Trix, Rodinal and grain

vizzo · 2006-07-04T20:21:40+00:00

Hallo Mirko, arbeitet der APH09 so ähnlich wie der Rodinal? Mein Ziel ist es, ein Korn zu generieren ähnlich den Fotos von Bruce Gilden (Magnum), Sebastiao...

vizzo

Hello Mirko, Does APH09 work in a similar way to Rodinal? My aim is to achieve a grain similar to that in the photos by Bruce Gilden (Magnum), Sebastião Salgado and Jean Gaumy. I don’t know how to achieve that grain. I’ve tried Xtol and D-76, but no grain appears. Do you happen to know what combination these photographers use? Can I achieve similar results with ADOX materials? I think I can only achieve the grain through the film and the film developer. Is that correct? Thanks for listening. Kind regards

cfb_de

Hi Vizzo, I’m not really the one you’re addressing, as I’m not Mirko :-) But here’s an answer to your question anyway. With Xtol and D-76, you’ve so far used two products generally known as fine-grain developers. R09/F09/APH09 correspond to the non-inert bottled formula of the original Rodinal; Rodinal has been modified twice, slightly, without affecting the result, and is now bottled in an inert state. Apart from different dilutions, these solutions are largely identical. If you want a fine grain, you should develop at a low dilution (Rodinal 1+25; for the 09s, that would be 1+20) and, if necessary, increase the temperature. You’ll have to try this out and see what works. I achieve the typical ‘reportage grain’, including slightly washed-out shadows, with an HP5+ at 800 ASA, Rodinal 1+25 at 20°C for 8 minutes, agitating for 10 seconds at the start of each minute. If I want even more, I use the same parameters but increase the time to 7 minutes and the temperature to 22°C. I haven’t played around with Trix yet, but then again, the question was addressed exclusively to Mirko... Best regards, Franz

MirkoBoeddecker

I agree with Franz’s comments on this. ADOX ADX enhances the definition of detail whilst producing a fine grain. Developers such as Promicrol or Microphen increase speed and accentuate the grain. Universal developers such as E-102 or Fomadon LQN provide strong levelling for negatives that print well, but at the expense of grain. Many reportage photographers have used such universal developers (predecessors of HC 110 and others) to make their photographs—often taken under unfavourable lighting conditions—easier to print. Grain wasn’t an issue anyway, given the larger print screen. Later, once they had become famous, they printed exhibition prints from these negatives and inadvertently created the ‘reportage grain look’. Best regards, Mirko

vizzo

OH! That really took me by surprise. I thought the thicker the mixture, the more pronounced the grain would be. I thought I’d get better results with Rodinal 1+50 than with 1+25. Oh well, I’ll give both a go. As for the ISO, I see you’re working with pushed film. That’s not my approach. It may well be that reportage photographers have accentuated the grain due to poor lighting conditions (it was probably pushed extremely hard too). But in Barcelona, I’m afraid I can’t work at 800 ASA. I’ll give Rodinal or Aph09 a go now, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll probably have to push T-Max 100 to 400 to accentuate the grain that way. It’s just a shame. Best regards, vizzo

Guido

OH! That really took me by surprise. I thought the thicker the mixture, the more pronounced the grain would be. I thought I’d get better results with Rodinal 1+50 than with 1+25.

You’ve got that wrong, because 1+25 is ‘thicker’ than 1+50. (1+25 = 1 ml Rodinal + 25 ml water, 1+50 = 1 ml Rodinal + 50 ml water) Cheers Guido

oliverdienst

... But unfortunately, I can’t work at ISO 800 in Barcelona...

vizzo, you can screw a neutral density filter onto the lens, so that you can even shoot at 1600 ISO. This works better with a rangefinder than with an SLR, of course, because you can still see through the viewfinder. You can also develop the Classicpan 400 @400 at ISO 7.5 for 7.5 minutes in Rodinal 1+25. It’s a lovely film and produces a wonderful grain in this combination! Regards Oliver