What's the recommended time for the "new" Tri-X in HC-110?

[Stuggi]

I've been having problems with Tri-X at 400ASA in HC-110 for some time now, my negatives have too dense base (base fog?) after souping them in HC-110, and I'm not sure if it's just old stock of Tri-X (can't remember when I got it), so I'd like to get a good baseline for it before trying some more. The added confusion over the times published by Kodak doesn't help either.

So, what times have have you guys gotten good results with in HC-110?

 

[MaximusM3]

You can look at J Brunner's website for HC110 made simple. Dilution E, 1:50, 8 minutes @ 68 degrees, with 5 initial inversions and 2 every 30 seconds. Great starting point. Or, rate @ 200 and use same dilution for 6 minutes, with 10 initial inversions and 5 every 30 seconds. Fantastic for portraits and, again, great starting point for further tweaking to your personal liking/water/metering/karma, etc.

 

[ann]

Been using it for years at 6 minutes for solution B, at 68, however, these were determined by testing, so your time may vary a bit.

 

[GraemeMitchell]

HC-110 produces the lowest amount of base fog on film of any developer I've ever used. So I'd suspect other things in the process if that's one of the problems to be solved.

The times people here are mentioning are about right ime too. But w/ development times around 6 min, you really need to test b/c things like agitation and your temp measurement will determine a lot.

 

[jbl]

From my testing, I ended up at 9.5 minutes with the 1+49 dilution from Brunner's site. My agitation is 30 seconds and then 4 inversions over 10 seconds every minute. I have no idea why I ended up almost 25% longer, but I did.

-jbl

 

[Bill Burk]

Stuggi,
I've recently played with some old stock Tri-X stored at room temperature over a decade past expiration.

Found that it processes "normally" but that I have to rate it at EI 64 or 80 to get past the fog. My sea palms shot in the galleries is on old Tri-X but I shot that at 400 so the picture is overwhelmed by fog.

ps I work for Kodak, but in a digital business unit, so the opinions and positions I take are my own as a hobbyist and not necessarily those of EKC.

 

[Stuggi]

Okay, I've been using 8 minutes in HC-110 dil. E, and while I now get usable negatives, the base is still incredibly foggy. Esp. compared to the roll I think I exposed at 250ASA and developed in Rodinal with 400ASA times. (due to me not remembering to write the abnormal ASA on the cassette).

I've also been wondering if some of my stock of Tri-X isn't from around 2008, I had a couple of rolls that sat at room temp for over a year at a friends house, so that might also a factor.

I'm gonna start checking the expiration dates on my rolls and try different times and ASAs and report back.

 

[GraemeMitchell]

Just to check, it is base fog you're seeing on the TX negs and not a magenta/purple dye, correct? I ask b/c Rodinal is extremely effective at pulling that dye out of TX, and HC-110 isn't as much (or no more so than other developers), so being sure that's not what you're noticing...? B/c HC-110 produces very very little amounts of base fog on fresh film, which is why I think it's used for astro photography and scientific uses; while on the other hand Rodinal actually produces relatively high amounts base fog compared to other developers - not in a terrible way, but I can see easily it on a light box. That's why I'm making sure it's actual fog and not just a remaining dye tint.

If it's not that, I'd save yourself some hair pulling and buy a few fresh rolls for Tri-x and go from there. Just to find out and remove the film variable.

 

[Stuggi]

Okay, I'm pretty sure it's not the dye problem, cause that I have seen in other films. What I'm seeing is a negative with a dense base, and hard to stock codes. I've gotten even worse results when I souped it 7 minutes and 30 seconds in dilution B, which was clearly overdeveloped, but it had the same characteristics.

I've gonna have to try some new rolls, luckily I have 10 rolls coming in as we speak, along with some Rollei Retro 400S in case this problem continues.