Bullrushes

[Fred von den Berg]

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1&2 Pentax Z-20, 28-80mm zoom lens, APX 100
3&4 Minolta Riva 135 EX, APX 100

Films developed together in Adonal for five and a half minutes at +- 23°C

 

[zulu422]

#1- I like this very much! The foreground, the plant having such nice contrast, and the single leaf has an elegant arc, serves to set the eye's focus and WB for the important work of staring off into the distance.
And I love the way the backround is captured.

 

[timor]

Hi. I think it is maybe over agitation causing grain, but for sure your way of using Adonal is. Slow down. Go to 1+49 dilution and 20 C. It should take about 10-11 min. Cut down on agitation, Adonal is a high acutance developer, but only in stand or near stand conditions. This will also help with building smaller grain.
My way with then Rodinal or very similar R09 was dilution 1+99 and about 20 min in 20C. Here the control of contrast is easier by changing the time by even 1 min. each way. APX was made to give very good results with developing formula used in today's Adonal. But it is not automatic.

 

[timor]

Some reading
Rodinal - Oldest Commercial Developer

 

[Fred von den Berg]

#1- I like this very much! The foreground, the plant having such nice contrast, and the single leaf has an elegant arc, serves to set the eye's focus and WB for the important work of staring off into the distance.
And I love the way the backround is captured.

Thanks a lot.

Hi. I think it is maybe over agitation causing grain, but for sure your way of using Adonal is. Slow down. Go to 1+49 dilution and 20 C. It should take about 10-11 min. Cut down on agitation, Adonal is a high acutance developer, but only in stand or near stand conditions. This will also help with building smaller grain.
My way with then Rodinal or very similar R09 was dilution 1+99 and about 20 min in 20C. Here the control of contrast is easier by changing the time by even 1 min. each way. APX was made to give very good results with developing formula used in today's Adonal. But it is not automatic.

Thanks, Timor. I finished a roll of HP5+ yesterday and will be developing it sometime over the next few days. I only have Adonal so will be using this developer - anything to do or avoid here?

Some reading
Rodinal - Oldest Commercial Developer

Thanks!

 

[timor]

I don't know, how much Adonal you have still in the bottle, but there are better ways to develop 35 mm film in sense of contrast, grain and compensation control. And also cheap.

 

[Fred von den Berg]

I don't know, how much Adonal you have still in the bottle, but there are better ways to develop 35 mm film in sense of contrast, grain and compensation control. And also cheap.

There's a shop in Augsburg where I could probably buy or order other chemicals. What would you recommend?

 

[timor]

My main developer now for many years is HC110. Mostly because of it's long shelf life, but in my system any developer based on metal or phenidone will give same results. D76 is good, but very impractical. I never had any success with Ilfosol 3. T-Max developer is very good, but in my applicaton costs more. 1 liter of HC110 is good for about 100 developments, possibly more. Could be used on any type of b&w film with nice results. By varying dilution, agitation and time negative can look anything from buttery smooth to grainy harsh. But the basic development effect is rather on butter smooth side. Depends on the optics and how shaky are your hands you may also achieve very good sharpness, better, than with Adonal because small grain is giving better resolution in given emulsion. Small grain in my system is not depend on dissolving action of sodium sulfite like in D76 od D23. HC110 used in small quantities does not have such properties, it work slowly, does not over grow grains of silver, but timing here is critical.
Well, I can brag about much longer. Time to stop.
Look for availability of HC110 and borax. I use borax sold for laundry (20 Mule Team Borax) as it is much cheaper ($6 for 3kg versus $6 for 0.5 kg in photo store. Purity is the same, source is the same.) You can use sodium carbonate or Kodalk (sodium metaborate), but IMO borax gives best results and there is no need of weighting it like with other stuff.

 

[Fred von den Berg]

My main developer now for many years is HC110. Mostly because of it's long shelf life, but in my system any developer based on metal or phenidone will give same results. D76 is good, but very impractical. I never had any success with Ilfosol 3. T-Max developer is very good, but in my applicaton costs more. 1 liter of HC110 is good for about 100 developments, possibly more. Could be used on any type of b&w film with nice results. By varying dilution, agitation and time negative can look anything from buttery smooth to grainy harsh. But the basic development effect is rather on butter smooth side. Depends on the optics and how shaky are your hands you may also achieve very good sharpness, better, than with Adonal because small grain is giving better resolution in given emulsion. Small grain in my system is not depend on dissolving action of sodium sulfite like in D76 od D23. HC110 used in small quantities does not have such properties, it work slowly, does not over grow grains of silver, but timing here is critical.
Well, I can brag about much longer. Time to stop.
Look for availability of HC110 and borax. I use borax sold for laundry (20 Mule Team Borax) as it is much cheaper ($6 for 3kg versus $6 for 0.5 kg in photo store. Purity is the same, source is the same.) You can use sodium carbonate or Kodalk (sodium metaborate), but IMO borax gives best results and there is no need of weighting it like with other stuff.

Thanks for the info, Timor. I will get some HC-110 ordered (once my daughter gets home from school and shows me how to buy stuff on Amazon). The borax is added to this?

 

[timor]

My main developer now for many years is HC110. Mostly because of it's long shelf life, but in my system any developer based on metal or phenidone will give same results. D76 is good, but very impractical. I never had any success with Ilfosol 3. T-Max developer is very good, but in my applicaton costs more. 1 liter of HC110 is good for about 100 developments, possibly more. Could be used on any type of b&w film with nice results. By varying dilution, agitation and time negative can look anything from buttery smooth to grainy harsh. But the basic development effect is rather on butter smooth side. Depends on the optics and how shaky are your hands you may also achieve very good sharpness, better, than with Adonal because small grain is giving better resolution in given emulsion. Small grain in my system is not depend on dissolving action of sodium sulfite like in D76 od D23. HC110 used in small quantities does not have such properties, it work slowly, does not over grow grains of silver, but timing here is critical.
Well, I can brag about much longer. Time to stop.
Look for availability of HC110 and borax. I use borax sold for laundry (20 Mule Team Borax) as it is much cheaper ($6 for 3kg versus $6 for 0.5 kg in photo store. Purity is the same, source is the same.) You can use sodium carbonate or Kodalk (sodium metaborate), but IMO borax gives best results and there is no need of weighting it like with other stuff.

Thanks for the info, Timor. I will get some HC-110 ordered (once my daughter gets home from school and shows me how to buy stuff on Amazon). The borax is added to this?

Hi. Ok. Do not forget borax, it is vital.
In meantime, look around for smaller bottles with opening large enough to insert a syringe. You will need a syringe. 10 to 20 ml. You will need 2 measuring vessels able to take 500 ml. You will need some larger bottle, with larger opening to store borax solution. What type of developing tank do you have ? How do you conduct washing of the film after development ?
Enough for now.