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Thread: Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

  1. #1

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    Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

    Hello,


    Seeking your advice on 4x5 B&W film/developer combo - with a longer term aim of producing a very large DSLR scan

    Am a new LF learner currently using Delta100 & DDX - however have read some people saying that DDX was perhaps softer than other developers

    Is there a particular combo you would recommend to capture the finest details? (FWIW using Linhof Master Technika & Apo Sironar N 150 atm)


    Cheers

  2. #2

    Re: Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

    You're already in great shape just by nature of shooting 4x5. The DDX/D100 combo is a very good one, however you can save a little money by going to XTol. It should be fairly similar to what you get with DDX.

    Others may have different opinions but when it comes to tabular grained films, you can safely use standard developers such as Xtol or D76. If you wish to start using a traditional grained films such as FP4+ you may see improvements by trying extended development techniques with developers such as Rodinal, Pyrocat HD, or similar.

    At the end of the day though, Delta 100 is a fine film. It'll keep up with whatever you wish to throw at it. For my part I use more creative techniques and developers when it comes to roll film, where the degree of enlargement is higher. With 4x5 and 8x10, I make my life easy. XTol or D76 and a Jobo. If I was going past 40x50 with 4x5 I might try a little harder, but then again if I was going past 40x50 I would just use 8x10 or like you're doing now, Delta 100.

  3. #3
    Arca-Swiss
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    Re: Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

    The one issue is that B&W film as well as transparency film, still has silver in the negative or transparency. When you scan it this metal causes some light scattering which flattens sharpness at ajacencies of tone and also cause a bit of a loss in apparent sharpness. The negative offerings of today are extremely sharp and have no silver left in them. The image is formed by dye clouds which are more or less translucent, and thus no light scattering.

    another issue of course with large prints is the aperture the image is photographed at. As one stops down, diffraction rises, and so the image loses sharpness.
    Just some thoughts.
    Rod
    Rod Klukas
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  4. #4
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Re: Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

    I would stick with what you're doing. Delta 100 + DDX (or Xtol) is an excellent combo. TMX might be slightly finer-grained, but I bet this difference will be swamped by the other variables in your system. Scanning and sharpening, in particular, will have a huge impact on the end results.

    In its heyday, Kodak did more extensive photographic testing and research than anyone else. Film has three main characteristics that are affected by development: speed, grain size, and sharpness (how the edges of the grain appears.) I'm talking about 'photographic grain', the appearance of granularity in a print. I'm not talking about grains of silver which are too small to see.

    For decades, Kodak held that the developer which gave the highest speed, smallest grain, and good sharpness was D76. You could get more of one area, such as speed, but you'd lose ground in the other areas with some other developers. Rodinal, for example, gives higher sharpness but slower speed and larger grain than D76, all developed to the same Contrast Index.

    Microdol-X, on the other hand, gives finer grain than than D76 at the cost of slower film speed and less sharpness.

    In the 1990s, Kodak embarked on what turned out to be it's last major research into developers. The goal was to improved on D76. That lead to Xtol, which gives slightly higher film speed than D76 with slightly finer grain and equal sharpness. The differences, though, are quite small. It's my understanding that DDX is Ilford's answer to Xtol.

    To sum up, you could use D76 or any of it's clones. It's an excellent all-purpose developer. Xtol (and presumably DDX) will give slightly finer grain and more speed, but we're talking about at most a 1/3 stop increase.

    If film speed isn't important, you might try a fine-grained developer such as Microdol-x or similar. Grain will appear less sharp, but you can greatly change the look of grain through various digital processes.
    Last edited by Peter De Smidt; 28-Dec-2019 at 10:27.
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
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  5. #5

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    Re: Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

    I've never used DDX with Delta 100, but I think there's something truly magical that happens with Delta 100 in Clayton F-76+! It's one of my favorite combos. I doubt that you'd see any huge gains with this combo over DDX, but thought I'd mention it.

  6. #6

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    Re: Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

    There is a major problem with your question. There is no single combination which is better for all users, or even a single user. I learned 70+ years ago to keep several developers available. Currently there are between 5 and 8 in the darkroom which can be ready for use within a few minutes. Each piece of exposed film has its own needs.

  7. #7
    Huub
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    Re: Best B&W Film/Developer combo - for big enlargements via DSLR scanning

    The Delta100 is an excellent film to shoot fine detail. I always developed it in XTOL 1+1 and on smaller formats that combo was good enough to show all the flaws in my Pentax prime lenses.

    In your case i would not worry too much on the fim-developer combo, but invest more in optimising the rest of the process. There are loads of ways to create unsharpness in 4x5, like using a tripod not suited for it's task, film flatness issues, focussing problems, wind when you are working outside and at least a dozen more options.

    A second thing to consider is that working with a 4x5 has it's own learning curve. I found it very different from using 35mm and even 6x6, needing more careful planning and handling of the camera to create nice images. Mastering it will take some time and effort!

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