Hi everyone, Azriel Knight here, and today we're going to talk about how agitation frequency
affects your final image.
Last time I did an experiment, it was on agitation speed, and if you haven't see that video already
I think you'll be really interested in the results, and I'll make sure and leave a link
in the description below.
Now I'm going to take you into the studio and show you my camera setup, just like last
time I'm going to fill an entire roll of film with the same picture.
Okay, so here's my setup, pretty simple, I got cast the of the next generation hanging
out right there.
So pretty much I'm going to be metering with my handheld light meter there, uh I'm just
going to be using the modeling light to expose the figures, I'm using my sharpest lens, the
Sigma 50mm f1.4, and I'll be using a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400.
Okay, now that I've taken the same shot 36 times, I'm going to split this roll into three
separate developing tanks.
I'm going to do my best to keep everything consistent except for one factor, and that's
the frequency of which I agitate the film.
Not the speed like last time, but how often I do it.
In tank number one it's going to be a stand development at regular time so in this case
Tri-x 400 at its box speed is going to be a six minute development at 68F, and in the
first tank, I'm not going to agitate at all, I'm just going to pour it in, tap it a couple
times to get the bubbles out and then pour it out at the end.
Tank number two I'm going to agitate as normal.
And then tank number three, I'm going to agitate the entire time without stopping.
Okay I split the film into three separate strips and put them into their
tanks, and now I'm ready to make the developer.
So again, different from last time, I'll be making three separate batches of developer,
and making sure that the temperature is consistent for each one, I'll just be really careful
with the ratios....
Yeah I just feel like, if the ratios are off that's going to do more than the temperature.
Maybe that's an experiment for another time.
hmmm
Yeah I'm going to create three separate developers and just keep everything as close as possible,
and I think that'll produce better results, than if I had, a dropping temperature in my
developer as I went through like last time, where is was 71, 68 and then 67 I think, yeah
so we'll do it separate this time.
Unless, unless I make the whole batch at once, uh yeah and unless I make the whole batch
at once, and agitate the other two at the same time, cuz I don't have to keep any sort
of crazy memory game.
The first one, I don't agitate at all, the second one, I agitate as normal, and the third
one, I just agitate the whole time.
So, uhm, as long as I'm quick with my hands, I should be able to develop all three, with
the same ratio, uh at the same temperature.
[clap] awesome.
I'm going to make the develop a couple of degrees warmer than it needs to be, so i've
got time to take care of anything I need to before I pour it in.
I have pre wash sitting in all three tanks right now, and the developer is at 71F so
I got about three degrees to go before I uh, dump it in here, but my plan is pretty much
to start the timer, dump in the first batch, and then the second, then third, and then
start agitating, the second and third for a minute, and then continue with this one,
just like the whole time, and this one as normal for ten seconds at each minute.
Uh, that reminds me, I'm going to need about a liter of stop bath.
Okay everything's set up and ready to go.
It's at about 69F, uh, but what's more important than getting the temperature spot on is making
sure that temperature is the same on each and because I made this batch together, the
ratio is going to be identical throughout, uh this will be the closest I can get it with
my current setup, I think ti's pretty good, I think we're good.
Now I just have to pour out the pre wash, and pour in the developer and get started.
I'm a little nervous 'cuz I want to make sure I get my timing right, but I think everything
will be okay.
Okay I think I got the development times pretty spot on, now all three tanks are sitting in
a stop bath solution, and I'm about to fix it.
I didn't end up cleaning my negatives properly last time and it sort of gave me some issues
while I was scanning, so this time I am going to make the effort, and uh, do a proper wash.
Okay guys all the film is fixed, I rinsed the hell out of it and put it in some photo
flo, I'm going to let it sit for a few minutes, then we're going to see the results together.
Okay I've let them soak in the photo flo for a few minutes just for good measure, and now
I'm ready to open up the first tank.
This first tank here was the stand development.
I literally poured the chemicals in and then poured it out again.
Again, with nothing to compare it to...
who's to say.
I'm going to hang this one up and check the next one.
Okay next one I'm opening up is normal agitation, that's agitation for the first minute and
ten seconds for every minute after.
This one, looks like it has more contrast.
Okay we're actually seeing results this time, fantastic!
Okay first two strips are hanging up there, and here's the final tank, which I agitated
for the entire six minutes, uh, I'm really really curious to see what we find here.
That look darker, than the rest, that definitely looks darker than the rest.
Like it's not earth shattering, but I am seeing a difference this time, maybe, maybe it's
psychosomatic, maybe I'll get to the scanner and I'll find that, no there's no difference.
So the next thing to do now is to get these things dry, and then on the scanner.
Okay the negatives are dry, I stuck them on the light table, lets have a look.
Okay even from back here you can see that the non agitated strip is very different from
regular agitated strip.
There is a difference between the regular agitation, and the constant agitation, but
we're going to have to look closer for that.
Here's a sample from the stand development.
This sample is from standard agitation.
And here's one from constant agitation.
I'm going to scan these into the PC now, and have a closer look.
When I initially scanned my images I found that they looked pretty similar, more similar
than they did on the light table, and, I figured that even with almost everything turned off
on the scanners software, it's still going to sort of "auto correct".
So the only way I could go around that was to cut a single negative from each strip,
put them side by side on the scanner, and not highlight them at all, just scan the entire
thing, uh, so here are the results from that.
You can see with no agitation it's really bland.
The blacks aren't black, and the highlights aren't white.
With normal agitation, it's just that, normal.
Interesting how the [constant] agitation method, to me at least, looks the best, I just thought
that was interesting, but again, you see that is more contrast.
So there you have it, increasing your agitation frequency will increase the contrast in your
final image.
So in this case I used Kodak Tri-X 400 in HC-110 Dillution B. Depending what film and
developer you use, your results will vary.
I hope you enjoyed this episode, if you did, please remember to like share and subscribe
and until next time, stay classic.