Which Dev for Enlargements ? Microdol-x/Perceptol or Rodinal/Beutler

[raytoei@gmail.com]

hi,

a question for all your film development Sifu(s) out there:

Which is better for enlargement ? Acutance based developers like Rodinal / Beutler or very fine developers like Microdol-X/Perceptol ?

I read that Helmut Newton uses Rodinal as it produces sharp enlargements. However I thought a very fine developer would be more appropriate ?

thanks

raytoei

 

[tlitody]

how big a print and from what size negative.
Fine grain developer will show the least grain but be a bit softer. Perceptol diluted 1+2 or 1+3 will work well. Diluted it is much sharper than when used as stock or 1+1 because diluting it reduces the solvent effect which causes softness. I suspect Xtol would also work well. Rodinal is not a fine grain developer but gives apparent sharpness. Use a slow film such as D100 or FP4. Xtol will probably be better with T-grain films such as D100 or TMax. Really depends how much grain you can tolerate. There is a trade off between sharpness and grain.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

hi tlitody, mainly medium format. My question is whether enlargements > 10x8 will benefit from Higher edge sharpness (as suggested by some) or by ultra-fineness or lack of grain.

thanks

raytoei

 

[newsgrunt]

I will take sharp grain over finer/softer grain re: enlargements pretty well all the time. Rodinal is my main developer for everything 35 and up and primarily 100 and 400 speed films. Tried Microdol X but never liked it.

 

[Tom A]

The size of the print is also dependent on how you view it. The rule of thumb is that viewing distance is the diagonal of the print size. If you are looking at a 16x20 or 20x24 print close up - it will show grain in most instances (even from a 120 negative).
Rodinal/Beutler works well up to about 11x14 size prints from a 35mm negative, a 120 neg can easily handle even larger sizes.
It also hinges on your skill as a printer. You can "modify" the look of the print in the darkroom, changing contrast etc. If the print holds a lot of detail, the Beutler/Rodinal combination works better, if it has a lot of mid-tones and large areas of it, the softer developers works better.
I suggest you shoot a couple of rolls of the same subject and develop in both. Print and see which is pleasing to you.
If you are doing portraits - stay away from surface type developers like Rodinal and Beutler as it will accentuate flaws. The softer developers are better for this.
Also try the old "tried and true" combination of D76. Not high acutance, but not as soft as some.
I have pulled 16x20's and even 24x36" prints from Neopan 1600 - up close they show grain - but from 2-3 feet away - they look fine. It is more a combination of film/developer/printing that affects the look than strictly film/developer choice.

 

[tlitody]

hi tlitody, mainly medium format. My question is whether enlargements > 10x8 will benefit from Higher edge sharpness (as suggested by some) or by ultra-fineness or lack of grain.

thanks

raytoei

yes but how big. I would suggest that from medium format rodinal will be fine enough but Xtol probably better. I wouldn't use perceptol unless you are making huge prints. Infact with Delta 100 to tonality is so smooth that it doesn't look normal with perceptol so even D76 or ID11 will work fine too, all the way upto at least 20x16 with good sharpness. If you go with a faster film stay away from rodinal unless you like some grain evident. So either 100 speed and rodinal,d76 or xtol, or 400 speed and xtol, d76 or perceptol. I don't think grain or sharpness will be a problem providing you get everything else right.
Only caveat is that if you are scanning to print then a fine grain developer such as perceptol or xtol would be best.

 

[sepiareverb]

Start with HC-110b and see how you like the prints. It's pretty neutral, and if you find anything lacking move toward a developer that will fix that.

 

[tlitody]

Start with HC-110b and see how you like the prints. It's pretty neutral, and if you find anything lacking move toward a developer that will fix that.

yes thats another option, for 35mm I'm not keen on HC110 but bigger formats it works great, especially 4x5 but I wouldn't say it was sharpest but it does give nice smooth tones.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

thanks for all the replies. I have brewed a batch of mic-x. hope to do some comparisons soon.

 

[tbm]

I have been using Microdol-X to process my Delta 100, Acros 100, and Tri-x (the latter set at speeds from 400 to 600) film for years and love it! I dilute it 1+3, heat it to 75 degrees, and process the aforementioned films for 18 minutes and get outstanding results!

 

[oftheherd]

The size of the print is also dependent on how you view it. The rule of thumb is that viewing distance is the diagonal of the print size.

...

That sounds good, but didn't Kodak in one of their publications also factor in the lens used, at least for 35mm film size?