ugly grain... too much agitation?

[mooge]

hello,

I developed a roll of legacy pro 400 in HC-110 at 20 degrees... 5 mins... agitate the first 30 s then 5 s every minute after... the regular stuff.

anyways, this time I got really ugly grain. it looks like dots and is quite obvious in the mid tones. I've gotten smoother results with the same film pushed to 1600...

could anyone explain what I did wrong here? the only changes in my development I can think of would be either a wrong temperature or too much agitation...

thanks,
Eugene.

 

[astrosecret]

In my experience very slow and gentle inversions yield tighter grain. have you achieved better grain with the same formula and time? seems awful quick for dev, quick dev is known to increase the appearance of grain in general. temp would obviously either speed up or slow down your dev time so it's possible that your temp was off and you didnt dev for the proper time. i'd never use a dilution that devs quicker than 10min but it could just be my superstition

 

[mooge]

okie, looks like agitation it is. I was kind of... enthusiastic... with it that time. hmm.

5 mins is actually the 'reccommended' time for HC-110 at dil B (the sorta-standard). It usually works fine... I think?

thanks!

 

[presspass]

Do you always use HC-110? This is more of an acutance developer. Sometimes D-23 or D-76 gives less grain. Enthusiastic agitation can also increase grain.

 

[degruyl]

It could also be that your developer is too hot, or that your chemicals are at different temperatures. This could (possibly) cause reticulation. This is unlikely, but a possibility.

 

[taylan]

It could also be that your developer is too hot, or that your chemicals are at different temperatures. This could (possibly) cause reticulation. This is unlikely, but a possibility.

Beside the above, check your temperature of tap water (rinsing water). It can be very cold in winters and sudden temperature changes caused this problems you mentioned. Also sudden temperature changes may crack your film surface.

 

[rover]

Strickly speaking of the short development time....

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

I have always used Dilution H you will find on the Covington site with good results. This will give you much more margin for error in your process.

This is a worthy read too. Take a look at the links to John's photostream for examples of the results from his processing.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100287