Controlling contast in slow B&W film

[srtiwari]

I was looking to buy some Efke25 and have some Pan F and TechPan. Are there specific developers , & or techniques to reduce contrast and get long grayscale tonality ?

 

[sculpin]

Some years ago. I purchased a 1000 sheets of Versapan, 4x5 film. Rated at iso 125.

In testing the film for speed. The end result was iso of 25 to have shadow detail and processing for the highlights.

Use a Kodak gray scale with 19 steps. Adjust the expose and developing times to capture the full scale.

Good luck.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Reduced dev time (or lower temperature or less agitation or any combination thereof). Failing that, low-energy (typically metol-only) developers.

Cheers,

R.

 

[charjohncarter]

Roger, I used H&W film with there own developers 30 years ago. They said it was a ortho or copy film very high contrast and that their proprietary developer would full scale it, is that what you are accomplishing with this formula? Or am I at another ballgame?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Roger, I used H&W film with there own developers 30 years ago. They said it was a ortho or copy film very high contrast and that their proprietary developer would full scale it, is that what you are accomplishing with this formula? Or am I at another ballgame?

That was it. Probably POTA or a POTA variant: POTA is 1.5 g Phenidone, 30g sulphite, per litre. E.g.

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-build_image?bg=%

Obviously Phenidone-only is much like metol-only.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Trius]

Another approach would be water bath development, though with roll film that would probably be a big PITA. I think we're talking 35mm here, and development by inspection would drive me nuts smaller than 120; not sure I could do it with anything smaller than 4x5.

 

[FPjohn]

Hello:

Rodinol at 1:100 might be a place to start.

yours
FPJ

 

[Silva Lining]

When I'm developing Ilford PANF exposed at 50ASA I usually under develop by an amount equivalent to a stop.

 

[thetooth]

try developing pan f in technidol it's a low contrast developer . i just did and was happy with the results .http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54965

 

[srtiwari]

Thetooth,
I do like the look of the pictures you posted, but am looking for even less contrast.

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks Roger, it sounds like you could still do that with D-76 and ortho or copying film.

 

[charjohncarter]

thetooth, those are great, much better than I did 35 years ago.

 

[thetooth]

Thetooth,
I do like the look of the pictures you posted, but am looking for even less contrast.

you may be able to tone down the contrast even more with that developer by means of less agitation , cut down on development time a minute or so , and temperature adjustment .

i was just curious to try the combination since tech pan is gone and i have technidol left over . i probably will never do it again . i actually like the high contrast of pan f .

good luck in your search

 

[Trius]

Hello:

Rodinol at 1:100 might be a place to start.

yours
FPJ

Thanks. I wanted someone else to say it. 😀

 

[gns]

Slower films just don't seem to respond to shorter dev. times like faster films.
At least that's my experience (with Tri-x and Plus-x).
Is this generally true? If so, can someone explain why?

Thanks,
Gary

 

[rlouzan]

http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=008HLQ

 

[Roger Hicks]

Slower films just don't seem to respond to shorter dev. times like faster films.
At least that's my experience (with Tri-x and Plus-x).
Is this generally true? If so, can someone explain why?

Thanks,
Gary

Dear Gary,

Yes.

The difference is between 'long toe' and 'short toe' curves.

Fast films have a long 'toe' to the D/log E curve: quite a range of exposure where changes in development have quite large effects on the slope (contrast) of the least-exposed parts of the curve, before they affect the so-called 'straight line portion'.

Slow films have a short toe, so the effect is much more dramatic, much quicker.

Look at

http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photoschool/ps neg density.html

for more about D/log E curves.

Cheers,

R.

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks Roger, I have read that before, but I have to do it again to refresh. Your wife's article on pushing film in this months B&W Photos was really good. It almost made me want to push film, but not enough to actually do it.

 

[gns]

Thanks Roger.

So all slower films are less responsive to contractions? I shoot a lot in contrasty situations and have just never had great success taming the highlights with slower film (though I have not experimented a lot).

Is there a popular recipe for a 100-125 speed film / dev combo that you would recommend?


Gary

 

[Roger Hicks]

It almost made me want to push film, but not enough to actually do it.

With age comes wisdom. You must be getting older...

Cheers,

R (+ a smile from Frances)