Stand Developing for beginners - any experts?

There's quite a few mentions of stand developing on this foum but is there anywhere where I can get the advice in one spot without reading for 2 weeks.

Here's my questions:

Im looking at shoopting at 800 and 1600 ISO and want to develop to get the finest grain possible. I have a billion rolls of tri-x so for me that's what i'll be using.

What is the best developer? I have Rodinal at the moment.... is stand developing going to be better with rodinal than just using the standard development times?

I( read something which mentioned diluting rodinal to 1+100 with a 5ml minimum.... what's with that?

Is D76 going to get better results than the stand developing rodinal?>

Are their any stand developing rules I should know about?

What is the theory behind stand developing?

Any info would be very much appreciated!

I really like rodinal for its storing qualities....using it to develop my high speed films would be ideal.

Thanks

This is a complicated subject, and you really need to do the reading. Generally, each photographer works out what works best for him or her. Stand development is allowing the film to just stand - similar schemes are minimal agitation, such as the one I use - extreme minimal agitation, which agitates 1.5 minutes initially, then for 10-seconds at 1/3 and 2/3.

Rodinal has been used for stand development for years - various dilutions.

The only way to answer your questions is for you to try what you're asking. You may like one method and not another, but you are the only one who can answer that.
juan

You are kind of on your own with stand development. Stand development has perhaps the least standardized "rules" to go by. Since developing time is dependent upon dilution, among many factors, and since there are no standard dilutions for stand development, you really need to use up some film and establish baselines for yourself. If you search here in apug, you will get other people's experience useful basically as a starting point. Someone may say they use Rodinal at 1 to 200 for three hours at 68 degrees, with two minutes of initrial agitation, with Tri X rated at 60 speed. Well, try that and see if it gets you a usable result. I just made those data up merely as example... Don't use them since I have no idea if those are for real.

Regardless, some people have had good results with stand development, so give it a shot. Shoot some film the way you want and see what you get. Then be ready to try different times, dilutions, film speed etc to tune up your process.

I suspect it will take time to work it out, so be patient with it.

I don't think about stand development as a goal. My goal is to use very dilute Rodinal with long development times. I do this as I like film which tends to be contrasty, and I also often find night shots in ambient light leads to high-contrast negatives. I use dilute Rodinal to get lower contrast negatives. I also use a water stop bath for the same reason. People who do this discover that agitation is just not needed.

I do agitate at the beginning of development, to get even wetting and chemistry distribution. If you want to ease into this, just start using higher dilutions of Rodinal to see what your negatives look like. I don't use stand development to reduce grain. I use it to get more shadow detail.

I have tried tri xx and Rodinal. The leader had bromide runs, but the film was fine. I never tried it again because I figured it was only a matter of time untill the streaks appeared on images.

I have had the best luck with 5 sec per 30 or 10 per 60 with enough agitation to replenish all the developer next to the film with fresh. You can not overagitate, only under which set up dense edges or streaks or areas which do not get replenishment.

Unless I am using WD2D+, I tend to always use stand development. But I also shoot with consideration of how I develop. This is important if you want to get good results. I use Rodinal and HC110.

To get the finest results, the weaker the soup the finer the grain. I tend to use at a minimum of 1:100 and consider doing more for high activity films (Foma 100).

The '5ml minimum' reference is to insure enough active chemistry to darken all of your negative. I find the manufacturers tend to be a lot more conservative on this one. Like most things, experiment before you rely.

When I use HC-110, I use Sol B times multiplied by four and using 1:100. This gives a consistent output. This stuff is remarkable for stand development. It's TEA based, so it too keeps forever. Because it is based on published times, it might be a better start for stand development.

When I use Rodinal (1:100), I guess first then adjust. My guess is usually the posted (agitated time) + %50. I take a shot of a grey card on the roll if unsure. I measure for the desired .75 density.

my stand times.....

apx400@400 Rod 1:100 15 mins, hc 1:100 24 mins
apx400@1600 Rod 1:100 50 mins

hp5@400 Rod 1:100 16 mins,hc 1:100 20 mins
hp5@1600 Rod 1:100 60 mins, hc 1:100 44 mins

tx400@400 Rod 1:100 20 mins

Sorry I have no 1600 TX times, but I have not done any yet.

Bromide shifts (streaking) is caused by the release of bromide during developing re-attaching to the developed silver. This is another reason why we agitate. Don't worry about the stuff in the notches, those are due to physical stress (rolling and feeding of the film). It is not a big deal, as a simple gentle agitation about half way through usually cures this. Medium format tends to suffer more from this than small. Some films are more 'needy' than others.

Some films exhaust the chems more quickly than others, hence the reference to a minimum chemical level. I prefer to use twice as much solution instead. So if I have a two reel tub, I develop only one reel but make twice the volume (fill up). This will add consistency.