Stand Developing Guide: Sample Photos, Expectations, Avoiding Problems

Stand developing is one of those things that has a lot of haters and a lot of supporters. About two years ago, I was asked my opinion. Not having tried it, I had none. So, in the last 24 months, I’ve done a LOT of stand developing. Ultimately, I wouldn’t rely on it for important work, but it’s okay in a pinch, with some caveats.

The photos you’re seeing now are the good examples from my two years of stand developing. I primarily stand developed with Rodinal but also with Mic-X and L110, on one occasion each. I found that Rodinal delivered good results and that stand developing with it can prolong the time you have to use the product significantly. If you’re developing a lot of film on a shoestring budget, stand developing Rodinal at 1+100 for 70 minutes is a good way to save money.

The timing on stand developing is not an exact science. I always used 70 minutes. I’ve known people who use 1+200 and leave the film for eight hours. I’ve heard of 30-minute regimens with agitation every 10 minutes. So there are a lot of ways to do this. I tended to use no agitations for consistency in my tests.

I did have some issues with some negatives. These exhibit bromide drag. A lot of my problem photos had bromide drag. I found that bromide drag was more common with stand developing than with other developing processes. And that stands to reason because the bromide is slightly heavier than the chemistry and flows down the film’s surface in the direction of gravity. That requires time and agitation prevents that from occurring.

I only had two negatives exhibit haloing, out of the maybe 50 rolls of film and multiple 4X5 sheets that I developed. Both were 35mm, and I expected to see many more negatives halo. Haloing with stand developing occurs in areas where highlights transition to shadows. This occurs, in general terms, because the highlight areas exhaust the chemistry more quickly than the shadow areas. Agitating the film a couple of times tends to prevent this if you find it occurs often in your stand processed images.

I also had some photos with incomplete clearing of the backing layer. The layer behind the film is designed to absorb light and is not-process-surviving, meaning that it is removed by processing chemistry. Remjet, if you’ve used Kodak motion stocks, is an extreme example of this and is process-surviving, meaning that chemistry does not remove it and another step is needed. I have some images where the stand chemistry failed to remove the not-process-surviving backing of some films.

There are some things you can do to have better stand results.
- Make sure that your chemistry is well mixed prior to placing it in the tank.
- Agitate for one minute prior to starting and tap the tank well to remove air bubbles.
- Use one or two inversion cycles during the developing process to help keep the chemistry well mixed.
- Limit this process to 120 and sheet film formats because those lack the sprocket holes that can easily lead to bromide drag.

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Gear I used for Filming and Editing:
Video Capture and Film Digitization- Pentax K-3 (http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/k-3/) or Pentax K-1 (http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/k-1/)
Secondary Capture- Sony CX330 (http://www.sony.com/electronics/camcorders/t/handycam-camcorders)
Lens- Pentax 31mm FA Limited (http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-FA-31mm-F1.8-Limited-Lens.html)
Off-camera Audio- Tascam DR-70D or Tascam DR-60D MKII and Tascam DR-05 (http://tascam.com/product/dr-70d/ or http://tascam.com/product/dr-60dmkii/ and http://tascam.com/product/dr-05/)
Video Editing- Sony Movie Studio Platinum (http://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-movie-studio-product-comparison/)
Audio Processing- Adobe Soundbooth (https://www.adobe.com/sea/products/soundbooth/)

My Photography Website:
http://www.5119photography.com/

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Видео Stand Developing Guide: Sample Photos, Expectations, Avoiding Problems канала David Hancock