[Cerebum]

Do you know how many definitive answers there are on the internet regarding this? None at all I have a bulk roll of Rollei retro 400s and I had a roll in my Ricoh 500RF but I wasn't sure what speed I was shooting it at. I was pretty sure it was 400 but not totally confident, so stand it was. I have stand developed this film in Rodinal and its very nice but as the film is very contrasty, I wanted to try hc110 to see how it went. Not one to waste developer, I quickly made and shot a test roll of retro at 200 in my Zeiss contaflex (testing the film @200, the camera and the developer, triple whammy). The method was

HC110 dilution G (1:119), 6ml dev to 714ml water at 20°c
5 mins prewash to clear the purple halation layer then 60 mins in the developer. Agitation was constant for the first 30secs then 2 agitations at 2, 4, 8, 16, & 32 minutes as per the caffenol cookbook.
Water stop bath, 5 mins fix, ilford wash method.

When I first looked at the leader it was a bit grey but the negatives look rather nice. I will scan them in a few hours and will post them here, but first, these are the negatives. The top one is shot at 200 and the bottom at 400

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[tuco]

The first one there is a large percentage of base + fog density (= no exposure) in the image. And also the highlights don't look too high. I'm not sure if that one is a good example for assessment of the stand development.

In Ansel Adam's book, The Negative, he posts a density vs zone plot of HC-110 @ 1:30 for 15 minutes with FP4. The effect was a N-4 development which is a significant highlight compression while capturing the low shadows zones ( good for high contrast scenes).

[Wheatfield]

The first one there is a large percentage of base + fog density (= no exposure) in the image. And also the highlights don't look too high. I'm not sure if that one is a good example for assessment of the stand development.

In Ansel Adam's book, The Negative, he posts a density vs zone plot of HC-110 @ 1:30 for 15 minutes with FP4. The effect was a N-4 development which is a significant highlight compression while capturing the low shadows zones ( good for high contrast scenes).

IIRC from my film days, HC-110 doesn't do as well with long development times as some other developers because it fogs up. That shows on the results seen here.
I ended up processing film in a Jobo, that was where HC-110 worked well.

Anyway, those negs look like they should print pretty well.

To the OP, do you ever do silver prints?

[Cerebum]

The first one there is a large percentage of base + fog density (= no exposure) in the image. And also the highlights don't look too high. I'm not sure if that one is a good example for assessment of the stand development.

In Ansel Adam's book, The Negative, he posts a density vs zone plot of HC-110 @ 1:30 for 15 minutes with FP4. The effect was a N-4 development which is a significant highlight compression while capturing the low shadows zones ( good for high contrast scenes).

I have been shooting film for a couple of years now so am still scratching the surface. My first bottle of this was the Euro 110 version and it was pretty good. I found it was particularly excellent for expired film. The bottle I am using now is Kodak's new formula and so far I haven't been blown away. I really want it to be my go to developer and have persevered but it just hasn't matched up to ID-11. The negatives shot at 200 were all a bit lifeless but many were shot inside a workshop. The reason why I did this was I wanted a stand alternative to Rodinal but this isn't it. I was going to try with a stronger dilution, maybe 1:100, like the Rodinal but that can wait. All the negatives processed quite nicely although the ones shot at 200 required more work to make them look like Rollei retro. The 200 roll was a first test of a Contaflex so there may room for improvement with my shooting of that camera.





---------- Post added 12-11-22 at 01:11 AM ----------

IIRC from my film days, HC-110 doesn't do as well with long development times as some other developers because it fogs up. That shows on the results seen here.
I ended up processing film in a Jobo, that was where HC-110 worked well.

Anyway, those negs look like they should print pretty well.

To the OP, do you ever do silver prints?

Yeah they didn't have the sharpness I get from stand rodinal or, for that matter, stand caffenol. I need to persevere because I know it is good stuff and I have a new bottle lol. Also I am learning all the time. I don't have a darkroom but it is on the list. I hadn't heard of silver prints but they look beautiful. I often watch videos by this guy and watching the image emerge is fascinating so it will happen

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

[tuco]

... Yeah they didn't have the sharpness I get from stand rodinal...

