processing subminiature film in ID11/D76 or Rodinal?

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NickT

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I'm currently disposing of some film cameras on ebay that I rarely or never use. Having got a good price for a couple of Canon A1s, my attention has now turned to a never used Minox B. I have a roll of Minopan and a Minox tank plus some standard developers like ID11 and Rodinal. I won't sell anything that I haven't tested and processed the results. I know 8x11 really requires a specialist fine-grain developer, the name of which escapes me but I'm not willing to splash out for a one-off use.

I know that the selenium meter is stuffed, effectively turning it into a Minox A but I would like to see if it does at least produce something on the negatives. Exactly what I, or a prospective purchaser, will do with the negs, I don't know. I haven't got access to a darkroom with a suitable enlarger or a scanner that could cope with such a small frame. I guess it will come down to holding the strip up to the light an viewing through a magnifying glass.

The film I have is maybe 7 years old and rated at 100 ASA, the ID11 will be fresh. I'd much appreciate well founded suggestions as to processing time/temperature in ID11. I also have some fresh Rodinal, though I'm guessing ID11 might be better.
 
If it were me, I'd take the ID11 route. I only use Rodinal myself, but the problem from your point of view is that Rodinal is anything but fine grain, and my negatives are roll film or larger, where grain isn't a big problem. Rodinal will give you a good, sharp, clear negative, but it won't take as much enlarging as ID11 would allow.

On the other hand, being able to focus on grain when you view a print makes it appear subjectively sharper than a finer grained film would give.

As a further thought, if you're not really planning to do much with the negatives anyway, the Rodinal route would be a lot more economical as I imagine the developer volume will be small.
 
I processed a roll of Minopan 100 (unknown heritage) that came with a Minox B I used to own in Rodinol. It's impossible to know if the developer had a negative effect but the results weren't bad considering how small the negatives are!

Minox B - Expired Minopan 100 by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

Minox B - Expired Minopan 100 by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

Minox B - Expired Minopan 100 by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

I also made my own negative carrier that dropped into the 120 holder for my Epson flatbead scanner which gave reasonable results;

 
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Those negs look surprisingly good. I think I'll try 1:100 stand in Rodinal for about an hour and see what comes out. I'll check the prices that they're going for and maybe make a job lot of camera, measuring chain and tank starting at a hundred pounds, if the negs look OK. I'll make sure that I mention the bust meter though.
 
I managed to get some results from the Minox after a walk round town this morning. I developed the film in Rodinal at about 50-100: 1 for about an hour. The results are nowhere near as good as yours Steve but at least I know the camera works at 1/00th sec and at 1/30th. It focuses too (just about). The negs were impossible to make lie flat when taped into my 35mm carrier for a Dimage Scan Dual. I thought I had shutter fault at first as several frames had a light band down the side but it was just due to the negative bowing.

IF I do sell it on ebay, I don't know what a buyer would use for film or how they could get prints from the negatives. It's certainly a real effort to get output from this camera. I'm sure that it has joind the ranks of number stations and been redundant for espionage purposes for many years now. I wonder how many photographic technicians got bullet in the back of the neck from the KGB for messing up the development? It's not easy loading that little tank.

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The photo of the statue is a crop of about half the frame. I don't think I'd last long as a secret agent copying blueprints, as you can barely read the on I took of the local free paper.

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