Neopan 1600 and T-Max Developer

[freecom2]

Ran a roll of Neopan 1600 through my Pentax MX, and developed with my standard T-Max Dev, 1+4 dilution. I usually use T-Max Developer because it often provides very fine grained results, but is this what you'd expect (considering the ingredients)?

(I appreciate that scanning exacerbates grain): http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p117/chongy5/Roll59-Frame000.jpg

Additionally, are these marks from the sprockets from over vigorous agitation? I usually do 4-5 inversions every 30 seconds which works fine for the film that I normally develop (usually Kodak T-Max) but evidently it is too much/too vigorous for Neopan 1600: http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p117/chongy5/Roll59-Frame013.jpg

If so, is it a case of less frequent inversions/agitations, or just doing them more gently?

 

[excalibur2]

erm you can get crappy results if a neg is very underexposed and then try to get an image.

 

[robhooley167]

Yes they are surge marks from over agitation, 4-5 inversions every 30s is quite a lot, I would only do 2 every 30s

 

[freecom2]

Fuji's data sheet suggests agitate continuously for the first minute, and then 5 seconds every minute. Might try that for the next roll.

 

[Joenail]

Definitely sounds like too much agitation, I usually agitate for the full first and last minute then one inversion per minute. Agitating like you are will increase grain quite a bit, I imagine.

 

[freecom2]

Indeed. The only reason I have that agitation pattern is because that is what the T-Max data sheet suggests for T-Max, and it had worked for other emulsions up to this point so I had no real reason to change. Will reduce it for fast film I think.

 

[EdMoss]

If I needed 1600 I used to push Neopan 400 to 1600 in Tmax developer, results were better than Neopan 1600, worth a try

 

[Asha]

Never used neopan 1600 not T max dev so tbh I can't comment on how one would expect the reults to come out I'm afraid.

Vigorous agitation will indeed add grain........more in some films than others!

I appreciate the phots aren't posted for critic, however i woud like to say that i really like the station/underground? shot .....The grain doesn't deter me from the shot whatsoever

 

[freecom2]

If I needed 1600 I used to push Neopan 400 to 1600 in Tmax developer, results were better than Neopan 1600, worth a try

Weird how these things work out sometimes! I've got quite a few more rolls of Neopan 1600 to go through anyway so I'm more focused on getting it right - I don't think the grain is too much all things considered really. I've just developed another roll which is drying at the moment, with 5s agitation every minute as recommended by Fuji so fingers crossed.

I appreciate the phots aren't posted for critic, however i woud like to say that i really like the station/underground? shot .....The grain doesn't deter me from the shot whatsoever

Thanks for your kind words, I'm rarely happy with stuff on 35mm work so it was nice to have several keepers on the roll for a change.