I've developed some RPX25, RPX100 and Retro 80S in Rodinal. That developer will yield a shot-toe characteristic compared to say a Metol based developer with those films. A short-toe characteristic produces deep, compressed blacks. And on a film base like RPX25 and 80S even deeper blacks due to its very low film base density. That look (little shadow detail) is a popular look for so-called street photography.

[Cerebum]

I've developed some RPX25, RPX100 and Retro 80S in Rodinal. That developer will yield a shot-toe characteristic compared to say a Metol based developer with those films. A short-toe characteristic produces deep, compressed blacks. And on a film base like RPX25 and 80S even deeper blacks due to its very low film base density. That look (little shadow detail) is a popular look for so-called street photography.

80s is a lovely film but its hard to shoot because of its tendency towards blacks that are too deep. I love contrast but its on the verge of too much. This was a sunny day. I got some nice shots but just as many that were too black. This was stand developed in Rodinal 1:100



Having said that, I stand developed some Rollei retro 400s metered at 1600. I was expecting horrible grain but it was surprisingly controlled. The blacks were very black but I was expecting that

[titrisol]

I'm pretty sure you have consulted the unofficial HC110 resource page: Kodak HC-110 Developer - Unofficial Resource Page

Years ago this was discussed in APUG (photrio ), check the archives in there but your results are quite good.
And yes there is no definitive answer about this, you are on your own.

[tuco]

80s is a lovely film but its hard to shoot because of its tendency towards blacks that are too deep. I love contrast but its on the verge of too much.

That is the 'short-toe' nature of the film ( and some other Rollei films). Exposure is not as forgiving as with other film/developer combos. The toe of the film's characteristic curve can be stretched out a little more with a developer like D-23 yielding more tonal scale on the lower end.

Nice results on those posts, by the way.

Here is Acros-1 stand developed in Rodinal at 1+100. I haven't tried it with the new version of Acros. But a scene with bright highlights is a good candidate for stand development.


Olympic Sculpture Park Fountain by tuco, on Flickr

[Cerebum]

I'm pretty sure you have consulted the unofficial HC110 resource page: Kodak HC-110 Developer - Unofficial Resource Page

Years ago this was discussed in APUG (photrio ), check the archives in there but your results are quite good.
And yes there is no definitive answer about this, you are on your own.

Lol. Those are a really good read and I will come back to them thanks I didn't read it previously because I wasn't sure if it applied to the new version, but then if there were changes in the strength of the dev, it would probably tell me. Hopefully lol

---------- Post added 15-11-22 at 06:33 AM ----------

That is the 'short-toe' nature of the film ( and some other Rollei films). Exposure is not as forgiving as with other film/developer combos. The toe of the film's characteristic curve can be stretched out a little more with a developer like D-23 yielding more tonal scale on the lower end.

Nice results on those posts, by the way.

Here is Acros-1 stand developed in Rodinal at 1+100. I haven't tried it with the new version of Acros. But a scene with bright highlights is a good candidate for stand development.


Olympic Sculpture Park Fountain by tuco, on Flickr

That is such a beautiful shot. The tones are so subtle. I love it. I am learning all about toes

[Cerebum]

@Titrisol I hadn't read that and it really opened my eyes. I went on to read about solvent developers, it was quite the education.it turns out there were two strengths of HC110 sold in Europe. Thankfully I have the good stuff. I have always fixated on high contrast but your image @Tuco made me realise how beautiful mid tones can be. I now know I can raise the acutance of hc110 by using weaker dilutions but my plan is to work on my mid tones and HC110 and foma200 will work together nicely on that. Thank you all for your input. I was standing still a bit but now I have a whole new avenue to explore.

[titrisol]

HC110 has been around for a very long time and it is an excellent all-around developer
It can always give you very long tonal range and nicely developed images.
I havent used it in decades though, as I prefer Ilford DDX and Rodinal