can film developing affect sharpness?

[MartinP]

I really can't remember having partial and irregular solarisation. Very puzzling. I can certainly remember out-of-focus pics after I dinked my Fed and before I realised the rf needed re-adjusting - but that was consistent of course, so easy to diagnose. I will watch with interest. Good luck finding the cause !

 

[Trius]

Where's Miss Marple when you need her? "The butler did it in the darkroom."

 

[back alley]

it looks like it might be a combination of things.

i took an om1 50/1.8 lens to use my loupe for this experiment.

first i looked at the fp4 negs. they were the flatest.
one thing to note, all this time i thought i was looking at delta 400 negs which are way less grainy and 'smoother' than what i'm getting from the fp4.
the negs looks sharp but they were more grainy. maybe the dev was too old or maybe i over agitated or maybe fp4 is more grainy by nature than delta 400. the scans looked ok, not as 'sharp' as i am used to but i think the grain might be causing that reaction from me.

the apx 400 negs also looked pretty sharp but the film is back to being very curled. maybe i didn't have them flat enough when i did the scans so it could be the scanning process.
i think i will take the negs and bury them under some heavy books and try again in a few days.

i also have some delta 400 negs here that i have not scanned yet. i may scan these and some 'known' negs and double check that the scanner is ok.

man this photography stuff can be hard work 😉

joe

 

[Trius]

FP4 is not known for fine grain (but has great tonality), but I don't know how it compares to Delta 400. Extended wet time can increase the apperance of graininess; did you perhaps wash longer than normal? If the emulsion swells more than normal it will give mushy grain.

 

[back alley]

i do a quick bath after a short soak in orbit bath.