Tired of my old style of b/w photography

[philip_woodcock]

Hi everyone

 

This is my first post in years. Over the past few years I've gone over to the

dark side and been shooting digital, yes I'm a total traitor especially to my

old LeicaFlex SL.

 

However a few weeks ago I bought a film scanner (plustek 7200) and I've

playing around with that. I noticed that I think the reason I stopped shooting

monochrome was that I got bored of my style of processing. Now I'm looking for

a few ideas to get my joy back.

 

I've always used Kodak Tri-X and I've had my LeicaFlex for 14 years.

In my early days I always used to dev in ID-11 and I quite liked that stuff.

I tried HC-110 for a bit and I didn't really like it. Then it just Rodinol as

I went on a total GRAIN'fest.

 

Having used digital for a while I'm now used to having the detail BIG GRAIN

denied me. So.... what I suppose I'm looking for is a fine grain developer

that will allow me to shoot Tri-X at 1600. Any suggestions?

[daniel_mooradian]

diafine. itll last forever, 3 minutes in part A 3 min in part B for tri-x at 1600

[mark f]

xtol is probably your best bet.

[michaelging]

You are going to get many opinions on this , here is mine, FG7 1 to 15 with a 1% solution of Sodium Sulfite.

[mikeseb]

Delta 3200 at EI 1600; tri-x; Xtol regardless.

[big toys are better]

Need fine grained and sharply detailed images of superb quality? Try Ilford Pan F or Efke 25 in Rodinal at dilution rations of 1:50 to 1:200 (push slightly to increase contrast without adding too much grain, or use your film at about 80% of rated speed and the developer at the higher dilutions and with longer times between agitation to conquer contrast issues). That will give you something spectacular to scan with your new Plustek 7200.

[larrydressler]

See if you like any of these then if you do let me know I will tell you what I used.

 

http://www.photo.net/photos/LarryDressler

 

Larry

[frank.schifano]

Diafine is probably the best you can do in terms of speed with Tri-X. Whether or not the grain will be fine enough for you is another issue. I do not think that any other developer will deliver as much shadow detail with Tri-X at EI 1600 as Diafine will. Sure you can use higher EI's with other developers, but shadow detail will be thin to non-existant and I don't think that the grain in whatever image is captured will be appreciably less coarse.

[josepmiro]

Try Microphen

[underexpos]

Acufine 1:1 or Microfine will do the trick. But try this. D-76 1:3 or 1:4 with very soft agitation

once a minute for 20 min or more. Keep pushing the Dev time until your prints have good

rich contrast on a grade 1 most of the time. The low Grade will keep the grain down. It's a

long process but the look and feel of it could win you heart back.

[big toys are better]

Ryan appears to be using a modified "stand" technique with diluted D-76 that I use more brutely with Rodinal on fine grained films. By this I mean his high dilution reduces the sodium sulfite concentration and both its sovent action as well as its preservative action. In doing so, the longer development time doesn't result in too much softening of the grain, and the reduced concentration as well as softer agitation allows the shadows to catch up to the highlights.

 

One has to be careful of silver replating due to the solvent action, and bromide drag as well, although his suggested careful agitation should prevent both. You might also be successful in stretching out the agitation to 2 minute intervals, but this increases the risks of replating and drag already cited.

 

Although it may have a somewhat adverse affect on the graininess of the images, a slight bit of overexposure might also be helpful. The cure for this, of course, is exposing a finer grained film.....

[big toys are better]

Oh, and Larry-- just about anything in the hands of an expert can make a nice image for low rez digital presentations. What makes for a great image on large silver or even digital presentations is adequate information in the image, whether in pixels or grains of silver. I've seen many original images in original form, including Ansel Adams' work such as his 16x20 enlargements of Moonrise over Hernandez. Detail counts, and that is what fine grained films do best when you start to enlarge beyond a postcard image.

 

In 35mm, and I do have lots of 35mm chromes and B&W negs, I was always happiest with the finest grained films I could use, most often Kodachrome 64 and either Pan-F or FP-4. I have rarely used any film at a rating faster than 100, and with the exception of fine grained films like my FP-4+ and remaining stocks of Afga 100 being pushed a bit to raise contrast, this is still true. I will admit to rarely using some Ektachromes at 400 and even 800-1000, or a few highspeed CN at 1000, and even TX and HP-5 at 1600, but these are rare and mostly learning lessons. The more I work with very large sheets, the more the 200-- 400 speed films begin to make some sense, but not enough to ignore much less abandon my fine grained favorites.