolls increases.

 

[MTGseattle]

It's funny how many quirks and oddities there are in photography. I did a quick search regarding "monobath" developers and my mind is now blown.

As to the OP. You've got images on the film. That is awesome.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Thanks to Greg Y, I got a tank and reels for very cheap (just shipping). I already had some DF96 as well.

I took these pictures using a vintage 1932 Kodak Hawk-Eye-Special. Admittedly, they didn't turn out very well. I used Ilford HP5 Plus BW in it, 400 ISO. I think maybe the ISO was a little too high resulting in over exposure, or maybe I scanned the negatives from the wrong side?, but from what I see all the things pictured are in the correct position. I am not sure what ISO should've actually been used with that camera, but, all of them were taken on sunny days.

For the development, when I started mixing my water was at 73.4f but once I was done mixing it was at 703.f, so I did what the label said to do for 70f and did 10 seconds agitation initially, and then 5 seconds each minute for six minutes.

This is what I got.

The film was a little crinkled on the sides, as it was hard to line it up exactly in the steel reel in the dark, from my understanding they would've turned out better if a more appropriate ISO was used, but more experienced people can chime in and give other information/advice.

I think from this, I will no longer use DF96, instead I will get some rodinal and go the semi-stand developing route, it's not so fussy with temperatures, and requires less work on my end as well.

Edit: I did edit a little with the "negadoctor" module in the "Darktable" program to try getting them to look as good as I could.

You did a lot better than I did on my first roll. Don't give up on D96. It's a great standard developer.You may find HP5 too grainy in Rodinal, but, that is another great developer (very sharp). If I were you, I'd use a film such as Ilford FP4+ first and stick to one developer until you get comfortable and successful with that combo before changing film or developer.

 

[koraks]

Don't give up on D96

Yeah, but this is about Df96. Different animal.