A first attempt at semi-stand developing

March 23, 2025March 23, 2025 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

A few weeks back I shot a roll of Agfa APX 100 during a trip to Lincoln. It was only as I went to rewind the roll of film after shooting all 36 frames that I realised I hadn’t set the ISO dial when I loaded the camera, and that the meter had been set to 400asa for every shot.

If I had been shooting Ilford HP5+ of something, I would have just push procesed the film -something I have done with good success in the past – and, indeed, I thought this would be my plan for the APX 100 too. Unfortunately, there is much less data available on push processing this particular film stock, at least beyond a one stop push to 200asa.

Asking around for advice resulted in a number of recommendations for stand or semi-stand development and, after looking into this further, I decided the semi-stand approach might be the best approach. However, as this would be the first time I’d ever attempted this method of developing film, and as I had an idea there would be some shots from my Lincoln trip that would be worth keeping, I decided that I would have a trial run on another roll of film first.

So, a week after visiting Lincoln, I took a shorter trip to the village of Whitwell and shot another roll of APX 100 at 400asa so I could test out semi-stand developing.

I have two developers to hand at present – Ilford DD-X, and Agfa Rodinal. As there was far more information available on performing semi-stand development with Rodinal, I opted for that. It also has the advantage of being much cheaper than DD-X. My research suggested that a 1+100 solution would be the best option, with a couple of extra millilitres of developer added to compensate for the push processing , so I made up a mixture of 500ml water, with 7ml of Rodinal (again, based on research online). This is more developer than I would need for a single roll of 35mm film, but I wasn’t sure how much extra developer to add to 300ml to compensate for the push as the online advice had stated a 500ml volume of water.

I’d also read that a pre-wash would be a good idea for semi-stand, so before adding the developer I gave it a soak in 20° water for 5 minutes, agitating it for a couple of minutes. I’m not sure if the agitation was necessary at all, but I didn’t think it would hurt.

After emptying the pre-wash water, I added the developer and agitated the developing tank with inversions for 1 minute. I then gave it a tap on the counter and left it to stand undisturbed for the next 30 minutes. After this first half an hour I gave it another single firm inversion, another firm tap on the counter to remove any air bubbles, and then let it stand for a further 30 minutes.

At the end of the hour I emptied the developer, used 20° water as a stop bath for 1 minute, and then a further 5 minutes in the fixer. After this I washed the negatives in tap water using the Ilford method, soaked them for a couple of minutes in a wetting agent solution, spun the reel in a salad spinner to remove most of the water, and then hung them to dry for 3 hours.

I was very happy to see nice looking negatives as I removed the film from the reels. They maybe looked slightly thin, but nothing to cause great concern and I was able to get results I was happy with when scanning and post processing the photographs.

The final results are pretty good, I think. There’s maybe a little more grain than there would have been had I shot and developed the film at 100asa, but it’s nothing I’m concerned about, and the images are sharp, have good contrast, and the highlights and shadows contain plenty of detail.

I don’t think I’ll use semi-stand development all the time, but I will certainly use it again in some situations. I’m already curious about shooting a single roll of film at different exposure settings, for instance, and I have a roll of Fompan 400 that I plan on shooting with my Holga sometime soon which I might develop as semi-stand.

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD & Agfa APX 100. Rodinal 1+100 (+2ml) semi-stand 1 hour @ 20°

Taken on 8 March 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

First light – testing new cameras

February 9, 2024 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

Using a new film camera for the first time often brings me a sense of apprehension. Will it work as expected? Where should I test it? How much effort should I put into the pictures?

Even when buying a camera from a trusted source, there’s still a risk of some sort of fault. Most film cameras are getting long in the tooth – some very much so – so I tend to avoid travelling too far afield when using one for the first time. That way, even if there is a fault, I’ve not wasted too much time and, should I want to, I can probably re-visit the location to recreate the shots if necessary. The same goes for the time and effort spent composing a picture. Do I really want to wait for the perfect light, the perfect moment, when the picture might be blighted by a mechanical fault of some variety?

With regards the location aspect, the camera I used to take the pictures shared here today (and in the coming days) did let me down. It had a shutter issue which caused missed frames that I described in a previous post. As a result, I missed a number of photo opportunities at a location that I don’t travel to often (and the hike I did was one I’ve never undertaken before, so that was all new sights to me). This was obviously disappointing.

