Rough times in film development

Harsh after what I went through to get the shots.

Back story: I hiked a Toyo 45G monorail w/ all the goods/needs and a 3051 Bogen tripod up an incredibly steep trail in NC. If anyone is familiar with Hawksbill trail in Jonas Ridge (above Linville Gorge) they can attest to the nature of this grueling hike.

I shot mostly Efke 100 and then a couple of sheets of HP5+. Last week I did a test run on development w/ 2 of the Efke sheets. I am unfamiliar with this particular ISO and didn't want to gamble of screwing up on all of my shots. They came out very thin. I stopped and did not return until this morning as I was trying to figure out whether it was a exposure issue or a time issue in development. This morning, I ran the 2 sheets of HP5+ as I have very good times and experience w/ this film. They came out great.

Rough Time: I used to work for a professional lab here in town. We were dip-n-dunk w/ the use of Patterson reels. I would load 2 rolls of 120 on 1 reel as they were really 220 reels. I had 2 rolls of 120 HP5+ from the same trip. Without thinking too much about it, I pulled my 220 stainless steel reel out with my short tank. Well, that just didn't work out for me at all. Not too much worries though. I just put my film in a tight tank and got the big guy out and loaded them on separate reels. I don't know if it is actually doable and I just couldn't get them on the reel or if it is a no no.

Here is the bigger question. Some time ago, I recall reading up on a developer instructions. I can't remember if it was the clayton I am currently using or if it was Ilford. But long story short it suggested that a certain amount of mixed developer will process up to a certain square inches of film. I looked this up because I have one of those Nikkor 4x5 Stainless Steel tanks w/ adjustable reel and it will hold 12 sheets at one time. I wanted to make sure I was not stretching the developer out too thin by doing a run w/ all 12 sheets. Obviously, they probably would not have made the tank that way if it wouldn't work, but I like to double check. I remember my calculation as being 32 oz of developer should process up to 20 sheets of 4x5 when broken down to sq in.

That being the case, I processed my 2 sheets of HP5+ this morning (that came out great) in this Nikkor tank & reel. Then kept the developer thinking that I only used a fraction of it's potential use. I then used this same developer batch to process the 2 rolls of HP5+ I mentioned above. I have images, but again, thin as can be. This makes me think my thought process of the developer not being exhausted is incorrect and it should not be done. What are your thought on this?

Thank You,
Jody

Jody

Check out this thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

It may answer your question.

My thin negatives(4x5) are a direct result of my exposure calculations, most often reciprosity failure on long exposures. I dont know what developer you use, but D-76 never lets me down even with 1+1 dilution. My Pyrocat-HD negs sometimes look thin, but usually print very well in spite of that. I dont know what to tell you.

How much film a developer can handle is based on it's dilution and developer choice. e.g. 32oz of working solution of d76 or xtol diluted 1+2 won't handle as much film as 1+1 which won't handle as much as undiluted stock. But the undiluted stock might not make the image look you want. Some developers are naturally weaker in order to obtain certain results. Stick to their recommendations.

Ralph, thank you for the link. It was an interesting read even if some of it was over my head. I have not yet learned the ins and outs of how/why/what makes developer work. I'm still trying to learn how to take a good shot. Thomas Bertilsson brought up a point that XTOL was replenishable which I did not know. But, hits the point as to how I derived to the solution I am using. While working at the lab, we changed B&W developer to Clayton F76+ for cost effective reasons. I spent a ton of personal time coming up with development times for a large array of films and kept good notes. At this lab, I ran B&W once a week. Sometimes it was 5-6 rolls, sometimes 5-6 35mm, 5-6 120, 10-12 sheets 4x5, regardless it was done the same way. Clayton states F76+ (confirmed this is the same as F60) replenished value is mixed at 1+5. We were in a sink line w/ SS tubes (I will call tanks) set upright. I can't quite remember the volume each tank held, but I did the calculations then based on how much volume was left in the tank at the end of a run. Each run the tank was topped off w/ the 1+5. The calculations suggested the actual working solution would fall in between 1+6 to 1+7. Except of course the original few runs when the solution was started. Clayton's working solution in small tank is 1+9, but as I went through so much trouble to find times for about 30 different films, I wanted to try and keep that going now that I develop at home. I don't have the nice sink line, nor do I have the chance to run film once a week to keep everything on even keel.

How much film a developer can handle is based on it's dilution and developer choice. e.g. 32oz of working solution of d76 or xtol diluted 1+2 won't handle as much film as 1+1 which won't handle as much as undiluted stock. But the undiluted stock might not make the image look you want. Some developers are naturally weaker in order to obtain certain results. Stick to their recommendations.

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I am based on their recommendation for the most part, I just thought I understood, say 32oz was capable of developing x sq in of film as a whole. I guess I'm trying to grasp the concept that had I developed all the film in that tank instead of just 2 sheets, it would have given me the same great results on all the film as it did the original 2 sheets. But for some reason, once it was poured out of the tank, it was near exhausted and could not preform on the second go around. It just seemed to me that if it states it is capable of developing 20 sheets of film, then why does it matter if I do them 1 at a time or all at once?

@ Rick, all my stuff was in bright daylight, the iso 100 was taken first and the exposure for the HP5+ was just adjusted from the same meter reading. The HP5+ sheets looking good makes me feel positive that my exposures were right on. I just need to figure out the time adjustment in developing, but it doesn't look like I will be using the same solution.

You can not reuse diluted developer. It spoils rapidly.


Too bad all that work and you tried to economize on chemicals.

Further you used a film you were unfamiliar with, mistake #2.

Ronald Moravec said:

You can not reuse diluted developer. It spoils rapidly.


Too bad all that work and you tried to economize on chemicals.

Further you used a film you were unfamiliar with, mistake #2.

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OUCH!

Reality Check, lesson learned! I'll put it on the list.