A 67 years old apprentice looking for advice... on film and developer combinations

[pgram]

Hi all,
After maybe 20 years, i'm back to BW analog photography.

I digged out my cameras from a vault (Mamiya RB67, Zenza Bronica, Wista 4x5 and Graflex 2 1/4 x 3 1/4) and refoamed all of them.
Then i restored my Jobo CPE-2, assembled some developers (D-76, Neofin Blue, Rodinal, even FA-1027 from Photograper's Formulary...) and deeply involved my wife (so she is not complaining about our spare bathroom converted to Dark Room); she is the Art Director, while i'm the Camera Man... or the Sorcerer's Apprentice, she says.
I'm not printing, for the moment, but i'm scanning my negatives on an Epson V750, "develop" on Lightroom and print on an Epson R2880 (the spare bathroom is way too small for an enlarger, and my free time is still somewhat scarce).

Now i'm in search of some sound advice... We like to shoot Landscape, Industrial Archaeology, old buildings and ruins... you know.

I'm in search of some good advice now. I would like to select the "best combination" of Film and Developer, and my ideal will be to obtain very rich middle tones; nothing too harsh in contrast, but "velvet smooth" tonal ranges from Zone III to Zone VII, if possible.

Of course i can try and try and try... And i have tried several combinations: Rollei 80 and Fuji Acros with D-76 and Neofin Blue, just to name some attempts.

But I'm growing old, and i feel that i'll have not enough time to re-invent the wheel, explore all the possible unknown paths and cross-compare a kazillion of possible combinations.

I hope that some very charitable soul will be so merciful to lend me some of his experience. I feel that having at least a sound starting point, my will to learn and experiment will lead me towards perfection... in another 20 years, maybe!

Thanks in advance!

Paolo from Italy.

p.s. is there any place on APUG where i'll be permitted to post some of my images, in order to be criticized by the experts?

 

[Paul Howell]

Welcome back to film. You will get many many options. I recommend to start with TMAX 400 for all formats and DDX or TMAX. HP4 in D76 is another option. Both will give good tones, grain and sharpness.

 

[Noble]

p.s. is there any place on APUG where i'll be permitted to post some of my images, in order to be criticized by the experts?

True experts will critique your images. People like me will "criticize" them.

Unfortunately I can't help you with your quest for a perfect film/developer combo. I think that question is quite subjective. You mentioned Acros and Rollei 80. I think if you are into 100 ISO film from the big three none of them has a monopoly on "velvet smooth" middle tonal ranges. Also I've found that scanning a negative and printing it in the darkroom are two very different things. My scanner has happily scanned negatives that I later found to be a bit too contrasty in the dark room. I am no pro so take what I am saying with a grain of salt. I have since backed off on my contrast filters in the field. Someone who has more of a clue about what they are doing can give you better advice. But I've found shooting a bunch of film without doing any dark room prints left me with negatives that were not necessarily easy to work with in the darkroom.

By the way medium format film can easily be processed at the kitchen table with a dark bag and daylight developing tank. I assume depending on what you use to develop it the same is true of large format film. There is no need to have a darkroom just to develop film.

 

[MartinP]

If you want to use the same film throughout these three formats with off-the-shelf availability, then there may be a problem with the 2 1/4x3 1/4" (it might need to be a special order) otherwise choose for FomaPan200 and shoot it with a starting point around EI125. Developer can be simple, ID11 1+1, or Rodinal 1:25 (or 50). As you know, the results depend more on what you do with it than what you pick as a film.

 

[pgram]

well, you are right... i have a dark tent and Jobo daylight tanks. i mostly use my old CPE-2 for processing rolls (quick and easy) and BTZS tubes for 4x5 (so i need at least some darkness when i open the tubes to dip the cut film in the arresting bath).
about 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 i cut the film myself, i have a roll-cutter that i modified and fits in my dark tent. working carefully to avoid scratches, i can cut 6 plates from 4x5 in 10 minutes.
my idea is to stabilize myself using at the beginning just one film and one developer. When i'll be able to obtain consistent results, i'll explore more possibilities...

paolo

 

[brian steinberger]

My recommendation is always FP4/HP5 in ID-11 1:1 (D-76). But you mention nothing harsh in contrast and smooth tones, so that reminds me more of a Delta 100/Delta 400 in ID-11 1:1 (D-76) recommendation. You can't go wrong either way!

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Youi can look up Massive Development chart.

Jeff

 

[Amine Sultan]

Harsh light : Ilford HP5+ exposed at EI 100 in Ilford Perceptol 1+1 8mn
Extremely harsh light : Kodak T-Max 100 exposed at EI 50 in Tetenal Ultrafin 1+6 7mn
The second combination, when compared to the first one, will make the difference in the shadows only, not highlights
Same agitation for both : 30 sec the first minute then 10sec every minute

 

[Steve Smith]

True experts will critique your images. People like me will "criticize" them.

And those of us who learned English will criticise them!!!

Have a look on Ilford's web site. They have some good PDF files on film developing, etc. I know that's not quite what you asked for but they are good to read if you want to refresh your memory.

p.s. is there any place on APUG where i'll be permitted to post some of my images, in order to be criticized by the experts?

As you are a subscriber, you can set up your own gallery of images here. Click on the 'Gallery' link near the top of each page.


Steve.

 

[bsdunek]

Well, you now have enough advice to confuse you more than ever.
I pretty much use Ilford FP4 in Microphen, although ID-11 would be just as good. I just like the tonality I get with the Microphen.
Hope you enjoy getting back into film photography, and look forward to seeing some of your results.

 

[Athiril]

Rollei Retro 80S is an excellent film to use, though more difficult than T-Max and Acros etc to get 'normal results', but can be done, once you dial in the right exposure and developing combination (it can have odd curves) you're richly rewarded.

 

[Athiril]

Rollei Retro 80S is an excellent film to use, though more difficult than T-Max and Acros etc to get 'normal results', but can be done, once you dial in the right exposure and developing combination (it can have odd curves) you're richly rewarded.

Acros is really nice for portraiture.

 

[Amine Sultan]

You can also try to soup Rollei 80s (EI 32, 5:00, dilution 1+19) and Fuji Acros (EI 64, 6:30, dilution 1+15) in Spur sd2525. 2 inversions at the beginning and then 1 inversion every 30 seconds.

 

[fotch]

Hello Paolo and welcome to APUG, from another aged APUGer.

 

[FiatluX]

Hi Paolo, welcome back to the wonders of analog!

If you would like to try a more alchemistical route with "cheap" and easy to get european film, you should definitely try Rollei RPX 100 and FomaPan 200 souped in homemade Caffenol! It can produce outstanding results and it´s very very hard to "blow" the highlights once you have established your exposure index.

See below for recipes and starting pointers.