I've been out of the darkroom side of things for a while, so maybe this isn't news to anybody but me, but this concept of "stand development" is an interesting one (for multiple reasons) and if you plan on scanning your negatives (not printing them in a wet darkroom) it really seems to be the ONLY way to go.
The wild part of this concept is that you do the same thing regardless of the film or ISO. And you don't have to shoot an entire roll of film at the same ISO. It is also the perfect technique to use for developing an unknown ISO roll of film (or vintage film). I found a roll of exposed 620 in a camera I purchased and am going to use this technique to develop it. This article explains it well (using Rodinal as an example, but the principle works with any film developer). The point is to mix a very dilute developer (so it is economical) and that developer is completely used up in the developing of the film. Next-to-no agitation is employed. The film "stands" until all of the developer is used up. Your highlights don't block up because the developer is only strong enough to develop them fully (then, with no agitation, only exhausted developer is in contact with that part of the film. Meanwhile the shadow detail can come in. Many stand developers let the film sit for an hour or more. The only downside I can see is that negatives are flatter than usual (lower contrast) but this is no problem if scanning because you can change that with levels or curves in post-processing. The main thing of importance is in developing all of the captured detail you can from shadows to highlights, without losing or blocking up either one. Here's the article: http://jbhildebrand.com/2011/tutorials/workflow-tutorial-2-stand-development-with-rodinal/ Anybody tried this method? Thoughts? -- Life is too short to put up with bad bokeh. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
