Rodinal - and thoughts

[mnemosyne]

Good point. Contrast looks fairly decent already. It might be worth trying to see if the shadows become any better?

The "golden rule" is that exposure controls the shadows and development controls the highlights.

If you try to lift shadow densities through development, you will adversely affect the highlights along the way, as the densities on the straight part of the curve (mid-tones, highlights) react more readily to extended development than the tones in the toe of the curve (deep shadows). It will push the higher densities on the straight part into the shoulder of the density curve and you will loose detail there. This is especially true with a developer like Rodinal that has an inherent tendency to build up contrast quickly. By the time you have compensated a two stop lack of light in the shadows through development (if that is possible at all) you will have blown the highlights beyond recovery (unless the tonal range of the scene was very, very limited)

The other "golden rule" is that when tweaking a process you never implement two or more changes at a time. Next time change exposure as suggested by many here and change nothing else. Review the results. THEN, and only then, if you find that shadow detail is good, but overall contrast and tonal separation still lacking, you can extend development time in the next step.

 

[Xmas]

You only need a tripod in lower light situations. Though I tend to try and stick to 1/125 or above for hand held.



Including the f-stop difference it comes out to close to half a stop difference (of underexposure from EI 200), shouldn't be that bad to be honest, but I haven't used Foma 200.

Foma 200 ISO seems nearer to 125-160
Foma 100 ditto!
Foma 400 250

Your metering may vary...

 

[mitchins]

Thanks everyone.
I will change exposure next as suggested, and then possibly the film rating assumptions after


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[Gerald C Koch]

Many photographers down-rate their film exposure not only just Foma films. Better gradation and shadow detail.

 

[Xmas]

Many photographers down-rate their film exposure not only just Foma films. Better gradation and shadow detail.

Yes I do but I was quoting the data sheet.

http://www.foma.cz/en/fomapan-200

200 is nominal?

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Yes I do but I was quoting the data sheet.

http://www.foma.cz/en/fomapan-200

200 is nominal?

Foma 200 ISO seems nearer to 125-160

I guess I wasn't clear. I was agreeing with your rating of Foma 200. But in general most films are actually improved by using a lower EI.

 

[AndreaP]

Never had a problem with Ilford film and Rodinal and always use it except when developing silvermax, Shanghai is OK I got some from eBay

 

[mitchins]

Never had a problem with Ilford film and Rodinal and always use it except when developing silvermax, Shanghai is OK I got some from eBay

It does appear to do well. I think the nail was hit on the head when the difference between scanned results and checking the negative because automatic pull up might have been skewing results. The built in light meter of my mamiya 645 isn't crash hot - I'll try sticking to the sekonic where I can.


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[brokenglytch]

I've had good success with my first few rolls processed in Rodinal, though my process was fairly different. I've been shooting some heavy push photography and making a soup with Rodinal and Ilford Microphen. 3 Parts Rodinal (1:25 dilution) and 1 part Microphen (stock), stand developed 90 minutes with 1 slow inversion every 10 minutes @ 65F the whole time, with a water rinse before the stop bath and a 10 minute fix in original Kodak Fixer. The negatives were quite underexposed because my camera's meter isn't the most reliable at such extremes (very dark street photography / concert venues) but compared to some of the rolls I processed in straight Microphen I like the results better. The grain was kept more in control, and the development was an easier, if more time consuming process, with larger margins for error. I shoot 135 and have put Tri-X 400, Tmax 400, and Ilford Delta 3200 through this mix, all pushed to between 6400 and 12800. This isn't as far of a push for Delta 3200 as it is for the other two, but the results for all of them are at least a few printable shots on each roll, which I don't consider to be bad for pushing film so far out of spec as an experiment just to see if its possible.

I intend to do some better lit portrait work with Rodinal as the developer to get the halo effect from full stand developing with absolute minimal agitation in the near future.

 

[seanE]

I can't wait to try stand developing a role of fomapan 400 in it, I've been looking for years how to get what i now know is called the ''halo'' effect with my digital cameras.