New to Film Processing. Mainly happy, but......

skida

I finally bit the bullet and bought a home developing kit that came with Ilford Simplicity. I was pleased with my first results and so I bought Ilfosol 3 and used it for the next few films, again I was pleased with the results, though grain was quite apparent in all the films. I have now decided to try Ilfotec LC29 for my next batch of films.

Is Ilfosol inherently grainy? Or is it because of my temperatures may have been up to 1C over? I use tap water for mixing, but use filtered water for final wash - could this be an issue?

An example of Tri-X at box speed develped in Ilfosol 3:

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kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

How much did you agitate the tank?

skida · Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 12:44 pm Post subject:

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I guess you could call me Old School when it comes to B&W development. For about 40 years I have used either Tri-X or Plus-X Pan (which is no longer available) with Kodak D-76 developer. I was almost a complete noob when I shot my first roll of B&W, but from the beginning and ever since, I have developed all my B&W film -- I've never sent it out.

Assuming your above photo was shot with 35mm film, it looks a lot like the results I get with Tri-X and D-76. I don't use a stop bath, just water. I also agitate differently. I invert my developing tank. I hold it at arm's length then turn it 90 degrees to the left, back to center, then 90 degrees to the right, then back to center. I do this three times every 30 seconds. This process takes about 5-6 seconds for all three rotations.

B&W is pretty forgiving stuff. I think you'd have to deviate by a considerable amount to see a noticeable change in results.

skida · Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 11:31 pm Post subject:

skida · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:25 pm Post subject:

About 20 film develops later: I think LC29 is slightly better for grain, but also I think Tri-X is quite a grainy film, though it did handle that sky quite well without filters.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4745 Location: Cheshire, England

1 degree wont make much different, technically a few seconds off the time but a film is still developing while you're pouring the dev out of the tank and just before you stop it so timing isn't exact. (others may disagree but in 50 my year experience i've never noticed.

tap water for mixing wont affect normal developers as the concentration of dissolved solids are extremely small.

Filtered water wont make any difference to grain or washing. My suggested method is used cold tap water to wash the film then thoroughly rinse it in de-ionised water (from car spares department) this stops drying spots (which you would get from normal the dissolved solids in unfiltered tap water.)

If you scan these at home, the scan setting of 'unsharp mask' should OFF if there is one. Having it ON increases the apparent grain.

Films are made differently and developers have specific properties. Any combination will give a useable negative but find the correct developer for the type of film that you're using. Researching the film type will help. Your choice of ilfosol is designed for fine grain slow and medium films. You used tri-x which is 400iso - fast and grainy.

skida · Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 11:08 pm Post subject:

Through recent experience I have learned to scan my negatives with everything switched off in Silverfast, so no sharpening, no film presets and no exposure adjustments as adjustments in Lightroom don't seem so harsh. Unfortunately, I had a film preset selected for the above photo and I have re-scanned with everything off some of my first films and found that they are better edited in Lightroom.

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 254 Location: Austria

titrisol70 · Joined: 14 Dec 2021 Posts: 184 Location: State of Denial

Your results look like any TriX picture, tonality is great and the grain looks like TriX
Your development seems fine but it seems to me what bothers you is grain.
Grain is a part of life, especially with TriX, Ilfosol or LC29 wont change that much, maybe Microphen or FX-39 might reduce it a little but then you lose the TriX look.

If you want grainless try Ilford Delta 100 or Tmax100. Delta 400 is very good and grain is much smaller but it is there.

skida · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:00 am Post subject:

I found that the best adjustment was to my expectations! I have also purchased a digital thermometer as the mercury one had been dropped and I noticed some gaps in the mercury making the readings suspect. I recently went out on a very dull day and ended up pushing HP5+ to 1600 iso and developing in LC29 for 14 mins. I am very pleased with the results:

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DConvert · Joined: 12 Jun 2010 Posts: 921 Location: Essex UK

titrisol70 · Joined: 14 Dec 2021 Posts: 184 Location: State of Denial

NICE!
you should consider Microphen next. It is a real step up form LC29
You can buy the 1L powder, mix it, and store in small brown bottles filled to the brim. Use one bottle at a time.
That way it keeps longer.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4745 Location: Cheshire, England

ZuikosHexanonsandVivitars · Joined: 03 Nov 2021 Posts: 254 Location: Austria