Working with Orwo UN54 and HC-110

[Wolfram Malukker]

I've got a considerable amount (read as : I'm gonna be shooting this for a *while*.) of Orwo UN-54 that I want to develop with HC-110. There isn't as much information out there on the web as you'd think for a fairly common film and a very common developer, but I did find a process using HC-110 Dilution E, for 5 minutes 30 seconds, at 20C, when shooting at 100ISO. So, that's my starting point.

The film I have is slightly expired, as the film tin I got it in is not dated but is one generation older sticker than Filmotec is using now. (Estimated to be made between 2015 and 2018, purely from the sticker...) As such, I shot it at 80ISO, because it seemed a reasonable starting point for "I know this is expired", and it really didn't do too badly.

I can't tell if there is considerable base fog or not yet-the film base is very consistently grey, and is extremely close to the same color as FP4+. Does anyone here know if UN54 is on a grey acetate?

The leader that was exposed from the canister did not fully blacken-it's slightly less dense than the exposed-but-kept-inside-the-can leader. Also, the leader is not perfectly blackened, with enough light you can still see through it.

Here's a few shots from the roll.

All were shot on the same roll of ORWO UN54, developed in HC-110 Dilution E for 5:30, water stop, kodak HCA, kodak fixer. Film edge code reads: "FILMOTEC ORWO UN 54 412912 08A29" and "0U 02 7310 8173", if anyone else can glean information from that.

I ASSUME that since the leader isn't perfectly black, I should have developed longer to build full density? The leader is "black" but if you hold it up to a normal computer LCD monitor on a page of black text against a white backround, you can read the text as soon as the leader touches the screen.

 

[thinkbrown]

Just checked my notes, I was developed un54 in hc110 dilution b for 6 minutes when I used that combo. I believe the base does have a slight gray color to it but I'd have to go dig through my negatives to double check.

 

[loccdor]

Dilution B is 50% more developer than dilution E so that would also come with a 50% increase in time. 6 minutes in B would entail 9 minutes in E. But since we're comparing films of different expiration all bets are off.

 

[Wolfram Malukker]

That's part of the issue. I am concerned about Dmax, but it may be that this film doesn't go completely black in negative processing, since it is meant to be developed either as a negative or a positive.

 

[Sanug]

I like UN54 very much. The film base is gray, comparable with Kentmere 100 or 400. To reach Dmax, you may need to develop a bit longer. Be careful, UN54 becomes quickly too hard when overdeveloped.