Trouble with HP5+

[jaakko_laine]

Hey everyone. So, after a long time of building up courage and

studying, i went forward and developed my first roll of HP5+. I was

always afraid i'd screw up something and lose the roll, luckily i

didnt. I processed my roll in ID-11, 13 mins at 20C as i believe is

instructed by Ilford. The trouble is, the results werent what i

expected, the grain was not much lighter than when i had my films

developed at a shop, I think they use Rodinal. The whole film looked

really strange, in most of the indoor shots it shoved a sort

of "shadow" right next to the main target. This didnt look at all

like ordinary motion blur, say you got a hand in the picture which

is sharp, then next to it a light, pale shadow or ghost of the hand,

the edges of both being sharp.. I have no idea what might cause this

as i sort of ruled out camera shake, there was trouble in so many

shots i should've got some of them right. So, what might it be? Bad

processing, bad roll of film, focus malfunction of the camera?

(EOS5, EF28-70) I'd appreciate any suggestions, ty

[bleck]

First off, I doubt the lab you bring your film to uses Rodinol to develop your B&W. Just ask, I'm sure they'll tell you. Most likely they use something like D76 or XTOL.<br>

Second, since you freely admit it's the first roll of film you've ever developed, I can say with reasonable confidence that you screwed up somewhere. Without seeing a negative though, it's really hard to say.<br>

Any chance you can post a scan?

[jaakko_laine]

Well, might as well be either of those developers. With D76 its no wonder the grain is the same, ID-11 is basically the same stuff afterall? Yeah i admit its more than possible that i screwed up, but to screw up like that must be really difficult eh? Only trouble i remember having was getting the film to the spool, had to try it for a couple of times =) Its funny, the subject was a sitting person, so she wasnt moving a lot. When i print it in 18cm x 24cm, the distance between the shadow and the real thing is a centimeter or so.. Anyways, i stopped the development in vinegar acid(?) 2%, fixer was Afefix. Sorry, print of the negative, no can do =(

[greg_smith4]

Did you use a flash? because that would explain the shadow. Do test out side, this will allow better more natural light. Give the film a few more tries (and try a tri-pod to find out how potentially sharp the film can be). If this doesnt work you could switch to Tri-X, a similar looking film but is a little more forgiving (in my opinion at least).

[jaakko_laine]

Nope, didnt use a flash, hardly ever do. I thought about that, but a flash shadow would be black, this one is transparent, and you can see it on the skin of the subject, not on the room/furniture behind. This is the first time HP5 has let me down with results i dont like. Maybe it was odd lighting or something, maybe its my developing skills.

I'd love to try Tri-X, but its such a hard thing to find here (Finland), no shop i know sells it. Would have to order from abroad.. I've used T-Max 100 and 400, but i like a bit grainier results.

[nige_buddy]

doesn't sound like a developing problem to me as you seem to think it's subject related, and development problems aren't dependant on the subject (other than they might show up easier in areas like skys). How do the negatives look compared to the lab developed ones in regards to overall density and contrast? You weren't shooting into the sun and have lots of flare do you?

 

A scan/picture would save a lot of guessing in this situation!

[gary_calverase]

Were you using the ID-11 stock or at a 1:1 dilution? The 1:1 time for HP-5 at 400 is 13 minutes. For a stock solution, it's 7 1/2 minutes. If you developed it 13 minutes in stock ID-11, you really overdevoloped.

[jaakko_laine]

I used 1:1 dilution. These were indoor shots, no flare or things like that. The lighting were not particularly dim. Compared to the negs from the shop, these looked quite the same. Sorry i cant scan anything, got no easy access to a decent scanner. Maybe i just should let it be and hope for better luck with the following rolls, in fact the second one came out better. Remains a mystery

[ramiro_aceves]

Please, If you can, send us a scan to diagnose.Apart from that, If you are using ID11 at stock dilution, you are developing too much. I use 10.5 minutes at 20C with ID11 at 1:1 dilution for difussion enlarger.

Sorry for my english

[ramiro_aceves]

Oh, I forget to say that it you manipulate the film without care to put it into the reel and you forced or bent it, it causes misterious marks in the negative when developed. Without watching the negatives, all things are speculations.

[j.w.]

Jaakko;

 

I believe I know what the problem with your film is, as I have done this several times in the past, when I was just learning to develop film.

 

The problem is that when you were loading the film onto the reel, you had a "problem" getting the film to load onto the reel smoothly. In the process of fiddling with it, to get it to load correctly, you "popped" the film - that is, it momentarily bent, creased & buckled, and then popped out. This action places stress in the emulsion, which, when developed, will change the density of that area in the emulsion.

 

One secret that works for me when loading film onto reels is to trim the corners of the leader slightly rounded (with scissors) prior to starting to load. Usually its the corners of the film that get hung up on the radial brackets along the sides of the grooves in the reel. Rounding the corners helps it to free up. The other thing to do when the film binds up is to *gently* squeeze the sides of the film already on the reel, to help recenter the leader into the groove.

 

Try another roll, this time being carefull not to "pop" the film when loading.

 

Enjoy.

[rogan]

In just looking at the "spot" part. Seems to be a case of having loaded the film into the spiral incorrectly thereby having the film emulsion touching and then sticking to the back of the piece of film in front of it.

 

Depending on how you processed your film - as in presoaking it or dropping it straight into the dev - that part of the film didn't get developed or get developed properly. However, after the wash and then fixing, the film may have freed up and got fixed leaving such marks.

 

As for the grain and the brew used - its all a bit like homing cooking. You have to try and try again - using variations thereof until you get the desired result. There are no instant solutions here. If you like "instant coffee", then go digital ;->

[patrick_gainer]

What agitation schedule did you use? Insufficient agitation can sometimes cause strange patterns in negatives because the density of depleted developer in highlight areas may cause what is known as bromide drag.

Pat Gainer

[jaakko_laine]

Well, i turn the tank around once every 30 secs, bang it on the table a little to get the bubbles out of the films surface. Thats how i was taught, dont know if there is a better way. Anyways, i think these are not development problems afterall, maybe motion blur, somekinda camera shift..I have such a crappy lens, 3,5..not much use in any kind of low light. It is on its way out, thankfully..