wayne_brown3 Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Hi: I've been using TX400 and d-76 for quite a while and recently acquired a Rolleicord which I intend to use on my tripod (mostly). I'll be able to use a much slower film and I'm keen to try APX100 in 120 format (and 35mm). I've read many threads regarding APX and Rodinal and recently read a few about d-23. I'd love to get some feedback about d-23/Rodinol comparisons - both seem to get rave reviews and I'd like to stick with just two developers - d-76 and.... Thanks again for all your help ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholas_t. Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 APx100 goes well in Rodinal and grain doesn't really become aparent with that setup @ 1:50 with enlargements bigger than 10x10in. If you want to go bigger then D23 might be a better option. Gainer Vitamin C "original" on the <a href="http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/VitC/vitc.html">article from Unblinkingeye</a> with Carbonate is fine and as quick to mix as D23 with only three ingredients. D23 and Gainer Vitamin C have equal grain but Gainer Vitamin C will have more apparent sharpness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db1 Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 APX 100 is my favorite "slow" film. Depending on what I need, I normally develope it in rodinal or XTOL. Either way, I always get negatives that I am pleased with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roman_sonnleitner1 Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Hi, in my opinion, it does not make much sense to use two different developers that give somewhat similar results (that's what I think about D76 and DD23); if you want to use more thatn one dev. (why don't you try D76 for APX100), it would make more sense to use very different ones (like D76 and Rodinal), so that you can 'choose the right tool for the right job'. I personally have chosen my two developers: Calbe A49 for portraits, pushing, fast 35mm films, and everything where acutance is not a priority; and A metol-2-bath homebrew (used to be Rodinal before I switched) for MF, everything where acutance is important (landscape, architecture) and grain does not matter. Roman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_gee Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 have you looked into using Gainer's rodinal 1+50 with sodium ascorbate (non-acid vitamin C) and borax? - check out the unblinkingeye web site, Gainer lists it somewhere there 'appreciating rodinal'. I aint tried it yet either, but apparently it smooths out the grain a bit without loss of sharpness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_divenuti Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 One thing to keep in mind - D-23 and Gainer Vitamin C are different in more respects than just sharpness. D-23 is a semi-compensating developer undiluted or 1:1. Essentially, that means highlights are compressed to avoid blocking while shadow detail is somewhat enhanced and overall negative contrast is somewhat lower than you might get with D-76 or Gainer Vitamin C. That can be useful if you're dealing with a large subject brightness range. Some folks will also argue that semi-compensating developers are actually pretty mild in these effects. D-23 can be diluted further up to about 1:3 to enhance the compensation effect and improve sharpness. This will increase development time, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lex_jenkins Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Rodinal is an excellent developer for APX 100. Just keep in mind that it's a terrible choice for APX 400. If you ever decide to try the latter (and I wouldn't bother because Tri-X is better), stick with D-76. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank.schifano Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 I haven't shot APX 100 in any format, so take this with a grain of salt. When shooting medium format, I always use "conventional" emulsions like HP5+, FP4+, Tri-X (400TX), and Plus-X. I see no need for tabular grain films in this format. I do sometimes use them in 35mm when I find the need for the specific qualities they afford. Since APX 100 is also a "conventional" style film, I'd expect any developer specific results to be very similar. As was mentioned earlier in this thread, D-76 and D-23 can produce quite similar results. But after reviewing the documentation, D-23 may be a bit more effective as a fine grain, compensating developer than can D-76 with extended development for push processing. Like D-76, the more you dilute it, the greater will be the compensating effect and the less will be the fine grain effect. That's always the trade off. Since grain is not as much of a consideration with medium format films as it is with smaller formats, this is a minor consideration. D-23 is not available in a commercially prepared mix, so it's not really a good option unless you are prepared to scratch mix the stuff and experiment a lot to determine the appropriate time/temperature combination for best results. My opinion is that D-23 is more trouble than it is worth considering the paucity of industry published data and the necessity of mixing it yourself, since you can do pretty much the same thing with D-76. Rodinal, on the other hand, will give you the sharpest grain and greatest acutance that your lens and film combination can deliver at the price of a bit of film speed. You can