Rodinal and 5222

[pnance]

I am going to try developing Eastman 5222 or Double-X with Rodinal, any suggestions on EI, and developing times? Would appreciate a starting point.

 

[clay]

I use this film and find the developing times to be very similar to TX400. I did a test the other night and found that 1:25 for 6 minutes at 72 degrees seemed to be about right. It reminds me of the old 1960's tri-x.

I am going to try developing Eastman 5222 or Double-X with Rodinal, any suggestions on EI, and developing times? Would appreciate a starting point.

 

[Gerald Koch]

I use a lot of this film and like it very much. While Rodinal produces very nice results with films ISO 200 or less, with faster films the grain is not good. A very nice developer for this film is Agfa Studional 1:32, 7 min @ 20 C.

BTW, the published speed,ISO 250, for this film reflects printing on high contrast positive stock. For still film use I recommend exposing it at 400 and developing longer to get a contrast suitable for papers.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

5222 + Rodinal sounds like a really grainy combo, which you might like, but that's what I'd expect.

 

[pnance]

Sorry to being so long to respond to the answers. I had no idea how many feet I would have to go though to get to the good stuff. The start of the roll was OK, then about 3 feet of exposed film, then OK again. Of course, you don't notice anything until you start developing.

Thanks Clay, worked very well. I think it looks like a good EI would be 200.

Gerald, contrast seems like Tri-X so far.

David, it doesn't look very grainy at all. Very nice in fact. I'll have to post a sample when I take something worthwhile.

 

[clay]

This combo really isn't that grainy. It has a different sort of graininess than the new Tri-X, but can still be agreeably enlarged to 8X or so, depending on what your tolerance for grain happens to be. Film Emporium still sells 400 foot fresh rolls of this stuff for around $120, and it is a pretty low cost way to get a lot of film. The only knock on it is that a 400 foot roll will not fit in a bulk loader, so you have to spool it on by hand. I just set aside 15 minutes in the darkroom and spool on 5 rolls at a time.

Sorry to being so long to respond to the answers. I had no idea how many feet I would have to go though to get to the good stuff. The start of the roll was OK, then about 3 feet of exposed film, then OK again. Of course, you don't notice anything until you start developing.

Thanks Clay, worked very well. I think it looks like a good EI would be 200.

Gerald, contrast seems like Tri-X so far.

David, it doesn't look very grainy at all. Very nice in fact. I'll have to post a sample when I take something worthwhile.

 

[Gerald Koch]

Film Emporium still sells 400 foot fresh rolls of this stuff for around $120, and it is a pretty low cost way to get a lot of film. The only knock on it is that a 400 foot roll will not fit in a bulk loader...

I made myself a respooling device out of two threaded posts attached to a piece of 3/4 in board. An old small film core 1 in diam is used as a take up spool. I spool off about 100 ft and put it in a regular bulk loader.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

David, it doesn't look very grainy at all. Very nice in fact. I'll have to post a sample when I take something worthwhile.

It could be that it's improved since I last used it, which was some film of unknown age, and it was pretty grainy even in D-76, which should be less grainy than Rodinal. But sometimes it was a nice effect. I think this one was with 5222--

 

[Gerald Koch]

Gerald, contrast seems like Tri-X so far.

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. What I meant to say was if, you use Kodak's recommended developer D-96, you need to increase the published time to get better contrast.

 

[pnance]

You guys are so far ahead of me, I've been taking test shots trying to get proper development before I trust it to pictures that I might want to keep.

But I am impressed with the film, so far I'm with Clay, its very easy to just go into the darkroom and spool off a few rolls. I like the short development time. Will have to do some serious stuff now, if the weather will improve, and then I'll be able to judge the film's grain better.

 

[pnance]

My normal developer is Microdol-X, and have to experiment there also, as there are no times I can find that combination either! If it does appear to grainy with Rodinal, I'll have to try it with Microdol-X.

I like the idea of using bulk film and brew it yourself developer.

 

[Gerald Koch]

Here is Kodak's recommended developer for Eastman 5222 and 5231.

Kodak D-96

Distilled water (50°C) ...................................... 750 ml
Metol ........................................................... 1.5 g
Sodium sulfite (anhy) ...................................... 75.0 g
Hydroquinone ................................................ 1.5 g
Potassium bromide ......................................... 0.4 g
Borax (deca) ................................................ 4.5 g
Distilled water to make ................................... 1.0 l

As cine films, 5231 (EI 80) and 5222 (EI 250), are developed for 5 and 7 minutes @ 21 C respectively, Kodak's recommendations. For still film use, a bit more contrast is needed and so the times should be increased. I rate them at EI 125 and 400 respectively.

 

[Harry Lime]

I would be curious to see what this film looks like in XTOL or DD-X.

A few years ago I shot a short film on 5222 and even when projected 30 feet across the grain was very acceptable. ;-)