Re: [Leica] Fine grain B&W

[Nathan Wajsman <nathan.wajsman@euronet.be>]

Greg,

Thanks for the advice. Rodinal has been my standard developer for a long time, but it is grainy, especially with high speed film. And scanning at high resolutions definitely makes the grain more pronounced. This is an important consideration for me now that all my prints are made digitally. I recently scanned an APX400 negative developed in Rodinal, and the grain was so strong that the scan is useless for printing larger than 4x6 inches. And even then the quality is really not satisfactory. I have concluded that for digital printing, the only acceptable 400 speed films are Ilford XP2 and Kodak T400CN (both are developed in C41 soup).

I have never used APX25 but now I have bought a few rolls and will try it with both Rodinal and Rodinal Special. As for Ilford Delta 100, I just finished a roll which I will develop in Ilfosol-S. According to Ilford's data sheet, for finest grain at EI=100, Ilfosol-S is the optimal developer (diluted 1+14). I will test this film with Rodinal as well.

Nathan


Greg Achenbach wrote:

> Hello Nathan
>
> I am by nature an experimenter with some experience with the films you have asked about. If grain is your main consideration then Tech Pan is your film.  There is no finer grain film available, however it is very unforgiving in both exposure and development. Although I am careful, I have not been able to obtain completely consistent results with Tech Pan using small tanks with manual agitation and Technidol. The film tends to high contrast and because vigorous agitation is required with Technidol, it is prone to develop faint surge marks along the sproket holes. You can learn how to properly control the film however it will take careful work and a few ruined rolls. Good results with Leica lenses are nothing less than spectacular.
>
> I have settled on APX25 as my fine grained film simply because there is more latitude in its use in my hands. I use XTOL as a developer, however there is no practical difference between XTOL and Rodinal that I can see either with a grain focuser or in the prints. I believe I saw a post recently from a fellow Lugger eXTOLing this combination. There is a warning however if you use XTOL with APX25 and that is to use the developer full strength and not diluted. The film has a beautiful range of tones and its grain  is very fine.
>
> Ilford Delta 100 is a beautiful film but the grain is not as fine as APX25. I have not used Ilfosol-S with it but I have used Rodinal with very good results. Everything is a compromise, and of course the extra speed with this film is a great advantage. I doubt that the grain structure differences between these two films would really show up in a scan but I will take your word for it that it may be important. I would encourage you to experiment and please let us know any of your results.  Good luck.
>
> Greg Achenbach