Plus-X and Rodinal question

[deadwood]

Yesterday I shot a test roll of Plus-X with my
Nikon F100 and the Nikkor 85/1.8 lens.No filter was used.
On some of the photos I used a Vivitar 2800 flash.
I developed the film in Rodinal 1:50 for 13 minutes.
The flash pictures was ok,I was to close to the kid(see photos link)
with some of them,wich resulted in blown out highlights(picture 17).
But take a look at picture 13 and 14,these were taken without
flash,in P mode,and look overexposed/overdeveloped to me.
It seems that 13 minutes is to long develop time,what time
is "right" for plus-x in rodinal 1:50?
Photos:
http://cid-93b17b17609756a9.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/public

 

[Mark Antony]

It may help you to look at this:
http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/2007_03_18_archive.html
I use a higher dilution, your shots look overdeveloped or/and overexposed.
just my 2¢
mark

 

[Anon Ymous]

It seems that 13 minutes is to long develop time,what time
is "right" for plus-x in rodinal 1:50?

Hi, if you have a look at the rodinal leaflet pdf you will notice that these dev times (including 13 mins 1+50 for Plus-X) are for a value of gamma equal to 0,65. Many people will find it a bit too much. IIRC Kodak proposes 0,58 for a "normal" contrast. You might have to consider lowering your dev time.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Vivitar 2800 flash... blown out highlights

This is a typlical 'automatic' flash problem: your flash has exposed for the background, leaving the small foreground subject overexposed. 'D' lenses when used with the appropriate Nikon flashes and cameras are supposed to help with this by taking subject distance into account.

Sometimes the analog calculator dial on the back of the flash is the way to go. Analog is always better.

With Plus-X you may have hit the shoulder on the film curve and really blown the highlights, but try just printing down for the child and let the background go dark. TMax films are better at keeping highlight detail in overexposed situations but you have to burn heavily to recover them - the details are there on the film but are too dense to make any image on the paper. A film like Plus-X will shoulder and the highlights get compressed, printing down just results in grey mush for highlights.

 

[kodachrome64]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8300: BlackBerry8300/4.5.0.55 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

To answer your question, I find an EI of 64 for Plus-X in Rodinal is right. I develop for 6 minutes with agitation 5 seconds every 30 seconds. I get superb results. 13 minutes is way too much.

 

[George Collier]

You don't say how these were printed (paper, contrast, etc), but they do look over developed.
When you adjust down (with time, temp, however) keep in mind that rodinal is responsive to agitation. IOW, decreasing or increasing agitation will have a noticable affect. I guess in your case, since you will probably decrease the time, keep the agitation interval the same.

 

[deadwood]

No printing has been done yet.
Agitation was continous for the first minute,thereafter
20 secs. every 3 minutes.
I will try a roll at 1:50 for 11 minutes
and one at 1:100 for 15 minutes.With a litte less
agitation.

 

[kodachrome64]

Well that is very little agitation, so the 13 minutes may be right for that. I just saw the photos for the first time and it looks like overexposure with the flash to me. I said 13 minutes was way too long with 1+50, but that was assuming normal agitation. Of course knowing developing time is irrelevant without knowing agitation. You can develop in Rodinal 1+100 for 15 minutes with normal agitation or for 90 minutes with stand development. Proper agitation is the key. This combo is my favorite, though, so please keep at it! Plus-X is such an underrated film.

 

[Rolleijoe]

Yesterday I shot a test roll of Plus-X with my
Nikon F100 and the Nikkor 85/1.8 lens.No filter was used.
On some of the photos I used a Vivitar 2800 flash.
I developed the film in Rodinal 1:50 for 13 minutes.
The flash pictures was ok,I was to close to the kid(see photos link)
with some of them,wich resulted in blown out highlights(picture 17).
But take a look at picture 13 and 14,these were taken without
flash,in P mode,and look overexposed/overdeveloped to me.
It seems that 13 minutes is to long develop time,what time
is "right" for plus-x in rodinal 1:50?
Photos:
http://cid-93b17b17609756a9.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/public

I use Rodinal 1:50 for only 10min period. Any longer will give the results you mention. Also be sure to use gentle agitation. That is what works for me.