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rkarlsba
23-Jul-2006, 15:28
Hi

I once saw a picture in lensworks by a photographer who was using a tiny aperture taking landscape pictures who were really brilliant.

I was wondering what sort of film that could be suitable for really fine-grain work. It looked like he was using T-Max or somthing from the look of it, but I don't know, IIRC the Delta 100 should be just as good.

Thanks for any input

roy

John Kasaian
23-Jul-2006, 15:35
My guess is TMAX 400.

philboard123
23-Jul-2006, 16:08
A good rule of thumb is the lower thee ASA the finer the grain..

robc
23-Jul-2006, 16:28
I have no idea what film was being used but if you want really fine grain then fuji acros is very good.

Ron Marshall
23-Jul-2006, 20:11
With LF a t-grain 100 speed film such as Acros or TMX will give grainless 16x20s. How big do you want to print? If you need much larger than this you can go to an 25 ASA film.

Capocheny
23-Jul-2006, 22:52
I have no idea what film was being used but if you want really fine grain then fuji acros is very good.

I'd second the Acros!

Old dogs CAN learn new tricks! :)

Cheers

Ted Harris
24-Jul-2006, 19:21
While I generally shoot ACROS and Ektapan sometime there is nothing like efke/Adox 25 ... it is a whole different world.

Eric Biggerstaff
24-Jul-2006, 19:34
I am a big fan of both Fuji Acros and Ilford Delta 100. I develop both in Ilford DDX and think they are wonderful films.

Good luck and have fun.

Ron Marshall
25-Jul-2006, 09:03
While I generally shoot ACROS and Ektapan sometime there is nothing like efke/Adox 25 ... it is a whole different world.

Ted, what developer do you recommend for the Adox 25?

rkarlsba
25-Jul-2006, 11:07
So, how will an Acros compare to an EFKE 25? The Acros being T-Grain should have some impact, but will this be enough to compare with the EFKE? or Gigabitfilm?

roy

Donald Qualls
25-Jul-2006, 20:01
Both Acros and T-Max 100, in optimum developers (XTOL as a first choice, according to Kodak) have *finer* grain than Efke 25. They don't, however, have the "almost ortho" sensitivity curve that some folks seem to like.

Gigabitfilm is quite another story -- I haven't shot that, but I have shot Imagelink HQ, which is capable of producing image quality in 16 mm that approaches that of fast film in 6x9 cm (and which is available in 4x5 from J&C Photo). If you need the ultimate in fine grain and are willing to deal with "exotic" developers (I use coffee, vitamin C, and washing soda -- pretty exotic, eh?), you'll have a very hard time beating the microfilm stocks, and Imagelink, at least, appears to have a perfectly ordinary Type B panchro sensitivity curve.

Jay DeFehr
25-Jul-2006, 22:48
To get finer grain than Tmax 100 or Acros, one has to go to a document film like Technical Pan or one of the films Donald mentioned, or a copy film like Kodak 5302 Fine Grain Release Positive, and deal with the quirks of a film not intended for pictorial photography. Efke 25, or 50, or Pan F+ will not do it, despite their slower speeds. I'm a big fan of these super-fine designer grain films developed in full-speed acutance developers. We've really got it good.

Jay

Ted Harris
26-Jul-2006, 11:25
I'm no tsure it is as much a question of finer grain as it is one of "different" grain. I have never used any of the films Donald mentioned but have used Tech Pan a lot over some 30+ years and it is a very nice film for specific purpposes. I could go into a long discussion of the technical differences between Acros/TMax and EFKE 25 and Tech Pan in terms of their inherent contrast, tonal range, etc. but ti would be a much better idea for you to try some and decide for yourself. How you shoot the fil and how you process it makes such a big difference that your experiences will only mirro rmine if you do it all exactly the same as I do it.

As for developing EFKE 25, I use Rodinal 1:50 and sometimes 1:100. I process in a Jobo ATL 2300 and have a couple of different programs at different tempeatures, rotation speeds and times.

Ole Tjugen
26-Jul-2006, 12:25
Ted, what developer do you recommend for the Adox 25?
Ted recommends Rodinal, I recommend Neofin Blau (or "Beutler's"). Until you've tried the developer that was made for the original version of the film, you haven't seen what it can do.

The grain may not be "finer" than with Rodinal, but it is "tighter". The gradations are the best I've ever got out of any film/developer combination. The only reason I don't use it more is experimentation. I've using Rodinal a bit lately, but won't buy another bottle when this one is empty.

Jay DeFehr
26-Jul-2006, 13:11
Ole,

I went through a bottle of Rodinal too, and that was enough for me. I've shot some Efke 25, with good results, but prefer designer-grain films and all the advantages that come with them. To each, his own.

Jay

genecrumpler
28-Jul-2006, 08:39
I've used Gigabyt film in both 35 mm and 4x5. In 35mm, it was as good as Techpan. But I stopped shooting 35mm about the time that tech pan went belly up. I was hoping for a gigabit 120 film. I had some interaction with the Inventor of Gigabite, but 120 will never see the light of day, one becasue of digital and, two Ludwig needed$120,000 to produce 120 film. Agfa has also gone under, who made the film for him.

4x5 is another story. First the Cost. I paid $155 for 50 sheets and the developer(Weak dollar didn't help). I was able to resolve 156 lp/mm with a pentax 67 lens (best lens I own). The problem is that LF lenses can't resolve this well. So it is pretty much a waste for ordinary 4x5 work. If you want to enlarge optically to 50x60 inches, there might be a benefit.

Unless Ilford picks up Gigabyte film, I'd forget it!

FWIW