Pushing Acros in stand Rodinal

I'd previously floated the question of whether it's better to use an ISO 400 film at 200 to get finer grain, or to push a 100 speed film higher. I was particularly interested in fine-grain champ Fuji Acros. One colleague here suggested that Acros should never be pushed, so of course that's what I wanted to try.

I wound up shooting some Acros at ISO 200 or thereabouts, and developing in Rodinal at 1:100, agitation for the first minute then stand development for 80 minutes. Initial solution temp was 64 degrees; by the time 80 minutes was up, it had risen to 72 degrees.

Results were excellent, and getting closer to the b/w look I want. The images scanned very well, and the photos, when appropriate, seem to present blacker black and whiter whites than HC-110 or Prescysol. The images just seem to jump off the page better. This experience tracks with a feeling I've had lately that too many photographs -- OK, my photographs -- were all middle tones, didn't seem to punch through with clarity. Acros pushed in Rodinal is a new way forward for me.

I've just picked up some Berger 200 and some TMax 100 to see how they react to much the same treatment. I'll report back on the results.

I'd be curious to try that. I've only ever developed Acros in fairly standard developers, and with normal agitation.

I have pushed Acros in D76 to EI400, and the results were okay but I was not happy overall.

On the other hand I have had great luck with Acros at ei100 in semistand rodinal of dilutions of both 1:150 and 1:200. I process almost most all of Acros that way.

Hope it helps.

Gary