Fine Grain Liquid Developer

M

MinorTones

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Are there any good fine grain developers out there that arent in powder form? I'm looking to develop some Tmax p3200 and all I have is D-76 which i hear isnt great for developing that film.

Any suggestions?

-Mitch
 
Mitch, I haven't tried this yet, but when I shoot a roll of Tmax 3200 I have in the fridge, I'm going to use HC-110. Grain characteristics are similar to D76 but it's a more energetic developer that brings out a bit more of the inherent film speed (in my experience anyway).

I like using it 1:100 with agitation every 3 minutes for about 3x the stated times for Dil B.

I'd love to see what Rodinal does with Tmax 3200. It might be just the ticket when you WANT huge grain.

Gene
 
Well, it depends on what you mean by fine grain, and what you want out of the film.

The majority of the super fine grain developers are high solvent developers. For instance, my gut reaction to "fine grain" would be perceptol or microdol. D76 stock would fit, too. However, not only are those all powder, but they also cost you quite a bit of speed. There isn't much point in shooting TMZ if you have to shoot it at like 560 or 640 (TMZ is really an 800 or so speed film by ISO standards, so getting it to look normal in a speed-decreasing developer will bring you in even below that).

So, the question becomes which of the speed-enhancing developers will give you good speed but less grain. If you want liquid, I'd try DDX as a first stab. That's some pretty good stuff and while it's less solvent than D76, it is still technically a solvent developer.

allan
 
in response to Gene...I've actually seen a few examples of _Delta 3200_ in Rodinal that look quite nice. The increased acutance from the dev combines nicely with the "popcorn" grain of the film. I think it's a nice combination.

However, TMZ is supposedly tighter grain than Delta 3200 already, so it might overdo it.

allan
 
Well i'm not expecting the tmax 3200 to come out with perfect grain like an iso 100 film. I just want a developer, in liquid form, for these high speed films that wont make the images come out with HUGE grain. Moderate graininess is to be expected when using such films.

edit: I exposed the film at 3200. Thanks for the responses also.

My first thought was to buy some Microdol X, because I read that it is a good developer for the high speed films. When I saw it was powder I thought I should ask the RFF members for some suggestions on other options.
 
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Microdol will cost you at _least_ a stop in film speed. For instance, you'd shoot Tri-X at 200 as a starting point with it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone use it with something like TMZ, but perhaps some have.

I'd still vote for DDX (actually, I'd say Clayton F76+, as I've used more of that, but it's very similar to DDX).

allan
 
Ok I'm gonna do a little DDX research then. I bought the TMZ 3200 on a whim. I've never used it before, and usually stick to HP5 or Tmz 400.

I did take some important (to me) photos of old friends from NY so I want them to come out with some quality.

Again thanks for the suggestions.

-Mitch
 
PhotoDog, beat me to it! I use T-Max developer to develop T-Max film as well as other types of film. Yesterday I developed a roll of Tmax 100 in T-Max Developer. If you care to see the results go to my gallery and click on The Big Dig Folder. If you care to see a couple of T-Max 3200 photos shot at 3200 and developed in T-Max Developer, go to my gallery and click on the T-Max 3200 folder.
 
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