Smooth & Grainless? what film & Dev?

[joeyjoe]

Hi All,

I've been doing alot of experimentation with films and developers. I've gone through some D76, Rodinal, and Hc-110. For Films, I've done Delta 100, 400, 1600, HP5, FP4 and some TMax400.

For uber-grain, I really like my HP5+ in rodinal 1+25.

Now I'm looking for the exact opposite. I want smooth tonality & minimum grain. Looking to use it for portraiture.

I've been told that Xtol is a good dev. for eliminating grain... is this true? What film do I want to use it with?

Right now I've got some Delta 100 and some PanF 50 sitting in my fridge... the only dev. I've got on hand at the moment is HC-110.

Examples would be great, if you've got them.

 

[Justin Low]

I find that 100TMAX and D76 (1+1) gives me a really smooth look. I've attached a scan and a high resolution crop.

My notes indicate that I rated this roll at EI100, and developed it for 5 minutes at 30°C.

 

[mkyy]

I've got good result with Acros + Rodinal. I heard it's even better with Xtol.

see full size here.

 

[Justin Low]

A little off-topic, but Mack, I really like your photos in the Flickr gallery. Nice stuff!

 

[Roman]

Joeyjoe,
none of the developers you use is particularly known for smoothness and fine grain - particularly HC110 and Rodinal are known for sharpness and huge grain, the exact opposite.

XTOL would be a better choice here, but I never found the results outstanding - and be aware of the 'sudden death'-syndrome with XTOL - the dev. suddenly stops to work without any signs like discoloration, it is said to depend on the quality of your water whether this happens - so, if you decide to go with XTOL, be sure to use distilled water for mixing.

Ilford Perceptol and Kodak Microdol-X would be the traditional choices for fine grain and portraits - but thier negative side is that they give very low actual film speed - expect to use most films at an EI that is less than half the ASA printed on the box.

My favorite choice and recommendation is Calbe A49 (also sold as Adox ATM49 now), a formula based on post-WWII Agfa Atomal. This developer gives very smooth grain, really pleasing, creamy, glowing skin tones, and best of all, it gives full box film speed with almost all films, can even be used for pushing. I use it at 1+1 dilution, the best compromise of economy and quality. I simply love it for portraits with Neopan 400, it works verywell with APX100, HP5+, Neopan Acros and 1600, Fomapan 100, and Kodak TMax P3200, and is said to be grat with Delta 100 and 400.
This would be my very first choice for fine grain and portrait photography, in the US you can get it here:
http://www.jandcphoto.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=107

Roman

 

[mkyy]

A little off-topic, but Mack, I really like your photos in the Flickr gallery. Nice stuff!

[off-topic] thanks!! always glad to know someone like it 😎 [/off-topic]

 

[M7IIPurist]

My longtime favorite: Pyro + FP4 or HP5

Try WD2D+ for variable contrast papers and PMK for graded papers.

 

[Ralf]

Perceptol is great for what you are after. FP4 is Perceptol 1+1 is much like you describe, although you will need to shoot at a lwoer ASA. If you require more speed, HP5 at 160 in Perceptol 1+1 highly recommended by Barry Thornton, and his book "The Edge Of Darkness" is a graet resourse for issues such as this.

The only sure thing in photography appears to be that what you gain in one area, you trade off in another. Perceptol is a very fine grain developer, at the expense of speed.

Cheers

 

[thpook]

Like someone said earlier, Acros + XTOL is very very nice.

 

[titrisol]

Xtol, DDX or Paterson FX39 would be the ones you need.
IMHO Neopan 400 in DDX will give you what you want

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Technical Pan if you want to go to the extreme (you can still find it), otherwise T-Max and T-Max developer diluted 1:9 is a good mix.

 

[einolu]

You can try APX 100 and Diafine. Its between 100 and 200 ISO (closer to 100) and its very smooth and grainless.

 

[tajart]

smooth/grain

smooth/grain

i've had good results w hp5+ in hc110 1:63 as per greg minochuk's recommendations. i'm always looking for a full range of smooth values.