Tri-x +2 in Rodinal 1:50..Muddy negs?

I have developed tri-x in rodinal 1:50 for 25min, and got some nomral density negs,
They were shot under florecent light, and there is no "proper" contrast, though i must have tried filters 2,3 and 1
The grain is plentiful, and really tight(small grains, but a lot, close together)
What am i doing wrong?

Edit: I am pushing it for 2 stops

25 minutes?

Filters don't add contrast per se, but rather change the values based on color. If you were shooting in rather flat lighting indoors, and the colors of your subject were not something that your filters would lighten or darken, you probably needed to under-expose and over-develop if you wanted to boost contrast in the negative.

- Randy

I agree, 25 minutes? I could see that time if you were using Rodinal at 1+100 or 1+200, but not 1+50. Your time should be *somewhere* around 12 minutes, perhaps a bit less.

I think what you percieve at muddy negs are simply overdevved ones, but you also say that they are normal density.

Go to the Massive Dev. Chart at digitaltruth.com or the time section of unblinkingeye.com. You're sure to find a good stsrting point for TX in Rodinal there. Give another roll a go at one of these more reasonable times.

But Normal Development(for iso 400) is 12 min for 1:50
I was pushing the film, and deving it for 25 min

You didn't mention pushing in the original post. What speed were you exposing it at?

- Randy

Tri-X doesn't push well past 1 stop.

Rodinal is not a good choice for push processing. Xtol is the developer that Kodak recommends for its films for this purpose.

reellis67 said:

You didn't mention pushing in the original post. What speed were you exposing it at?

- Randy

Click to expand...

1600
I was using rodinal because i like the tight grain i get with it

That development time was too long. The MDC gives a time of 18.5 minutes for ISO 1600 at 1+50. I've tried that with success.

Go with what Stephanie said.

It also depends on the age of my Tri-X what I can get away with. I develop my five years gone stuff for ~21 minutes and it seems to give me better negatives than with the 18.5. Fresh Tri-X, though, I go 18.5-19.

I agree, Rodinal is not the one for pushing. When the highs reach the maximum density, the lows including the nones increase in density, so the negs may look normal but print very flat. If you look at families of Rodinal curves, you will see that the highest densities do not increase as rapidly as the low ends, so contrast decreases with increased development after a certain point. This happens with all developers, but sooner with Rodinal.

There's a thread up on RFF about this, posted by Merciful. His tri-x push-processing results were remarkable. He pushed TX(400) 6-7 stops at times, all in Rodinal, and obtained negs that were very much printable.

Keep in mind that all things are relative. Our "expose for shadows & develop for the highlights" people would undoubtedly brand this practice heresy. But the important thing to aim for is the effect that YOU wish to achieve, and not someone elses subjective depictions.

If you do a lot of hand-held shooting in dimly lit surroundings then your quest for speed is understandable. I might suggest that if you want to pursue the Rodinal route, you consider stand or semi-stand deveopment, with the following test:

Expose 2-3 rolls of film (shooting your favorite subject) with 1 frame for each of your desired ISO settings (Eg. start at ISO 6400, expose a frame, then open up half a stop to ISO 4800, expose a frame, then open up half a stop to ISO 3200, expose a frame, etc) You probably want to shoot on-tripod and make sure your subject/scene is identical from frame to frame so that you could compare these acurately.

When you're done, load up your reel with the first roll and develop it in Rodinal 1:50 for 30 mins. Agitate for the first 30 seconds, then 10 seconds at every 5 minutes. Then process your second roll, only this time for 40 minutes, and finally your last roll for 60 minutes.

Print ALL your frames, and compensate for the lack of contrast in the negatives with contrast filtration (aim for a nice negative that allows you to start printing at contrast #3-3.5).

Voila - You've got Tri-x/Rodinal, you've got your high-speed film, and you know YOUR OWN personalized exposure, development & printing procedures, custom-tailored to get the results that appeal to YOU.

Good luck!

Whether you are actually pushing or only theoretically pushing depends a lot on how you meter the subject. In days of ASA, before ISO, I routinely set my meter at 4 times the box speed, but I read the shadows, so I was not pushing, but was exposing for the shadows. I wish that everyone who discusses pushing would describe the method of arriving at the exposure.

The rule in debating is "Define your terms." We don't all use the same definitions.

If it is at night, i expose for the mid-tones and push.
i use tri-x +2 in rodinal or delta 3200 at 6300 in xtol or rodinal