RPX 25 in HC-110, any experiences?

[Oscar Carlsson]

As the title says, does anyone have any experiences with RPX 25 is HC-110?

My first experiences were that the suggested time, 5 min in dilution B, is too long for a normal development. I'll try with dilution H (1:63, as I've understood it) at maybe approx 8:30 next time, but I'd like to hear about your experiences if possible.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

the following site contains lots of information on HC-110 and describes how to calculate times for various dilutions .http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

 

[Dr Croubie]

Not in HC, but in Rodinal I did their suggestion of 6 mins in 1+25. Also came out extremely dense and contrasty, so much so that I can't scan the negs and I'll have to print them to see if they're any good.
So it's not just HC where their suggestions seem too long.

ps, with that name and hometown, do you have a relative called Hampus, 25 years old? (although I'm sure there's more than one family called Carlsson in the middle of Sweden)

 

[darkosaric]

As a general rule with iso 25 and iso 50 films in Rodinal and HC110 - I would always go for higher dilutions, like 1+100, and with reduced agitation.

 

[Oscar Carlsson]

Not in HC, but in Rodinal I did their suggestion of 6 mins in 1+25. Also came out extremely dense and contrasty, so much so that I can't scan the negs and I'll have to print them to see if they're any good.
So it's not just HC where their suggestions seem too long.

ps, with that name and hometown, do you have a relative called Hampus, 25 years old? (although I'm sure there's more than one family called Carlsson in the middle of Sweden)

Ok, so it might not just be with HC-110 that the times are a bit long. Next roll might take a while but I'll try a shorter time.

I know no Hampus, but after digging some I did find a Hampus Carlsson here in Linköping. I've never met him myself, but I seem to have several friends in common with him - Linköping is not a large place.

Here's a picture from Facebook:

Dead Link Removed

How come?

 

[Oscar Carlsson]

As a general rule with iso 25 and iso 50 films in Rodinal and HC110 - I would always go for higher dilutions, like 1+100, and with reduced agitation.

How come? Do you find that slow films gives a higher contrast in general or is it for some other reason?

I'm very skeptical about using high dilutions with reduced agitation, but I've never actually tried it myself. I might be convinced in the end, tho

 

[darkosaric]

Yes, higher contrast is problematic in my experience with low iso films and some developer combination that will work ok with iso 100-400 films. Lots of people (me included) are doing semi stand - agitation on the beginning, after 20 or 30 min and after plus-minus one hour it is done. Reduced agitation like every 3-5 minutes is not a problem at all. Only risk is full stand development that can sometime give bromid drag.

 

[Dr Croubie]

Only risk is full stand development that can sometime give bromid drag.

Yeah, I've given up on full don't-touch-it stand since I had a massive bromide drag problem with FP4+ (although never with the others, like Efke25, APX25/100, Delta 100). Now I tend to agitate at about 5/15/30 minutes, and then tip it out when I get bored of waiting.
Ironically, the reason that I didn't do semi-stand for my first RPX25 is because of listening to all of the people (here and elsewhere) who rail against stand and semi-stand. Also, I was looking for a bit more contrast than I normally get. (Semi-)Stand is great for scanning, and great when there's a huge gap from highlights to shadows. And when something scans good it generally doesn't print good, and vice-versa, and I'm trying to do things 'properly' for wet-printing, so I followed the recommended times.
That said, they may produce beautiful prints once I get time in the darkroom, it's more than likely considering that they don't scan well.

ps, That's not the Hampus I was thinking of. The one I know is just a guy from around your area, we worked together in a kitchen Austria a few winters ago. I just noticed your name and location and it twigged my memory, that's all.