Tri-X developed in Rodinal

Alex Benjamin

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Even though the films aren't quite the same as they were back then, I find the times in Bob Schwalberg's famous Rodinal article good starting points.

 
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madNbad

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I'm using a Negative Supply camera scanning setup with a Sony A7II and a FE90 2.8 Macro but my conversion software is RAW Power by Gentlemen Coders. My goal has been to be able to import the capture and convert it using only minimal adjustments to exposure or contrast in much the same way as using multigrade paper or contrast filters with an enlarger.
 

Alex Benjamin

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Thank you!

You'll find the whole Popular Photography 1979 article here:


I found the times for FP4+ at 1:75 a tad under what I liked, so I added a little. Did not try Tri-X at these times.
 

Alex Benjamin

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In comparaison, here are AGFA's original published times, when they still produced Rodinal:

 

bluechromis

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Craig

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Wow, you're losing about 1.5 stops of film speed by using Rodinal?
 

bluechromis

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MattKing

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This may or may not give you a truly reliable standard. What it will do is impart characteristics to your results - much like choosing a particular light source to viewing a print.
Like anything else of this sort of endeavour, the best way to approach this is to achieve usable negatives that satisfy your needs in the workflow that makes sense for you, then use those negatives and the results you obtain from them as a standard (your own personal "Shirley"), which you then seek to match or emulate when you try out other techniques or materials.
Can we see those backlit negatives please.
 

aparat

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And that's with a Jobo processor, right?

Yes. Rodinal gives a little less speed than ID-11 and XTOL, but it doesn't bother me. The more interesting effect, to me, is the contrast expansion in the highlights and the rate at which contrast builds up, in general. Semi-stand development gives a very similar shape of the curve to rotary processing.
 
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madNbad

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First of all, thanks to everyone for the advice. Put the 50 1.5 Nokton on the M4 and used the 398 to meter. Wandered up to the park and exposed two rolls of Tri-X on various mundane objects, street signs, tree moss, shrubbery, ect. Mixed a fresh bath of Ilford Rapid Fix and developed the rolls in Rodinal at 1:50 for about nine minutes. Set the timer for eight and a half minutes, filled the tank, gave it six gentle agitations then started the timer. One inversion every minute after that. Stop, fix, modified Ilford wash and Photoflo. They're hanging to dry and the very first thing I noticed, they look good. Not nearly as dense as yesterdays batch, a little thin in the shadows but I have to wait till tomorrow to scan. One of the things I love most is no matter how long you have been involved in photography, there's always something new to learn.
 
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madNbad

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I hope I learned something from the forum members!

The camera is tethered to the computer and the image is viewed in the Sony Remote app. The captures are imported to Apple Photos and the RAW Power plug in is used for the conversion. I give the capture a +1.7 EV and except for very minor adjustments to exposure or contrast, I pretty much leave it alone.
 
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MattKing

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Those are nice, under-exposed (I think) images .
May we see the negatives?
 

MattKing

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Now I'm unsure
The edge printing - an unreliable indicator - makes me think that those negatives are under-developed.
 
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madNbad

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That's a start. If 13 minutes is too much and a little less than 9 is not enough, I'll try 10 or 10 1/2 minutes for the next rolls. After years of being pretty much dialed in with TMax and HC-110, this is actually somewhat fun or at least making my brain work. Thanks for the help!
 

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@madNbad those are getting better in terms of development. Couple of comments

  1. The light conditions are different in these latest samples - they differ somewhat from those in your first batch (the one developed at 13'). These recent ones seem to have been taken during lightly overcast conditions. I would have increased development a little from 9'
  2. Most of these are underexposed. Are you still using a yellow filter? If so, did you dial in 1 stop for the filter and 1 additional stop to account for Rodinal speed loss? Dial in 100 if using your rangefinder's internal meter and try again (I'm assuming it's not a TTL meter?). Also make sure your meter is not tricked by those bright milky skies. Point the camera at the ground level features, expose, recompose.
  3. If possible, ditch the filter for these tests, a variable less and you gain a stop. Tonally a yellow filter won't do much (imho) in these light conditions
  4. The first negative you posted is actually probably fine if scanning is the purpose ('Temporarily Closed ...') the other ones are underexposed
  5. There seems to be some un-evenness in development. Try inverting (gently) for the entirety of the 1st minute, or at least for 30 or 40 seconds. Then 1 inversion per minute.
 
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madNbad

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I use either a Sekonic 398 incident meter or a Gossen Digisix with the incident dome in place. The meters are dialed to ISO 200 to compensate for the filter factor. I have been developing the film according to the time recommended for box speed (ISO 400). We have a small house with no practical place for a traditional darkroom or even a room I could make light tight so I use a Photoflex Popup dark tent and my developing is at the kitchen sink. I came back to home developing several years ago after disappointing results from the local lab. It was mostly TMax 400 in HC-110. I became intrigued by the concept of using both an older formula film and developer combination which is what has led to this point. There is a lot of conflicting information too. Some say hardly any agitation but your suggestion makes more sense. When I started this thread was to learn and how to achieve consistent results. With all of the input so far, I think it’s getting closer. As for overcast conditions, this is the Pacific Northwest, natures gray card. Thanks for the help, I’ll try your suggestions, check back later.
 
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