Developer for better highlight seperation w/ HP5

[brian steinberger]

I'm currently using D-76 1:1 with HP5 and some of my recent negatives are a bit flat in the highlights. Since many people in this forum shoot HP5 and FP4 I was wondering if anyone knows of, or is using a certain developer that gives better highlight seperation (a shorter shoulder) with this film.

[ronald lamarsh]

I've never really experienced this problem with either film. You stated that recently you have run into this problem or should I say lately. Have you changed any of your other procedures?
I have never used D-76 so I cannot comment about it. I have used D-23,PMK Pyro,Beutlers,Rodinal and the Stoeckler 2- bath formula and have never felt that I experienced a highlight separation problem. In fact if developed to the same contrast levels for printing I really don't see any difference in any of these developers at my modest enlargement ratios(4x max). I know this will cause a great stir and argument but differences in developers in my opinion are subtle at best when doing modest enlargements from large format negs. 35mm is a different story though.

[Bill_1856]

Any compensating or staining developer wil work extremely well. PMK and Diafine come to mind.

[N Dhananjay]

If I understand you correctly, you want better lcoal contrast in the highlights, a shorter, steeper shoulder. HP5 unfortunately, in my experience, is a film that does have a bit of a shoulder. You might want to try FP4, or if you cannot live with the speed loss, TMax400. If you want to stick to HP5, a staining developer like ABC or Pyrocat HD is probably your best bet to increase the local contrast in the highlights relative to the rest of the curve. Compensating developers will exacerbate the problem. Cheers, DJ

[brian steinberger]

D-76 1:1 is giving me great sharpness ( hence the reason to dilute) and I'm hesitant to give it up. If HP5 does have a long shoulder than is there a paper that might help the problem? I'm currently using Ilford MGVI glossy FB. If not, then I guess I could look for another fast film. I just prefer the additional speed, and since I'm only printing to 11x14 from 4x5 it doesn't matter at all. Tmax is too finicky from what I heard. I used tmax 100 and got some good results, but I'm not consistant enough with temp and processing, that's why I like D-76 with tradition emulsions (HP5, Tri-x), it's very forgiving.

What about Forte, Foma, Efke.. etc? Any of those manufactuers making any nice 200, 400 speed films in 4x5? Anyone with any experience?

[brian steinberger]

I just looked on Ilford's website and saw that their characteristic curve for HP5 has a very short should, while the curve for FP4 has a long shoulder. So going by that info, HP5 has better highlight seperation. I know the curve may change based on developer, temp... etc. but that gave me a general idea. How can I create and plot my own curve? Does anyone do that?

[Marko]

Brian,

There's two Ilford developers that you may want to try: DD-X (liquid) and Microphen (powder).

I haven't tried DD-X yet but I heard it does exactly what you are looking for. Microphen, on the other hand is a speed-increasing developer which will give you one full f-stop at its most conservative use.

[tim atherton]

I would give DD-X a try either the 1:4 or 1:9

[brian steinberger]

Marko & Tim, I'd rather use a high-energy film developer to keep the sharpness. I think fine grain developers look mushy. Tim, will diluting any fine grain developer make it more of a high energy developer? That's why I dilute D-76 1:1.

[Marko]

Brian,

I loved my HP5 in Microphen... Granted, it was 20+ years ago, right before it became "Plus" and it was 35mm, pushed two or even three stops in extreme cases for low available light, but I still remember how much I liked the contrast and tonality of it.

If you don't like the look of your particular combo, you can either try to change ISO/development time/development method combination OR you can try and change film/developer combination.

Either way, you won't know what works for you until you try it. Since you are already settled on your film, trying out different developers and times is not really all that expensive.