I have lately mostly been shooting Rollei RPX25, RPX100 and RPX400 and develop all of them in Rodinal 1+100, 1 hour stand. The RPX25 comes out a bit too constrasty, the RPX400 a bit too flat, but nothing I can't compensate for with half a grade or a grade contrast adjustment when printing. I do stand development because I find it much more convenient. Please don't use this thread to discuss pros and cons on that matter.
Some days ago, I was in a situation where I wanted to do some available light photography and didn't have more light than to expose around 3200-6400 ASA. Not really knowing what result to expect, I decided to give it a try and shot one roll RPX400 at this speed. Before developing, I googled and found an article written by someone having pushed the RPX400 to 1600ASA and successfully developed in Rodinal 1+150, 3 hours. Following my gut feeling, I guesstimated that doing 1+75, 3 hours might get me close enough. That was a complete mistake, as the roll was almost blank when it came out of the wash. The highlights are faintly visible, but it was clear, that my guess was way off by at least several stops.
Rather surprised by the poor result, I tried a more 'scientific' approach today and did a series of exposures of the same motive, bracketing in 1 stop steps from the equivalence of 400 ASA to 25,600 ASA: Since the last development was obviously too weak, I added even more 'power' and tried 1+50 (previously, I have never used more than 1+100 for stand development), 3 hours and added one inversion of the tank every 30 minutes. At least I got a few printable negatives, but any pushing effect was rather mediocre. By visual inspection, the achieved film speed is just somewhere between 800 and 1600 ASA. Even the 400 ASA exposure, though dense, could probably still have been printed properly. The 3200 ASA exposure is too faint and has no definition anymore in the shadows.
Has someone been there and done this before? Is it really not possible to push the RPX400 more than about 1.5 stops when doing stand development in Rodinal without perhaps increasing the developer strength even more? Be aware that I am using the current RPX400 and not the initially rebranded Kentmere 400.
Suggestions on other developers to try are also welcome, but I am not exactly having a very high throughput on films anymore and long shelf-life and preferably one-shot capabilities are musts. I am very well aware of the RPX-D developer, especially made to push the RPX400, but I would simply waste far too much chemicals using it.
If I could keep Rodinal and stand development, I would even consider using another film. Tri-X 400 and HP5 are perhaps the obvious candidates, but they are quite a bit more expensive here in Germany.
Some days ago, I was in a situation where I wanted to do some available light photography and didn't have more light than to expose around 3200-6400 ASA. Not really knowing what result to expect, I decided to give it a try and shot one roll RPX400 at this speed. Before developing, I googled and found an article written by someone having pushed the RPX400 to 1600ASA and successfully developed in Rodinal 1+150, 3 hours. Following my gut feeling, I guesstimated that doing 1+75, 3 hours might get me close enough. That was a complete mistake, as the roll was almost blank when it came out of the wash. The highlights are faintly visible, but it was clear, that my guess was way off by at least several stops.
Rather surprised by the poor result, I tried a more 'scientific' approach today and did a series of exposures of the same motive, bracketing in 1 stop steps from the equivalence of 400 ASA to 25,600 ASA: Since the last development was obviously too weak, I added even more 'power' and tried 1+50 (previously, I have never used more than 1+100 for stand development), 3 hours and added one inversion of the tank every 30 minutes. At least I got a few printable negatives, but any pushing effect was rather mediocre. By visual inspection, the achieved film speed is just somewhere between 800 and 1600 ASA. Even the 400 ASA exposure, though dense, could probably still have been printed properly. The 3200 ASA exposure is too faint and has no definition anymore in the shadows.
Has someone been there and done this before? Is it really not possible to push the RPX400 more than about 1.5 stops when doing stand development in Rodinal without perhaps increasing the developer strength even more? Be aware that I am using the current RPX400 and not the initially rebranded Kentmere 400.
Suggestions on other developers to try are also welcome, but I am not exactly having a very high throughput on films anymore and long shelf-life and preferably one-shot capabilities are musts. I am very well aware of the RPX-D developer, especially made to push the RPX400, but I would simply waste far too much chemicals using it.
If I could keep Rodinal and stand development, I would even consider using another film. Tri-X 400 and HP5 are perhaps the obvious candidates, but they are quite a bit more expensive here in Germany.
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