Stand Development in Rodinal

[tedw6]

I am attempting to standardize 4x5 film processing using stand development. I like my Jobo 3010 for evenness, but I like stand for tone. I am using a Yankee tank, developing 6 sheets of film at a time. I expose the film at ISO50 and use a dilution of 1:100 for N, N-1 is 1:200, N-2 is 1:400 etc. The tones are great but I am getting staining around the edges.

My agitation at first is rocking the tank side-to-side for 1 minute, waiting 30 sec and agitating for 30 sec. Then I develop with no more agitation for 1.5 hours.

Any ideas on how to get rid of the staining? Would a Combi-plan tank work better?

[Jay DeFehr]

Increase agitation. There is always a minimum agitation frequency requirement for any film/developer/scene/apparatus. If you're getting development defects with stand development, you can almost always eliminate them by increasing agitation frequency, and there is almost never any degradation of the qualities stand development confers resulting from this modest increase in agitation frequency. To find the minimum safe agitation frequency, begin by introducing an agitation cycle at the 1/2 way point, then at 1/3rds, then at 1/4s, etc., until the safe minimum is found. Good luck!

[John Berry]

Increase agitation. There is always a minimum agitation frequency requirement for any film/developer/scene/apparatus. If you're getting development defects with stand development, you can almost always eliminate them by increasing agitation frequency, and there is almost never any degradation of the qualities stand development confers resulting from this modest increase in agitation frequency. To find the minimum safe agitation frequency, begin by introducing an agitation cycle at the 1/2 way point, then at 1/3rds, then at 1/4s, etc., until the safe minimum is found. Good luck! I agree with Jay. I really like the way semi stand presents itself, when the shot is right. Only problem is when large even areas are present. No sense having the Nth degree of micro-contrast if the odds go up of it being spendy sheet film in the trash can. I now use at least three, more often four agitations.