Sharp grain and good resolution on high speed films

I'd like to find a formula of a developer to get big, but very sharp

grain and high resolution on fast films, like Neopan-1600. Rodinal

doesn?t work well on high speed films - the grain is BIG, but not

really sharp and resolution is not great. I heard that one FX

developer was formulated for fast films (FX-16?) Can someone tell

about this developer or something similar?

You really don't need to look to hard to get what you want. Fast films don't give as good resolution as do slower films, so don't expect too much there. If you want nice sharp grain, you don't need to look too far. Try some dilute XTOL (1+3) or D-76 (1+1 or 1+3)and see if that doesn't work for you.

Xtol, Clayton F76+ or DDX will work for wht you need.

My favorite combination for this has always been tmax 3200 (at EI 1600), in T-Max developer.

You might be disappointed with the Grain (lack of) with DDX & Xtol.

 

I have found that HC-110 is really interesting on Neopan 1600 in particular. The look of it

is in between Rodinal (but more Speed) and DDX (but more'character').

 

jmp

Thanks all!

Hi John, the HC-110 sounds interesting, that time, dilution, agitation etc.?

Vladimir,

 

ABC-Pyro is well known for its sharpness, beautiful tonality, and pronounced grain, but it might also result in a slight loss of speed, similar to Rodinal. ABC-Pyro is not typically used for rollfilm because most users find the grain objectionable when enlarged, and it can be a finicky developer, stored in 3 separate stock solutions, the sulfite being particularly susceptible to premature exhaustion. There are alternative formulae that offer similar, but more predictable characteristics, including Pat Gainer's wondefully simple Pyro-TEA, which consists solely of pyrogallol dissolved in TEA (triethanolamine) in a 7% solution, or 7g pyrogallol in 100ml of TEA. I use a 10% solution to simplify the math. Dilute the stock solution 1:50 with water to make a working solution, and start your testing at around 15-20min. Good luck.

 

Jay

Large black grains in a print mean large spaces between grains in the negative. Generally, this means grain are clumping. It is also generally the antithesis of high resolution. This is an observation, not a pronouncement. Maybe you will find exceptions to the rule, but I really think you will find that the larger the apparent grain, the poorer the actual resolution.

 

We do not normally see the resolution of which any particular film is capable without an optical aid of some sort. If you are looking for what we have come to know as apparent sharpness, the grain size is not as direct a factor. Edge effects come into play. In fact, some will say that an edge is not sharp if the edge effects are not apparent. Edge effects are analogous to the rise time effects on temporal square waves, which may include delay and overshoot among others. A really good audio amplifier and speaker system sounds much better than an artificially enhanced one. The better system has a much wider bandwidth, and a negative with superb resolution is analogous to a wide band audio system. System bandwidth is the range of frequencies over which the transfer function is nearly constant.

 

Enough lecturing.

Age, heavy metal rock and roll, and too much shooting (not the film kind) have limited my bandwidth somewhat. I also try to avoid completely non-scientific pronouncements, but based on a single roll of out-dated HP5, a too thin HP5 neg shot in available light and processed in FX2 resulted in one of the crispest 400 speed negs I've ever seen. Grain was obvious, but crisp and tight. It's not even a recomendation, but a possible avenue for exploration.

OK Patrick, you are right My question (revised) will be: which developer will give me the most pronounced edge effects on high speed films? ( Neopan-400, Neopan-1600, DElta-3200 etc)

I heard that the originator of FX- developers didn't recommend them for high speed film (EI>100) and made up a special developer (FX-16?) for high speed films - but I can't find any info regarding this FX-16 developer. I was going to try FX-1 or FX-2 from Photographers Formulary...