Stand and Semi Stand Development

[Ian-Barber]

In the past, I have had discussions about semi stand development and I want to revisit this topic as the theory behind it interests me.

I know that according to "The Negative", Ansel Adams talks briefly about using HC110 with a dilution of 1:119, constant agitation for the first minute and then 10 seconds of agitation for the first 10 seconds of every minute. The total development time from memory was about 18 minutes.

Would I be right in thinking that this method and times could be used regardless of the make of film or would the make of film alter the development time ?

 

[Alan9940]

Whoa, I haven't read Ansel's "The Negative" for a whole lotta years but I wouldn't call that development workflow semi-stand. My definitions kind of go like this:

Minimal agitation - agitate for about 20 secs at the beginning, then about 4 inversions every 2 - 3 mins thereafter.

Semi-stand agitation - agitate for the first min, followed by about 10 secs of inversion half way through the development time.

Stand development - notice there isn't much "agitation." Agitate for about the first min, then don't touch it until the end of the development cycle.

Based on the HC110 dilution rate quoted, I'd guess Ansel was trying to hold very high tonal placement through the use of very dilute developer. The developer activity would exhaust quickly in the high values, but continue to work in the shadow areas; a compensating style development.

 

[Ian-Barber]

Semi-stand agitation - agitate for the first min, followed by about 10 secs of inversion half way through the development time.

Could you take this approach regardless of what film you are using in say HC110

 

[Alan9940]

Could you take this approach regardless of what film you are using in say HC110

I'd say give it a go and see if it's acceptable to you. Though I've used HC110 since the beginning of my LF days (nearly 40 years), I've never used it in a semi-stand application. I don't use these reduced agitation methods very often, but when I do I use Pyrocat-HD. You just have to watch for bugaboos like bromide drag, uneven development, etc. Some developer/film combinations play well with reduced and/or severely reduced agitation and others don't.