Eeeeeeewwwwww!

[John Kasaian]

I printed some 35mm enlargements and some 8x10 contacts tonight...

So thats what grain looks like!

Eeeeeewwwwwwww!:eek:

[Keith Tapscott.]

I printed some 35mm enlargements and some 8x10 contacts tonight...

So thats what grain looks like!

Eeeeeewwwwwwww!:eek:
It all depends on what you call grain.:) I use 35mm a lot and I am generally pleased with the results and have many prints that I consider to be `sharp` and aesthetically pleasing. Those same films in larger formats should retain that character, but produce enlargements with a much smoother look. I will often enlarge 35mm Kodak HIE infra-red negatives on 11x14 Multigrade sheets with the print masking blades adjusted to make 8.5x12.5 inch enlargements and make the grain a feature. Even that film can be quite fine-grained.
Ed Buziak, the former editor of Darkroom User magazine and a well known freelance photographer in the UK had many of his 35mm enlargements featured on the box covers of Ilford photographic papers. http://blogs.salon.com/0004217/2004/11/04.html

As I said, large negatives provide that smooth plasticity that can not be matched by 35mm, but 35mm is still capable of producing some very nice images.

[D. Bryant]

I printed some 35mm enlargements and some 8x10 contacts tonight...

So thats what grain looks like!

Eeeeeewwwwwwww!:eek:
What developer are you using for 35 mm film?

Don Bryant

[John Kasaian]

What developer are you using for 35 mm film?

Don Bryant


These were souped in by a local lab in Tmax, the film is Agfapan 100 :)

[D. Bryant]

These were souped in by a local lab in Tmax, the film is Agfapan 100 :)
Well don't assume your lab is doing anything right with your film. Who knows what dilution of TMAX developer they are using - probably 1:4. Instead try processing with TMAX RS 1:7 or 1:9. But I've never used any Agfa B&W film except for Agfa Pan 25; I have no knowledge of the Agfapan 100 grain structure so your results maybe more of a result of the fim than the developer. I would also suggest using a diffusion light source for enlarging 35 mm negs if you aren't doing so already.

I've made 16x20 size enlargements with Ilford 400 Delta developed in PMK pyro with little visible grain. So the appearance of grain in an enlargement from a small negative depends on a lot of factors.

Don Bryant

[Ash]

I quite like grain......






....... :D

[Ron Marshall]

A good friend, who shoots 4x5 and 35mm, showed me a 20x24 print from 35mm TMZ at 3200. The subject was an old Asian temple, constructed of very rough stone, somehow it worked; the grain was obtrusive but not overwhelming.

[John Kasaian]

After a straight diet of 8x10 contact prints over the past two years, I'd forgotten how grainy small format enlargements can be by comparison.
Nothin' against grain---it just took me by surprise! :)