• 1300: Moorhead, MN / Fargo, ND. (11 July 2022. Film Washi S @ EI 50 in K-1000.)
  • 1294: St Paul Cathedral / Lyndale Park rose garden. (21–25 June 2022. Ilford Delta 3200 @ EI 1000 in K-1000.) (on bottom)

Two more rolls, with standard agitation schedule. Weird that films so far apart in sensitivity should have such similar development times that I can ignore the difference.

Loaded inside daylight changing bag. Pre-wet film for ~30 minutes. During the pre-soak mixed 20mL Rodinal into tap water to ~450mL. Poured developer in to the two-roll tank and topped off the tank with tap water. Agitated 40x over the first minute or so, knocked on the tank several times to dislodge bubbles, and then agitated 10x at the top of each minute to a total development time of eleven minutes. All agitations are all half-agitations, gently (i.e., gently twisting to a 90-degree angle, then gently back).

After 11 minutes, disposed of developer, rinsed in 70 degree water. Fixed in Ilford Rapid Fixer 1+4 for 6 minutes, inverting 10x over 15 seconds at the top of every minute. (That’s now 16 rolls fixed in this batch of fixer.) Reclaimed fixer and rinsed for ten minutes in tap water, then emptied tank, added a few drops of Photo-Flo, filled tank with tap water and agitated 20x, and hung negatives vertically to dry.

Evaluation and notes

Roll 1294

Grain is really restrained compared to how Delta 3200 looks when stand-developed in Rodinal, and much better than stand-developing with Caffenol CL. I think this is my new preferred development approach for Ilford Delta 3200.

Full-color scans of the B/W negs are often much more visually appealing and easier to parse than equivalent B/W scans (e.g., 01A, 02A). But sometimes the B/W via-HDR scans are the better shots because they restore highlight detail (e.g. 03A, 05A). Once the film starts to be used outdoors, brightness and contrast are no longer a problem, unsurprisingly. Also not suprisingly, this is not the ideal film to be shooting roses with; it’s just that it was what was in the camera at the time. Still, there are some nice, usable shots: 16A, 20A, 21A, 24A, etc. Usually the via-HDR B/W scan is the better choice than the full-color scan, but not always.

All in all, though, the contrast isn’t punchy enough on the outdoor shots, and the grain is too prominent for anything other than intentionally grainy shots.

Roll 1300

Wow, the primary lesson for this roll seems to be that this is not the ideal way to expose and process Film Washi S. Contrast is rather extreme, and getting enough light to make the exposure happen is … well, not happening … very often here. Shooting it inside the church was obviously a bad move (but then, I didn’t realize when I loaded the roll that we would be going straight inside). The results are even less usable than I expected, though. And many of the shots that might have been workable have damage to their emulsion: is that some chemnical problem? water spots? problems with touching the film accidentally while loading?

Hard to say, but all in all, there’s very little here that’s even arguably usable. An exception is the shots in the middle of the roll that were taken at the abandoned roadside fruit stand (21–25), which turned out nicely: plenty of contrast, sure, but in a way that shows the geometric structure of the composition. Shots from inside Fargo Brewing (26+) are basically entirely unsuable: no surprise, plenty dark at that point.

All in all, a learning experience.