slow film notes

Notes on shooting, developing and printing film, one roll at a time.

Stand development, three months in

October 19, 2026

Semi-stand development means diluting the developer heavily and agitating only at the start and once halfway through. With Rodinal at 1+100 I give 30 seconds of gentle inversions, one more at 30 minutes, and pour out at 60.

The upside is forgiving exposure and lovely edge sharpness. The downside is that bromide drag shows up on sprocket holes if you are lazy with the first agitation. I learned that the hard way on a roll of HP5.

On sunny, high-contrast days I still prefer normal development. On grey days, stand is hard to beat.