control contrast by varying dilution ratios and development time the same as most other developers. It is my first choice for medium format films when I have enough light available so that I don't need to squeeze every last bit of speed from the film. I say this not because it is so much sharper or because it delivers better tonal gradations than D-76. In most cases, careful exposure and development techniques and the knowledge of your process have lots more to do with the final product than does your choice of developer. I prefer Rodinal for a very simple reason - the more sharply defined grain make focusing the enlarger easiser when using a grain focuser. The differences in grain in 5x to 6x prints are almost indistinguishable from those made with negatives developed in D-76, but it is sure easier to get a well focused image on the baseboard come printing time! So what good is having the finest grained negative possible if you can't accurately focus the image on the enlarging paper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne_brown3 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Share Posted June 18, 2004 Thanks everyone. I've got 6 rolls of 35mm APX100, so I'll use it with Rodinol and get some experience with it before trying it with the 120 format. Will development times be similar with both formats ? I've noticed that there's a bit of a debate regarding agitiation with this developer... some people agitate every 30 seconds, others, once a minute... With TX400 and d-76 1:1, I agitate every 30 seconds for the first 4 minutes, then once a minute for the last four - just something that works well for my negs. camera etc etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_waller Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 I've shot APX100 in 35mm and devved in Rodinal 1:50 (rated at 50 ASA, 20 C, 12 minutes, condenser head). Grain is evident but crisp. I've also shot APX100 in 120 format when grain is not so much of a consideration. I am currently running trials with D23 (1+2) on a range of films and suspect that very good results would be obtained with APX100. Suggested time would be 15-16 minutes for condenser head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_waller Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 NOTE - the above assumes APX100 rated at 50 ASA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_goldfarb Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 You should definitely try the APX 100 in D-76 1:1! I have shot lots of it - in a Minox, no less - and gotten absolutely lovely results. Fine grain, smooth gradation, medium contrast: after pushing all the available films to their limit with the tiny Minox negs, I have found APX 100 to be the very best of the old-tech 100-speed b/w films! However, I developed for significantly less than the published times: 9 minutes at 68 degrees with agitation at 1-minute intervals. This produced negatives with the right density for a condenser enlarger... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sava_rajkov1 Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 I am APX100 user in 120 format. It is a clasic BW film, very nice if you like local sharpness and nice scale of tones from B to W. In Rodinal 1+50, at 20C, for condenser head, 15 min, EI125, I am getting 5-6 zones printable on grade 2. Agitation is: 30s, then 4 light inversions per minute (ilford style). Grain is hardly visible at 10x enlargments. It seems that it is easy to develop it from N-2 to N+2 in rodinal, but i did not do tests, as I am using efke25 for N+2, and N-2 scenes are rare in Ireland. Well, for N-2 I am using delta400 in perceptol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric rose Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 APX100 in 4x5 was my favorite film until the buggers disco'd it. From what I hear all Agfa B&W film are on the chopping block. But that aside in 120 format my favorite developer right now is Pyrocat-HD. Next is HC110 dil B. This is a fantastic film and combined with Zeiss glass is a marriage made in heaven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_appel Posted June 18, 2004 Share Posted June 18, 2004 Can't say about d 23, been 30 years since I last used it. But APX 100 in Rodinol 1:50 in a Rollei is as close to b&w nirvana as I can get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne_brown3 Posted June 18, 2004 Author Share Posted June 18, 2004 Bruce: Nirvana has always been a struggle for me ! I went to a local wildlife sanctuary and tried the Rollei (hand held). Very interesting ! Ended up zone focusing mostly as using the little magnifier kept messing me up. It was occasionally a bit dim ! My old 70's camera was brighter and has a great meter which I used. Michael : I'm going to do some in both Rodinal and D-76. print and take a look. My d-76 1:1 time for TX400 @200-400 is only 8 mins and I've been pleased with results so far. Thanks everyone.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard baznik Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Here's a vote for APX100 in HC110-B for either 120 or 4x5. Be careful you do not over-develop, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_appel Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 I keep telling myself that it is the struggle itself that counts.That makes it easy to justify all the lousy pictures i have done over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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