Harrison

I've had some success with Delta 3200 @1600, developing for 6400, in DD-X or Microphen (fine grain, speed enhancing). Keeps the grain under control without suppressing it (I like grain) and gives some more contrast.

Great portrait of a great subject.

Shot at 1600 and developed for 6400, wow! I thought I was going long here, shooting at 1600 and developing for a minute more than for 3200. I could try it for 13 minutes instead while I'm experimenting (I tried shooting at 3200 and developing for 13 minutes or 6400 already).

Thanks! I have some Microphen 600mL and 1L packs I've been dying to try so I will need to do a couple more rolls and try it in Microphen. I wanted originally to get DD-X but it is hard to get right now so I settled for HC-110 which I thought was a similar liquid developer but perhaps not. It does very well with Delta 100, nice and sharp and nearly grainless but on the 3200 it seems I should try some others.

Hey there..Delta 3200 @1600 can be great for portraits, assuming the right light, lenses and exposure. I know scanning can magnify the grain problem depending on the quality of the scanner but I think this negative may have development issues, maybe? Some may be aliasing from the scanner but the grain just looks strange here.

Here is a Delta 3200@1600 and souped in DDX that I posted here a while back. This was lighted with a couple of lamps (100w tungsten bulbs). Granted, it is 120 so grain is finer here.

http://www.apug.org/gallery1/showimage.php?i=54894&catid=member&imageuser=42554

Wow, yours looks great! Not sure if it is my development, or HC-110 vs. DD-X or 120 vs 135 or scanner issues or all of them. I like the actual print but it doesn't look good here, the scanner somehow does a poor job with the random grain, tries to sharpen it. I may have to try some digital camera shots or print a 5x7 and use my negative/print scanner that only goes up to 5x7 as the 8x10 printer/scanner I have is not doing a good job on these.

Probably a combination of things. 120 will obviously have finer grain than 35 and also DDX will perform better than HC110 in this case (XTOL would be another choice to resolve some of the grain). Scanning can certainly be problematic with grain and the only ones that can resolve what is actually on the negative without much aliasing are the Nikon 5000/9000, Imacons and drum scanning. Flatbeds are usually problematic with 35mm+grain.
From what I can see, there may be some reticulation issues as well, but again, it's tough to diagnose from a scan. Did you keep the whole developing process under constant temperature, or very close to it?

Yes, I only process at room temperature so nothing has to be warmed up and nothing should cool down as it goes. Everything, developer HC-110 1+15, ilfostop 1+19, ilford rapid fixer 1+4, water dumps (first two aged tap water 5x and 10x invert, last two distilled water with Ilfotol 1+200 20x and 40x invert) was at 19C for this roll. I hold the stainless steel Nikor developing tank (with stainless steel Nikor reel, top and cap) in my hands the whole time since I do the 4x in 10s inversion at the start of every minute. I wear rubber gloves. I don't imagine my hand holding it would warm up the developer that much, would it? Should I leave the tank on the bench after I tap the bubbles out after inverting?

Oh and both my scanners are HP, an old HP S20 negative/5x7print scanner and a recent all-in-one scanner/printer. If I was doing hybrid process other than to post my results I'd get a better scanner but I want prints as my final output so I'm not going to get a new scanner!

Sounds like you'e doing fine temp wise. I would probably save a few bucks and use water for stop. No reason to introduce the emulsion to an acid environment and water works just fine. If you are happy with the print, then I would say that the problem is the scanner. If you ever see an Epson V750M Pro cheap on the used market, grab it. It will do a fine job. You may want to put the tank down after tapping it, instead of holding it, as you may get some heat transfer, although that would be minimal though. Now, I see that you've used dilution A though and that would very likely give you lots of grain and not always of the pretty kind. In general HC110 is not great for pushing but you could try dilution H (double of dil B so 1:64) for 17 min @ 75 degrees with 10 sec agitation every 3 min. You will certainly get finer grain that way....or DDX, which is sort of a marriage made in heaven with Delta.

All the best,

Max

I'll try putting the tank down next time. And as I said, I originally wanted DD-X but it seems to be sold out in Canada at the moment and shipping liquid dev up here is slow. I will try to get some though as I do love the Delta films. Thanks for your help.