Film development for scanning

[borret]

When I had a darkroom, it was necessary to tailor film development to the type of enlarger used, i.e., condenser or diffusion. In general, a diffusion enlarger required about 20% more development than what was necessary for a condenser enlarger. As I no longer have access to a darkroom, I now scan my negatives and print them on an Epson R2880. Would it be accurate to say that a film that is intended for scanning needs about the same development as for a condenser enlarger?

 

[Roger Hicks]

If anything, even slightly less. And minimal exposure. But a lot depends on how good your scanner is.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

With a good scanner, meaning a real film scanner, not a flatbed, films developed to the right contrast for darkroom printed on either a condensor or diffusion enlarger scan fine. Scans always need contrast adjustment anyway, so the difference in contrast between a neg developed for a condensor or a diffusion enlarger isn't that great. That said, slightly lower contrast negs are usually easier to scan and edit.

 

[mfogiel]

You want to develop for a normal to less than normal density, however a negative, which is too flat will not be able to generate sufficient gradation in the mid tones. I agree with Roger, that somewhat shorter development usually works better, but on the other hand, if you also underexpose, you risk flat negatives, with pronounced grain in the shadows, which is not optimal. If anything, I overexpose routinely 2/3rds of a stop, and develop on the short side, without excessive agitation - 30 secs continuous, and then once a minute is enough for most developers, if the total time is not too short. Excessive agitation can block the highlights quite fast.

 

[John Bragg]

I have found that a negative given correct exposure and developed to minimise highlight blocking works well. For my use, Tri-X at Ei 200 developed in HC-110 H for 12 minutes @20c works well. I use less than normal agitation and my negatives need minimal post processing. I prefer to make the negative fit my workflow much like developing for a particular enlarger. Time spent making test exposures and adjusting development to produce YOUR ideal negatives is time well spent as it saves hard work making less than adaquate negatives fit later on.