Thinking of a change - need more contrast

Chris Harvey · Nov 11, 2012

I've been using Rodinol at 1/50 dilution to develop FP4 film and to be honest could do with a bit more contrast in my negatives. My stock of film and Rodinol is just about finished so i need to replace soon - not sure what to go with to give me more contrast any ideas? oh BTW I'm shooting with a Bronny SQAi and a 1950s Zeiss Ikon Nettar and in 35mm land a Nikon F4.

Thanks

Chris

cliveh · Nov 11, 2012

How about D76 at 1:1

MartinP · Nov 11, 2012

Less exposure and more processing time (within moderation). Or you could try Rodinal at 1:25, or ID11 1+1 (basically the same as D76, as per post #2). Or even raw Dektol, if one wants to get silly about it!

Bob Carnie · Nov 11, 2012

develop longer or give HC110 and play with the dilutions

Richard S. (rich815) · Nov 11, 2012

Use the Rodinal at 1+25.

Gerald C Koch · Nov 11, 2012

Dektol 1+5 to 1+7 should give you plenty of contrast.

Jean Noire · Nov 11, 2012

Bob Carnie said:
develop longer or give HC110 and play with the dilutions

+1.
Jean

ic-racer · Nov 11, 2012

Increase development time by 25% to increase contrast. No need to change developers.

Bill Burk · Nov 11, 2012

Gerald C Koch said:
Dektol 1+5 to 1+7 should give you plenty of contrast.

Ha, yes and at 1:2 it's almost like lith.

PE wrote me the rule of thumb when it comes to Dektol for film... Time same as dilution...

1+5 for 5 minutes
1+7 for 7 minutes

Richard S. (rich815) · Nov 11, 2012

"Rodinal can be used for contrast control by varying the dilution, allowing you to use a single bottle to produce negatives to suit your requirements. The recommended 1+50 diluton produces crisp negatives of normal contrast with slightly more obvious grain than standard fine-grain developers. Lower dilutions (eg. 1+25) produce high contrast images; whereas at higher dilutions (eg. 1+75 or 1+100) Rodinal has a compensating effect and can be used to render high contrast scenes with normal contrast."

All right here:

http://www.digitaltruth.com/store/cart/Adox-Adonal-Agfa-Rodinal-500ml.html

Ian Grant · Nov 11, 2012

I never liked Rodinal at 1 to 50, except for high contrast situations, on the other hand I found 1+25 too contrasty except for very low contrast lighting, so instead for about 20 years I used Rodinal at 1 to 37.5 which is the same as 2 to 75 with superb results. That gave me negatives which were very deasy to print any way I wanted.

Ian

EASmithV · Nov 11, 2012

try rodinal 1:25 or 1:32

Colin Corneau · Nov 11, 2012

As has been noted by others --

You increase contrast by increasing development time. Try adding 20 or 30% time to development and see how you like the results. You'll see a difference.

MartinP · Nov 11, 2012

Something which I foolishly omitted in my earlier post...

With Rodinal and APX100 I (and the rest of the world, obviously) found that agitation and temperature (with time compensation, use the Ilford graph) could play a part in altering contrast too. So you could consider your agitation, and go to two inversions in place of one for example. Increasing temperature by a degree and compensating the time could also help do the job.

Rodinal is a very adjustable developer and this can be handy for very harsh-contrast sunlight when I've used it down to 17,5C. Equally (and as a slight warning for Googlers), this is also why it is not an ideal beginner's developer of course as, assuming they would want repeatable results, a newcomer might struggle with consistency.

grommi · Nov 11, 2012

Dilution, time and agitation are the magic words. With almost every developer you can get flat or contrasty negs.

George Collier · Nov 11, 2012

As others have said, I would change only time (add 25% for starters, then adjust)or if more time is not enough, higher temperature - but I would not change exposure unless your shadows have too much density. Exposure controls density (shadow detail), development controls contrast by expanding or contracting highlights, as a general rule.

grommi · Nov 11, 2012

MartinP said:
Rodinal is a very adjustable developer and this can be handy for very harsh-contrast sunlight when I've used it down to 17,5C. Equally (and as a slight warning for Googlers), this is also why it is not an ideal beginner's developer of course as, assuming they would want repeatable results, a newcomer might struggle with consistency.

I don't agree. Rodinal is a very foolproof developer with an extremely long shelf life of the concentrate. Perfect for beginners. The mentioned faults can be made with every developer. Use million times prooved standard development 1:25 and given standard times and get nice results. No experiments needed at all, but of course possible. Why always complicating things? Life can be so easy - sometimes.....

Chuck_P · Nov 12, 2012

Chris Harvey said:
I've been using Rodinol at 1/50 dilution to develop FP4 film and to be honest could do with a bit more contrast in my negatives. My stock of film and Rodinol is just about finished so i need to replace soon - not sure what to go with to give me more contrast any ideas? oh BTW I'm shooting with a Bronny SQAi and a 1950s Zeiss Ikon Nettar and in 35mm land a Nikon F4.

I don't think you should put too much emphasis on the film, but more development equal more separation between the high end of the gray scale and the low end of the gray scale, true for any film/dev combo-----but mind your important textural high values that you don't lose them with too much development. Play with dilutions, and a film/dev combo with a longer toe and a somewhat steeper rise in the curve through Zones V, VI, VII, and VIII as in TMX and TXP developed in HC-110 will provide more inherent contrast, at least in my experience. But also remember the inherent contrast of the scene too, regardless of film and dev, on a gray day, shadows will contain much more diffuse light. So to create more separation from the low end of the scale from the high end, reduce exposure to the shadows and bump up the development time and that will introduce more contrast to the negative as well.

Shawn Dougherty · Nov 12, 2012

...and another echo. No need to change materials, just change how you use them. Preferably one variable at a time until you have what you want.

Michael R 1974 said:
As Bob, Gerald and ic racer have said, increase development time or increase the concentration to 1+25. No need to change developers unless you are looking for a specific high contrast look. Do not decrease exposure. Decreasing film exposure will not increase contrast.

Thinking of a change - need more contrast

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