This video from Ilford might help you visualize the process, although I would not have used the squeegee at the end. There is too much risk of scratching the film, I just hang my film to dry.
I have watched this video before, and got a squeegee because of it. After using the squeegee and scratching the emulsion off multiple frames, I decided not to do that again!
Thank you so much, Alex!
So, hopefully this comment comes across as firm rather than harsh, but I think you need a critical piece of equipment, which is a book. A good introductory book on the basics of B&W photography and darkroom work. There are a number of good ones (eg Horenstein "B&W Basic Manual," Schaeffer's "Ansel Adams Basic Techniques", David Vestal's "Craft of Photography," and so on) and we have a few threads about recommendations. But it is IMO better to read a book about how to do this stuff, than to learn it all from the internet, forums and Youtube videos, because the internet doesn't do a good job of separating the important from the trivial.
You really do not need to take the temperature of the developer every minute, especially for B&W. I just take it at the beginning and figure that I am working close enough to room temp that it probably won't change by more than a degree by the end. The only time that is critical to not overdo, is the developing time.
It's possible to overfix a film, but I think you would have to try pretty hard. If the clearing time for a fully exposed film is (for example) 2 minutes in rapid fixer at 20 C to get a clear piece of film in daylight, then you should fix for 4 minutes (double the clearing time). But if you leave the film in for 8 minutes, it is very unlikely that you would notice any effect of overfixing.
My routine is more or less: get the developer to somewhere in ~68-75 F (it is often hot where I am, and I may add an ice cube when diluting the developer). I have hard water, and use distilled water for the developer and Photo-flo but tap water for the other solutions. Develop for the recommended time-temp with agitation every 30 seconds. The temp of the remaining solutions can be anywhere in ~ 65-80 F: stop for 30sec to 1 minute; fixer for recommended time from the bottle (say 4 min for rapid fixer); wash aid for recommended time; wash by your favorite method; Photo-flo in distilled water for 30 sec without agitation; no squeegee, hang to dry.
No, no, I do not think recommending books is harsh at all. I have
The Darkroom Handbook by Michael Langford. I just missed the small section on temperature. After your comment, I checked this morning and saw it! I feel like it does not explain the concept well, though in the end, it's completely my mistake.
I have tried to stick to the book and manufacturer's instructions for everything outside of developer dilutions.
That makes sense; not checking the temperature multiple times. I was mainly concerned with how much difference the sun would make on a dark tank. I am developing outdoors currently.
Also, I will have to try your ice-cube method and MattKing's method for mixing the solution once it gets hotter.
Standardise on 20C for all processing steps. Be strict about this for the sake of consistency...and fix longer! I'd also watch how vigorously you agitate. I can see sprocket hole surge marks. That is why I much prefer the figure-8 method. Cheers and good luck!
Will do, for both trying to keep ~20c and fixing longer!
What Andy says! I have never found aggressive agitation to be beneficial in my development of film. When I started to develop my own 120/620 film I noticed uneven development on the edges of the negatives. Thinking it was lack of agitation I naturally gave it more agitation, but the problem seemed to get worse. The light bulb then came on pretty bright and the problem was solved when I cut back to a gentle and very brief agitation. I also found that Rodinal developer was more prone to this problem than some of the other developers I have used.
I am still trying to figure out how to agitate properly. Currently, I slowly roll the agitation stick between my thumb and index finger. This is about a quarter of a rotation of the tank in 10 seconds.
The other way I was agitating was rolling it between said fingers, but for 5 seconds one direction and 5 the other, which was maybe a half rotation in both directions.
You mention that you're on well water. Try using distilled water from a grocery store. There may be certain minerals in your well water that's messing up your developer.
I have only used well water to wash the film; however, most of the time I use distilled water to wash. I strictly use distilled water to mix the working solutions.
OP, just out of interest where did you find your originally stated times for Tri-X and for fixing? Whatever that source was it may be wrong on a lot of other film-processíng matters. The cost of film and the effort required to produce negatives that give OK results are just too much to risk using poor info
pentaxuser
For the fixer,
I used this sheet. On page 2 under 'Fixing times', it lists 2-5 Minutes for "General purpose films", and I followed the minimum amount of time.
The developer is a different story. Somewhere, buried in this forum, I found a post listing dilutions for Rodinal: 1:50 8-10 min and 1:75 12-14 min. These were attributed to
Bob Schwalberg. For this, I also followed the minimum time. Funnily enough, when I found the post, it was
@Alex Benjamin who posted it. If I had only read a little further...
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.
Link to that thread:
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/tri-x-developed-in-rodinal.193470/post-2655511
Again, thank you to everyone, and apologies for these longer posts. I am trying to address any questions and acknowledge everyone's advice.
- Bill