Which Developer for Pushing HP5+?

Hello photo world,

I am using HP5+ and I always push it mostly 2 stops. Right now I am using XTOL undiluted and I am getting very flat (as in no contrast)

and very little grain. The look I am after is this "gritty", contrasty, grainy look and I now know XTOL is a Fine Grain Dev but didn''t know

that when I ordered it.

tl;dr: What Dev do HP5 Experts recommend for pushing if you want to achieve a contrasty and grainy look?

Cheers Marius

What you are after is for the most part, not an attribute of the developer.

 

 

Contrast is increased by more agitation. Increase the frequency if required. Your developement may have to be adjusted.

 

 

Grain can be increased by faster development and abusive agition.

 

 

To get that look, you might even do a 3 stop push.

<p>As long as you have Xtol there, perhaps a more dilute solution would add to the effect you are after. It reduces the solvent effect of the developer. Perhaps you are already using diluted but if not, try increasing the dilution and increasing the time and see if it helps to achieve the look you're after.</p>

Increasing the dilution would lower the contrast and make the grain finer.

<p>Back in my film shooting days, my favourite developer to get the maximim grain was Agfa Rodinal</p>

<p>Already gave an 'excellent' coarse grain with Tri-X, but it became quite spectacular with Kodak TMZ 3200 <br /> Sounds like it could work out the same the same with HP5+</p>

<p>My recipe was to expose the film at 400 ASA (despite the nominal 3200 ASA value), developer dilution 1:50, development time 14 minutes at 20 degrees Celcius, with 10 second agitation per minute<br /> Of course with HP5+ you might need a different formula</p>

<p>Result would look like this<br>

(larger size with better visible grain at http://www.pbase.com/paul_k/image/159141665/large)</p><div></div>

<p>I think HP5+ grain in Rodinal looks a bit different from Tri-X, but it's been a while since I've used Rodinal for anything. Also consider Ilford's Delta 3200. I shot some expired stock last year and found it quite grainy in HC110 dilution B.</p>

I like HP5+ in Diafine. I like it exposed

at 640, which is pretty clean and grain

is not overwhelming. 800 and 1250

work well but are grittier and contrastier

-- which sounds like what you might

want.

<p>You should also consider Ilford DD-X</p>