couleurnoir

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I'll add to my previous comment my agitating technique : I use to agitate more at the beginning and less at the end : usually starting development with 8-10 inversions, then 5 and 4. 3 inversions for the following minutes till the end ; 2, 1, and the last two minutes without inversion. I found I seemed to get better tonal ranges with this method, but again, this is totally personal.

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Here is a sample pic scanned from a glossy RC work print made from a typical TX neg. The neg has detail all over the image.

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I usually tend to shoot facing the sun (I really like it) so I often deal with contrasty scenes ! I usually print all my negs between grade 1.5 and 2.5.

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Regards,

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TG.

Rodinal is not a "grainy" developper nor a "fine grain" one. It justs sits here and does not touch the emulsion's grain. Thus a fine grained film like TP in Rodinal will leave the grain almost invisible while the grainy tri-x will stay grainy. The good thing is that i like - should i say, love - Tri-x's grain and Rodinal does not modify it.

One other nice thing of Rodinal is the compensating effect and the ability to get rid of burned highlights easily when dilutions go higher than 1+50. At 1+50 the effect is here but it increases a lot as dilution goes up.

I usually develop TX films between 1+60 and 1+80, depending on the contrast of the lighting. I have played with rodinal diluted from 1+25 to 1+100 for TX. Acutance was strong in 1+100, but the neg was definitively too flat.

I usually write down some notes regarding the contrast found on each exposed film using small pictograms. developping film is a very personnal style and each printer has its own choices. I use to print with a direct-light condenser and a strong bulb which makes pretty contrasty prints so I like avoiding too much contrast in my negs. I also like dense negatives still with lots of highligh detail thanks to the compensating effect.

I expose tri-x between iso 250 and 400 depending on the available lighting and the way I intend it to be like. I also use to push tri-x up to iso 1600 using the 2-bath Emofin developper from tetenal, which I had pleasant results with. Emofin also has a nice compensating effect and you won't get blocked highlights with it.

An example of development I would do for a tri-x film shot at 320 under a sunny day, outdoor would be like 1+70, 15min at 21°C (the coldest water i can get most of the year). This recipe yields dense negs with a full tonal range though, very nice midtone separation and great acutance. Highligh detail is here, as is the nice tri-x grain. This combo yields consistant results and gives a good classic look to your prints that is quite pleasant I find.

However please note that TXP is a totally different film, which has also a very nice grain (I think I prefer it over TX for the grain) but I personally don't like the curve, with good highlight detail but lack of midtones. When I use it, though, I use to choose dilutions between 1+45 and 1+55 depending on contrast (for TXP).

As for minimum quantity of developper required by film, I have tested higher dilutions with as low as 4ml/film and still get good results. I would not go below 3ml/film personally.

I happen to work with TP, diluting between 1+120 and 1+140 in 500ml of water, thats as low as 3.5ml/film. But I agree TP is a very specific film and such high dilutions are not suitable for the common film.

Another very nice thing about Rodinal is the low cost : 4EUR here for 500ml wich usually allows for about 100 films processed.

Hope all these numbers can help you and this is not too messed up with my bad english, I believe you can guess now that I especially like TX in Rodinal. This combo is a classic one and I think it will be for a long times....as long as TX and Rodinal sells ! It has for quite a long time for both, so I'am confident !