Thin negs with Tri-X and Rodinal -- more agitation or longer soak?

[john bode]

I processed a roll of Tri-X (400TX) rated at EI 200 in Rodinal at 1:50 for

6.25 minutes at ~75 deg F, with continual agitation for the first 20 seconds

and then 2 inversions each minute, and wound up with some pretty thin negs.

Time was taken from the Massive Dev Chart at digitaltruth.com.

 

It appears that I underdeveloped, but I'm not sure whether the problem was too

little agitation or too little time. All my past attempts with Tri-X and

Rodinal were at 1:25 with 30 seconds agitation followed by 5 inversions every

30 seconds, and I always wound up with ugly, obnoxious grain. I was trying a

higher dilution with less agitation to see if that would minimize the problem,

but obviously went too far in the other direction.

 

With Tri-X and Rodinal, is it better to agitate more or soak longer to avoid

overemphasized grain? I'm not specifically looking for a compensating effect

(not even really sure what a compensating effect looks like), I was just

trying to control grain and contrast.

 

Speaking of which, I rated the film at EI 200 because most of the shots were

going to be at midday in some pretty harsh light, and hoped that the pull

would help with the contrast some.

[peter_suasso]

John,

 

I also rate my Trix at 200 but need 8.30-9.30 minutes in Rodinal 1+50 at 20C. As to agitation, that will not help you to overcome the big gap in development time. My experience is that overagitating also gets you ugly grain, gentle agitation with diluted Rodinal works better for me. Not too gentle because you then run the risk of bromide drag, brownish streaks between the sprocketholes. Fyg, I agitate 10 secs every minute and start with 1 minute of continuous agitation.

 

Good luck

 

Peter

[photo_smith]

When I do Tri-X at 200, I give it a time of 9-10 mins, but prefer it a 320 for 18-20 at 1:100.

do a few tests to see how it 'pans' out.

[ronald_moravec1]

Tri x and Rodinal = large grain.

 

Agitation should be constant 5/30 or 10/60. Add or subtract time to change contrast.

 

More exposure (EI200) and less time = smaller grain. D76 undiluted = less grain. 1:100 or 1: 50 = less grain.

 

Not much you did right to get fine grain.

[bobmichaels]

I shoot Neopan 400 (close to TriX) at 250 (close to 200) and sometimes develop in Rodinal 1:50 20C for nine minutes and have negs I like to scan. I agitate the first 30 sec. and 2X every minutes.

 

But each variable makes some difference. How we meter is a large variable.

 

I'd suggest another test with more developing time.

[chris_waller]

I rate Tri-X at 160 ASA and dev in Rodinal 1:50, 20 C, 8 minutes. My agitation regime is four inversions in the first 30 seconds then one inversion every 30 seconds after that. I have no problems with grain.

[john bode]

Thanks all. I'm not looking for fine grain with this combination, I'm just trying to avoid really ugly grain.

 

I don't have much control over temperature; water comes out of the tap at over 80 deg F (26 deg C), and ambient temp in the house doesn't get below 75 (23 C) during the day; welcome to central Texas in August. That's why I went with 6.25 minutes, based on a time/temperature adjustment chart from Ilford. However, it's possible that I misread the thermometer and thought the solution was a couple of degrees warmer than it really was (it's a cheapo thermometer, not a digital or dial).

 

I scanned the denser frames, but they're all too thin to work with. However, the grain looked pretty good. ;-)

[badcoilz99]

Tri x at 200 in 1:50 rodinal 24 degrees C or 75 F 8min, steady inversions for 30 sec,5 fast ones every 30 sec for remainder,this has worked well for me,you might toss in some ice to cool down the rodinal 80 F is way to hot.X TOL seems to work better with Tri X

[bobmichaels]

John: temp control with diluted developers is the easiest thing in the world. Just drop a few ice cubes into some water and fish them out when the temp gets correct. Or let it cool down too much, then drizzle tap water in until it gets back up. Dump out water until you have left exactly what you need. THEN dump in the undiluted developer.

 

I live in FL where tap water is 78F now. But I process year round at 68F. No problem so long as the other chemicals are within 10F or so. You do have A/C in your house, don't you?

 

Simpler and more consistent than try to interpret charts.

 

Bob