how can i make finer grain on my negatives?

[nzeeman]

hell o
i have one question for u. i use universal developer for both negatives and photos(i dont have money for negative developer and enlarging developer separately) i use some yugoslavian no-brand universal developer. its name is UNIVERZAL. for film developing they recommend 1:9 mix with water and 5-7 mins in developer. and for enlarging 1:4 mix. what should i do to make as fine grain as possible? (different mix,different time...)
thanks in advance

 

[pshinkaw]

What size and kind of film are you using? A 1:9 mix sounds like Fomapan.

-Paul

 

[nzeeman]

i use 35mm film .
and 1:9 is universal for that developer they dont specify what kind of film. btw i use agfa apx 100 and efke 100.

 

[albrigh]

You want cheap?

Can't get much cheaper than this EFKE 25 (I think they get it from Croatia or somewhere near you) from J&C photo here in the US for less than $3 per roll, and then mix up some of your own developer that is a derivation of Rodinal, which you then use 1:100.

I made up 500 mL with common reagents that should cost less than $30. That will make up 50 L of negative developer. Let me know if you want me to dig up the recipe.

When I print at 8x10, I can't see any grain at all.

 

[pshinkaw]

If you are going to stay with the same developer and film that you are using now, you can minimize grain by being extremely consistent in your temperature control. Also try to develop as close to 20 degrees C as possible. Once you can do that consistently, you might try to expose your film at slightly lower or higher film speeds. It may be that you are trying to squeeze too much speed out of your film or possibly over-exposing it (too low a speed). Since camera shutters can vary considerably in actual speed from one specimen to the next, you should try and ascertain the optimal film speed for your developer and camera.

35mm photography can be one of the most frustrating ways to achieve fine grain photographs. If you are still not satisfied with the results, you might consider going to medium format such as a Flexaret and 120 film. The larger negative will solve a lot of your grain problems immediately and with a lot less work.

-Paul

 

[ZeissFan]

Another inexexpensive developer is Adox ATM 49 (Agfa Atomal equivalent). It's a very fine-grained film developer. I've used it to process several types of film, including TMax 3200. I was quite pleased with the results.

 

[gns]

I'm not familiar with that developer but in general...
Shorter dev. time will give you finer grain, but also lower contrast (bringing down the highlight areas).

Gary

 

[varjag]

If you can find some metol and sodium sulfite, you can mix up D-23, a simple and fine grain developer:
Metol - 7g
Sulfite - 100g
Water to make 1L

Dissolve a pinch of sulfite in 1/3 l of warm water, throw in metol and then the rest of sulfite; fill up with cold water. Rate your film at half of the box speed and use 1+3 dilution for fairly fine grain. A good starting point for a 100 ISO film at this dilution would be 18 minutes; check out the massive dev chart if it lists a speed for your particular film.

High sulfite content in D-23 makes for physical development, thus lowering the visible grain.

 

[nzeeman]

thanks a lot guys. you were very helpful