• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

Tri-x in Rodinal and Fogging

brian steinberger

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Jan 5, 2007
Messages
3,076
Location
Pennsylvania
Format
Med. Format RF
I just developed my first roll of 120 Tri-x in Rodinal this evening. I shot it at box speed, and developed in Rodinal 1:25 for 9 minutes at 70 degrees (it was overcast light). The negatives look great, but there is a ton of base fog. I haven't seen this when using other developers with Tri-x. The film was not old.

Anyone know why this excessive fogging took place? Does this just happen with the Tri-x/Rodinal combo? And is there anything I can add to my Rodinal, like Borax, to reduce base fogging?
 
How dense is the fog? What tone does it print to at your standard proofsheet settings for this film (or, alternately, to what degree are your lowest tones are eaten up when you print through the fog to make the film edges black)? Where did you get the film?
 
If the film was not heat or chemical damaged, might it not just be over development? That seems like a lot of time for 1:25 dilution (although I would have to lookitup.
 
How dense is the fog?

It's the densest base fog I've come across besides processing old film.

What tone does it print to at your standard proofsheet settings for this film?

Not sure, film is still drying.

Where did you get the film?

Ordered from B&H. It came with 4 other rolls. I've had no problems with the other films.
 
Anscojohn said:
If the film was not heat or chemical damaged, might it not just be over development? That seems like a lot of time for 1:25 dilution (although I would have to lookitup.
Click to expand...

This is a possibility John, the normal time for Tri-x in Rodinal 1:25 is 7 minutes. But since I was shooting for N+1 development I figured I'd start by adding 20%. This put me in the 9 minutes ballpark. The negs do look a little dense, but I've seen some pretty over-developed negatives before.
 
I shoot TriX @ 800 and develop it in Rodinal 1:75 @ 70 deg F for 40 min semi-stand ( 1 filip @ 20 min) with absolutly no increase in base fog at all. The reason I do this is I get a tremendous increase in gradation this way. The results, I think are pretty stunning. Nearly as good as Diafine .... give it try...
Logan
 
brian steinberger said:
It's the densest base fog I've come across besides processing old film.
Click to expand...

I would guess that the film must have been heat damaged at some point in storage or shipping. Try another roll from the same batch, and if there are problems, talk to B&H.
 
2F/2F said:
I would guess that the film must have been heat damaged at some point in storage or shipping. Try another roll from the same batch, and if there are problems, talk to B&H.
Click to expand...

I guess that's what I'll do. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a pic of the film on a light table next to a normal clear roll and we can compare the difference.
 
Rodinal is generally considered a low-fog developer.
 
I'd say go down to a lower dilution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register