In terms of spending time on composing and timing shots with a new camera, I still try to do my best. I know that some people will test gear by shooting test cards or a fixed scene, but the thought of using a whole role of film on that sort of efficient and controlled testing doesn’t inspire me. I’d rather try to get pictures I’ll find artistically pleasing, even if there’s some risk that they might be lost.

I now have a replacement for the faulty camera, but I’ve yet to test it. I’m planning to do so this weekend. While I will still try to get the best shots I can, I’m certainly not risking a trip to a more distant location this time, so the new camera will see first light on a visit into town, or maybe in my local area. If all goes well, then it can become a trusted travel companion.

The two shots shared today were the first two on the roll and before I had realised there was a fault. I shot them on a walk in the local area during my lunch break, so only had time for a couple. Maybe if I’d had more time I’d have discovered the fault earlier and saved myself the later disappointment.

Yashicamat 124G & Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°

Taken on 9 January 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Down a lane and up to the wind farm

April 19, 2021 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I went for a walk along a previously unexplored path. The route took me from Aston, a village / district on the easternmost edge of Sheffield, north over the fields towards Penny Hill Wind Farm, then cuting to the east to cross the M1 motorway on a farm bridge. From there, back towards the south, across the M1 at the busy Junction 31 roundabout, and through Aston again to where I began.

There will be a number of photos to come from this walk in the next few days and I shot both black-and-white and colour images. Today’s post features a quartet of photos from the first half of the walk.

This first image is the lane from Aston down to a farm at the bottom of the dip. In the distance, at middle-left, one of the large wind turbines at Penny Hill can be seen peeking above the trees.

Climbing the hill past the farm up to the top of the ridge brings the turbines into more prominence, as well as a mobile transmitter and another antenna of some sort over on the left of the frame – at night this one can be seen lit with red aircraft warning lights.

Approaching the mobile tower, the turbines now take prominence along the top of the ridge, although they are still quite some distance away.

Heading east across the fields towards the nearby motorway, I turn and make a photo of the path along which I have walked.

Out across the fields
Feeling the bite of the air
Crisp and cold and bright

Olympus OM-2N, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 | G-Zuiko Auto-W 28,, f/3.5 + orange filter & Ilford Delta 100. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 12mins @ 20°.

Taken on 5 April 2021

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Downhill track

January 10, 2021 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

It’s one of those days where I can think of little to say. I’ve found a photo to publish and written one of my (likely not very good) haikus, but otherwise I’m suffering from a brain full of tumbleweed. So I’ll leave it at that and hope normal service resumes shortly.

If you look up close
See a small figure crossing
And heading downhill

Pentax P30T, SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.7 & Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 December 2020

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Uninspired

June 19, 2020 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

I had the day off work today and had planned a trip out into the countryside. Alas, the weather had other plans and the day was one of those with a solid sheet of blank grey sky. To make matters worse it also kept raining. Not proper, people-with-umbrellas rain though, but the fine, almost mist-like, rain that just hangs about in the air and gets onto every surface – especially cameras and the front elements of lenses!

So I changed my plans and drove into town instead. Today would be my first trip into the city centre since the non-essential retailers were allowed to open their stores last Monday (and only the second time since lockdown began in March!). Although early, I’d expected more people and traffic that there was – having seen pictures of crowded streets and shops in the media, I thought there might be something similar afoot – but there were very few people about. More than my previous, pre-shops-re-opening visit, but still not many – not even many people travelling into work. The largest groups of workers I saw were construction workers, of whom there were a significant number apparent around town.

Today’s trip was different to the last though in one simple way – I was uninspired. Whereas on my previous visit last weekend I saw photographs everywhere, today I saw few, and the ones I made (I shot around half a 36 exposure roll of HP5+) felt for the sake of it rather than anything I expect to be good when they are developed. Usually, shooting a full roll of film is no problems, but today I left defeated.

It was the first outing for my newly acquired Olympus OM-2 too and perhaps getting to grips with the slightly different fuctionality when compared to my familiar OM-1, had an impact on my photograph making. I’m hoping I might get to finish the roll over the weekend (and I have an extra day off on Monday too) and that the next outing will see me in better spirits.

Today’s photographs are from the dust-spotted Fomapan roll of doom that I’ve spoken about in recent posts. It took me ages to get rid of all the speckles, so I hope someone likes them. 🙂