First self developed roll.

[black man]

Hi all,

I just ventured into B&W film developing and this is my first roll. Tri X 400 in HC110 Dil.F at room temp. (29C), 7 min and agitation per recommended by Kodak i.e: 5-7 inversions for 5sec every 30 sec.

The result is very grainy and not so sharp images. Appreciate your comments/suggestion to improve on this. is this too much agitation or too high temp or dev time too long, hence overdeveloped? Thank you very much.

Below are the three best ones i can get from the roll but very grainy. Using M6 and 35mm summarit/50 Sonnar C.



1.

Link to bigger image: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7301/9400053935_d136f89fe8_k.jpg

2.

Link to bigger image:http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5493/9400054525_d3cefa2aa8_k.jpg

3.

Link to bigger image: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5528/9400052415_7c1b86ea33_k.jpg

 

[oceanpriest]

Hi all,

I just ventured into B&W film developing and this is my first roll. Tri X 400 in HC110 Dil.F at room temp. (29C), 7 min and agitation per recommended by Kodak i.e: 5-7 inversions for 5sec every 30 sec.

The result is very grainy and not so sharp images. Appreciate your comments/suggestion to improve on this. is this too much agitation or too high temp or dev time too long, hence overdeveloped? Thank you very much.

Below are the three best ones i can get from the roll but very grainy. Using M6 and 35mm summarit/50 Sonnar C.

try developing at lower temperature, more dilute recipe, or change developer.

here's useful kodak developer chart that raytoei always shows


you can try stand development too.

 

[gbealnz]

Well, firstly, well done, if that is your first roll, it's not too bad at all. Many have not had anything to show for their first roll, so be happy.
Like has been said, maybe try a change in temperature. I am not the right one to ask, I've been processing my own (and others, commercially) for many many years, so have used just about every shortcut in the book.
Ocean is right though, the rule I always try to adhere to is 20º for the chemicals. Maybe this is not so simple where you are, but at least try that. And while not suggesting Kodak don't know what they are talking about, I tend to agitate almost continuously for the first 30 seconds, then one inversion every 30 seconds thereafter. NOT a milkshake type agitation either, a simple invert and then back up the right way.
It's a very good start though, you'd have to be happy.
Gary

 

[black man]

Thank Gary and Occean for the comments. Will try lower temperature for the next roll. Hope i will be better result and will share it again. Very appreciate your help.

 

[raytoei]

grains = too many variables.

less grain comes from:

a choice of film, eg. fp4 and acros 100 are iso 100 film but acros is grainless. same as Ilford's XP2 vs Tri-x
b. lower iso film
c. correct exposure. Too much = grainy, too little = grainy
d. choice of developer, compensating developers are best
e. temperature during development. lower = finer

having said this. we use film because of grain and undigital-like images it produces.
what we want is to get the salt-and-pepper grains in tri-x with d-76.
sharp and nicely defined grains.

My suggestion is that you try to be as consistent as possible.


raytoei

 

[black man]

....sharp and nicely defined grains.

raytoei

Thanks Raytoei. Exactly your quote that I meant. I like grains but it should be sharp and well defined. My result is not there yet. My learning is just started so long way to go

 

[paapoopa]

i thought they looks great even if its your first developed roll.

 

[osocan]

+1

I would be happy if these were from my first roll.

 

[Benji77]

I too agree that you should be happy for this result
I like the result from shot #2, where I think the contrast is good.

Variations like grains could be due to the actual exposure of the shot itself. RayToei's is right on this point. If you'd like samples, try to (on purpose), overexpose and underexpose 2 shots of the same scene, and you will see the results after development.

If you wish to reduce grains, try using the swirling method, and stop agitation at the last 3-4 mins. See if that works for you.

 

[black man]

Tks all. I have tried developing my second exposed roll that i shot a while ago. Unfortunately it is not Tri X to have correct comparison. It is Ilford Pan 400. This time, I developed the film at 20C, 12min,HC110 Dil. H and agitation 4 inversion/10 sec every min.

Seem that the result is better in term of grains

1.

2.

3.

4.

Another question to ask is how developing method/developer impacts the image sharpness? Sorry for a lot of questions.

Thank you all.

 

[paapoopa]

try 2 or even 1 inversion every min, might help in reducing the grains.

if you use rodinal developer, your picture will be sharp sharp,
but of cos not refering to out of focus shots :bsmilie:

 

[oceanpriest]

stand development?

Stand development is a photographic development process whereby film is left to sit in a very dilute developing solution for an extended period of time, with little or no agitation.[1] The technique dates back to at least the 1880s,[2] and is characterised by fine grain, increased perceived sharpness, and smooth tonality, but is time-intensive and runs the risk of producing certain processing defects.
Stand development - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[crispy12]

Haha from my experience, stand development seems to produce larger grain especially when used with something like Rodinal. I don't mind, it's convenient so I do it anyway! Anyway OP, the results look great! The rest would probably be affected more by your post processing/scanning than developing...

 

[virtualme78]

Pardon my noobness but these pictures looks plenty sharp to me! Film grains are what makes analog photography special and beautiful.

One thing that could possibly affects sharpness is how you scan your pictures. Are your films flat? If you are using Epson V700 scanner, have you make the adjustments on the film holder to get the best sharpness? Flat bed scanners like V700 or Canoscan 9000 generally give decent results. Dedicated film scanners like the Plusteks or Nikon ones will give much much better results if done correctly.

Take a few more rolls, keep your developing methods constant and try scanning again with your films flat and proper adjustments on your scanner. Then see if you are getting the results you desire. These are 2cts from a noob, hope they help.

 

[black man]

Thank you all for comment. I use the Plustek Scan and got good result in terms of sharpness/grain for film developed (not by me ). So think that I need to learn/improve the developing skill.

1. M6 Tri-X 400

2. Ikon Agfa Vista 200

3. By Yashica GSN.Fuji Superia 200. Old film shot/processed 4 years ago and just found in storeroom and scanned.