Please advice:Tri-X 400 pushed at 800 with Rodinal

Hi all, I have to develop a Tri-X 400 pushed at 800 iso with Agfa

Rodinal. I found on the web different times and temperatures, the

most recommended is 16,5 minutes at 30° C, with Rodinal at 1/50.

Please, can you suggest me the right time and temperature?

Thank you for your answer.

Paolo

Rodinal might be grainy, but it's a very strong compensator which means means it's not bad (from a tonal perspective) in terms of pushing. I've done it a few times...years ago.

 

The time you list seems a good starting point. Note this is for standard Tri-X and *not* Tri-X pro.

Rodinal is a poor choice for pushing. I should think Microphen or similar product would give far superior results.

I would think that is more likely 20C rather than 30C if you are going for 16.5 minutes. I have not used Tri-X at 800 much, but I do use Rodinal and this seems like a good starting point.

 

Cheers,

Richard

I repeat, Rodinal is a very poor choice for pushing. I does not provide good speed to begin with, and increasing the dilution only worsens this trait. It also exaggerates grain more than other developers. All in all, a poor choice for this task.

Once was enough, Hans.

 

While I agree that Microphen is a superior speed enhancing developer, many photographers for many decades have used Rodinal to good effect to create memorable photos from pushed Tri-X.

 

Paolo, check the Massive Dev Chart at www.digitaltruth.com for suggested starting times for this combination.

Lex:

 

There are important points that we have not considered, and I fault myself for that.

 

1. Is the user trying to achive a grainy, 'pushed' look merely as an artistic effect?

 

2. Or is he trying to get the maximum speed from the film with normal-looking grain, and choosing Rodinal for the latter need?

 

In the former case, Rodinal may be a good choice, but NOT for its ability to enhance speed (in fact, Rodinal loses a little speed) but for its ability to provide a grainy effect at something approaching normal speeds.

 

In the latter case, other developer choices are much more appropriate, including Microphen or Diafine.

 

This is because Rodinal does not fully exploit the speed of modern high-speed films.

 

I hope this sheds some light on this discussion.

Rodinal is not a fine grain developer but should be fine for a one stop push if that's what you want to use.

Just increase your usual 400asa time by 20%.

Or if you are really worried develope a test strip to work our more accurately what time you need.

I've actually pushed film with Rodinal, and at 12 1/2 minutes at 1:50 68F I've had no trouble getting EI 400 from Tri-X. Getting 800 is then nothing more than a 20-50% increase in time, which hits around 16-minutes for a good start.

 

I don't disagree that diluting Rodinal does decrease it's speed, but I don't see this really starting to happen until beyond 1:50 in my experience with this developer. I also agree that Rodinal isn't going to yield the fine grain structure of lets say Acufine or Microdol-X when pushing Tri-X. Then again, Rodinal is a categorically good compensating developer, which if you don't mind the grain will yield crisp yet fairly un-blocked film. I can think of a lot worse developer to push Tri-X in; Tmax developer, Ilfosol, etc. I can think of better as well such as Acufine/Diafine and Microdol-X

Hans,

 

The point is... the questioner didn't ask IF he should develop with Rodinal, he said he HAD to develop with Rodinal. A subtle difference in usage here. As such, repeating many times your opinion as to the applicability of using this developer is annoying. Once is OK, but you seem to think people just ignore you so you repeat it. Over and over.

 

30 C sounds a bit high for development temps. You will get away nicely with Rodinal at 1+50 for E.I. 800 Tri-X. It's not optimal, but it is printable. As advised above, look it up in the digitaltruth database for reliable starting times. Look for a strong grain pattern and nice tones esp. around Zone 6.

 

tim in san jose

Tim O'Brien hat mir gescrieben:

Hans,

 

"The point is... the questioner didn't ask IF he should develop with Rodinal, he said he HAD to develop with Rodinal. A subtle difference in usage here."

 

Paolo is presumably Italian, and perhaps he means only that he has that developer. I did not take it to me he was not free to use something else. Paolo? Can you clarify for us?

>Tim O'Brien , dec 12, 2003; 03:07 p.m.

Hans,

 

-snip-

 

>As such, repeating many times your opinion as to the applicability of >using this developer is annoying. Once is OK, but you seem to think >people just ignore you so you repeat it. Over and over.

 

Yeah, this guy is a bit of a troll--I'm trying to ignore him... over and over...

Rodinal is not good for pushing but it will give a half stop, even a full stop increase in speed. Rule of thumb is to increase dev time by 50 percent per stop uprating. However, as has been said, Microphen would be a better option.

Hi Paolo! Don't know much about tri-x pushed at 800 with rodinal, but try tri-x 400 in Rodinal 1+50 at 20°c during 10'30 minutes. Good grain, good contrast. Then from that make tests and keep in touch 'cause I am quite interested... Bye<div></div>