Well today, being like Winter outside, depite the calendar saying it is spring, I decided to give Rodinal in Acros a go. Well I am not sure where I am going wrong, but the negs look like they are under developed, lack any sort of contrast. I've tried various times from 8 - 14 minutes, 1:50 dilution at 68 degrees. I am now clueless. I then did some Tmax, exactly the same conditions, for 15 minutes. They are perfect.
It's been a frustrating day. Any pointers anyone??
Steve
You're not clueless but you are missing something pretty obvious - shoot some more film and this time develop longer. That's what to do if your negatives look underdeveloped.
One characteristic of Acros is that the negatives look different from other films. They'll look a bit thin compared to HP5 or FP4 but will still print well. Print a couple to see what's happening on paper. Then have another go.
You might think about not trying so many film and developer combinations - just stick with something, anything, one combination for a while until you get a good feel for what's going on with it. Getting (and knowing you'll get) a good negative most every time is confidence building. Getting a good negative from a film that might not the the first theoretical choice for the job is miles better than a poor negative from the "perfect" film.
(also, as far as I know most who use Rodinol and Acros rate the film at 40-50)
As Henry stated, Acros will have an EI of about 64 in Rodinal. I find Acros-Rodinal to be a wonderful combination, (also Acros-Pyrocat HD) but Acros negs that print well are a bit thinner than other films.
I like the results I get with Acros in 120 when shooting it at box speed and developing it in Rodinal 1+100 for 18 minutes (as per the MDC). The negs have plenty of shadow detail, little grain and scan really well.
I shoot Acros 100 at 80 and develop it in rodinal for 6minutes and 50 seconds in a Jobo ATL 2300 with the rotation set at 25 per minute. Temp escapes me at the moment.
FWIW, the last time I shot Acros, I processed it in Parodinal (which generally uses the same times and dilutions are Agfa/A&O Rodinal) at 19 minutes, with agitation every 3rd minute; that'd be approximately like 12.5 minutes with agitation every minute (except 1/3 stop better film speed). I was happy with it at box speed, and the negatives scanned and printed well (this was in 828, recut from 120 size Acros).
If a contact print at arm's length is too small to see, you need a bigger camera. :D
Thanks for the replies - I will keep trying taking your collective advice. Will let you know how I get on.. :-)
Why don't you test ths combinaion for your EI and dev time rather than just rolling the dice each time without any rhyme or reason?.
As others have said, without trying to print the negs you really don't know what you have and don't have.
steve simmons
Steve is right, the only way to be confident is to test.
For example, I rate Acros at 200 and develop in Rodinal 1+50 in a Jobo. Most people will say to rate it slower than box speed but with my meter and development combination it is actually rated faster than box speed.
Hello I use acros in Kodak D7 for 6.30 minutes changing formula: A:40cc B:80cc C:80cc with very light unrest because like film is very clashes and like iso remains to 100. With rodinal I find
it very extinguished hi
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