Fine grain, good contrast B&W

[Steve George]

Hi all

I'm currently use a lot of Neopan 400CN - a contrast and a tonality I like a lot. I'm looking for a faster (and so less grainy for 10x8, maybe a little bigger) prints that has similar characteristics of tone and contrast...any suggestions much appreciated!

It'll primarily be for outdoor, environmental portraits.

Thanks

 

[markinlondon]

Steve, give Delta 400 a go.

I get an EI of 500 with full shadow detail in DD-X with very little grain at 10x8(ish). I switched from HP5 to get less grain and am considering dropping FP4 from my film list as well based on the results from Delta.

Mark

 

[Nick R.]

Faster and less grainy is a tough call. Perhaps, a silver based B&W film like HP5 or Trix souped in a solvent developer like Xtol straight up would do the trick.

 

[Steve George]

Sorry - I'm an idiot - SLOWER is what I meant, not faster! Thanks for such prompt replies though.

 

[markinlondon]

Oh, slower!

Try Delta 100 or FP4, Delta for almost grain-free enlargements with strong contrast, FP4 for long tonal scale but a little more apparent grain. I'm only mentioning Ilford products BTW as that's all I use.

Mark

 

[varjag]

C41 B&W films like T400CN or XP2 tend to exhibit less grain.

 

[egpj]

FP4, the more I use this film the more it impresses me. The more I shoot I find out that as long as I have good mid-tones that I can tweak things in Photoshop for everything else. Have only shot one roll of Delta 100. Did not like it at first but will have to shoot more.

 

[daveozzz]

I've heard that Pan F 50 is virtually grainless but I've never got round to shooting a roll - anyone got any experience of that one?

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Fuji Acros 100 should fill the bill and pushes well to ISO 200 if needed.


Todd

 

[Nikon Bob]

If Neopan 400CN is C41 film try rating it at 200 and have it processed as usual. This seems to work well with Kodak C41 B&W for me.

Bob

 

[Trius]

I shot a roll of Pan F+ last summer and processed it in DD-X. I bracketed exposure as it was a test roll, and it looks like an E.I. of 50 or maybe a tad more exposure is about right. I have only examined the negatives with a loupe, I have not made any prints. They look really nice, with virtually no apparent grain and full tonal scale.

I plan on shooting more and trying Rodinal as well.

Earl

 

[jano]

ditto on acros, but I seem to continue to get occasional "spots" on the film (possbly my developer) if I don't fix long enough.

 

[kaiyen]

if you're getting what appears to be grain on the fuji 400CN (which is actually kodak, I think), then you're underexposing. c41 B&W uses the same type of dye clouds that color c41 does, which means there technically isn't any grain at all. It's just underexposure.

So if you want no grain, just expose the 400CN at 200. There you go.

I prefer traditional b&w too, but that's a whole different path.

allan

 

[Nikon Bob]

allan

On some other sites people are saying that it is Ilford but nobody seems to know for sure what it is except that it has a Fuji name. I would like to try it but I don't think it is available in Canada.

Bob

 

[kmack]

You can try TMax 100 in D-76. The secret is to agitate the snot out of it. Shake that stuff like a martini!

Example image and a view at 100%