Delta 400 pulled to 200

[caesar_augustus]

I want to try pulling Delta 400iso to 200iso.

 

I know this will make a finer grain print but will the rest of the image suffer

in an effort to make it a finer grain? Is there a way to pull it to 200 and

make it contrasty all at the same time?

 

I am shooting 6x4.5 and using, currently, rodinal. The Ilford techsheet gives a

time for delta 400 pulled to 200, but I normally already pull 400 speed film to

320 or sometimes even 250. The developing time goes from 9 minutes to 6 minutes

when pulling it a stop, but really I would only be pulling it 1/3rd of a stop

but hacking off 3 entire minutes of developing time, doesn't seem right.

 

Should I set the ISO meter on the camera 160 or 125 and use the 200EI develoment

time ?

[caesar_augustus]

oh and I want to make 11x14 prints on FB paper

[alanastonish]

When you shoot at box speed, such as iso 400 in this case, you're placing your subjects in V. By shooting at a lower iso (200), you're exposing your film to more light by placing your subjects at VI, making everything "brighter".

 

If you were to stick with the iso 400 dev. times, you would overexpose your film. What I suggest you do is to take the iso 400 times, and decrease it by 30%. You should also meter for 200, because that's what you're developing at, right? You don't want to overexpose your film, do you?

[bernie_baraba]

You could try developing it in Perceptol, stock or 1+1. It will certainly give finer grain than Rodinal and 200 will be your "normal" EI, so there is no loss in contrast.

 

Or, since you already found out that your EI in Rodinal is really 250-320, try it at 200 and only shorten development by 1-2 minutes.

[ronald_moravec1]

You will still get a full range of tones at 200. Local contrast will suffer a little while shadow detail will come up.

 

Minus 20% is the standard correction for a one stop pull.

 

Since all rodinal provides is 320, shoot at 160 and cut the time 20 %.

[User_502260]

You are not guaranteed to get finer grain by simply oberexposing the film by one stop and reducing developing time. You can get planty of shadow detail and still decently fine grain by shooting the film at 400 and developing it in undiluted Ilford Microphen. If you are going to use undiluted Perceptol or Microdol-X then you will lose about a stop and you will have to shoot the film at 200. A Zone System approach is easier to implement with sheet film because each shot can have custom exposure and developing. Pulling film is generally used as a technique for handling very contrasty lighting. If you are in very bright light or can use a tripod then a slower film like Pan F+ will give much finer grain even in the 6X45 format.

[bruce_watson1]

By over exposing a stop and under developing a stop you end up at the same place density wise. I haven't personally done the experiment, but I think you'll also end up in the same place graininess wise. This is why I think that:

 

The biggest factor in graininess is the film itself or more properly graininess is a characteristic of the emulsion. You can effect this to some degree by developer choice (solvent vs. acutance developer for example), processing temperature, etc.

 

The next biggest factor is density -- graininess is directly related to density. You can lower graininess in this case by exposing normally (at 400) and developing for a one stop pull. This will lower your Dmax which in turn will lower graininess to some degree.

 

But if decreased graininess is your goal and you need an EI of 200 for some reason, I'm thinking you'll get better results (that is, less graininess) by pushing a slower film up to EI 200 rather than pulling a faster film down to EI 200.

 

The only way to know for sure of course is to do the work -- run the experiments and find out. Why guess when you can know?

[caesar_augustus]

Alan I know about the Zone System.

 

And shooting at 400iso isn't placing subjects in zone V because it isn't a true 400iso

[chris_waller]

I've shot Delta 400 at 200 ASA and devved in Rodinal. Yes, the dev time is 6 minutes according to my notes. Contrast was low but I was shooting on a fairly bright day so I needed to reduce the contrast. So, I'd also go for about a 20 percent cut from the 400 dev time; this way you'll get more contrast. All that said, you could just dev for 6 minutes and then print at a grade 3-3.5.

[john_elder1]

Since you are using Rodinal, the true film speed of Delta 400 is probably EI 200. Every film I have ever developed in Rodinal had a reduction in true film speed. It should work great, although I haven't shor Delta. Hp5+ developed in Rodinal has a true film speed of EI200 according to my testing with a Densitometer.

[caesar_augustus]

Thanks John