Film and Developer combination for Macros

[eSFotos]

I am going to shoot some macros.
I guess good macro photos should have good edge details and fine grains.
What would be the ideal film/developer combination for macros?

Fine grain films that I have are:
1) Delta 100
2) Pan F+ 50
3) TMax

Developers that I have are:
1) Microdol-X
2) Perceptol
3) XTol
4) Rodinal

Got any other film/developer? I am all ears.

Cheers
Edward

 

[Denis K]

Roll a die and pick one of the films you list. Then roll a die and pick a developer you list. You might like the results you get.

With macro photography, control of lighting will pay much higher dividends than selecting between the films you list. When we walk around taking non-macro photographs, we naturally reject scenes with poor lighting without even thinking about it. When taking a macro photograph this isn't the case, so we usually have to make the lighting correct for what we want to capture. At a minimum, make sure you have a tripod and a light reflector. These two alone will do more than your film selection.

Most people don't like to copy the results of others, but learning macro photography is probably one place to ignore that rule. Find a macro photograph you really like and set about trying to duplicate the shot. You will probably find it involves a lot more than you think, and the skills you learn doing it will help you with your own particular style of work later.

I don't want to come off sounding like I'm very knowledgeable about macro photography. Just the opposite. Like a lot of us here, I've done enough to know it's a lot harder that it looks and like golf, it's an obsession where you never seem to get to the skill level you would like be at.

Denis K

 

[Rick A]

My experience is using Agfa APX 100 and 400, as well as Pan F+ with D-76 1+1, all display the qualities I'm looking for, using faster speed films outdoors. Denis K is correct about lighting playing a critical role in image detail. Keeping vibrations to an absolute minimum is essential, otherwise you will appear to have soft focus.

Rick

 

[pgomena]

Are you using flash or available light or both? PanF+ is slow and has not the best reciprocity law failure characteristics. You'd be better off with T-Max or Delta if you're using available light only. If you're using flash, you might find you need PanF+'s lower speed at close distances. As others above posted, lighting control is everything.

Peter Gomena

 

[Athiril]

Mix your xtol with your rodinal.

You know you want to.

 

[eSFotos]

Thank you guys.
Are you saying that the films and developers don't contribute towards good macros even though the lighting conditions are identical?
I always thought they do but hey I am new to film and am learning

Mix your xtol with your rodinal.

You know you want to.

Could you be more specific please?
Is this method involves two baths or just mix the chemicals?
It sounds very interesting.

Cheers
Edward

 

[dynachrome]

Pan F+ has finer grain than Delta 100 and is easier to use than TMX. You can rate it at 50 and develop it in Microdol-X or Perceptol at 1:3. This combination will give you correct box speed, extremely fine grain, excellent sharpness and some control over contrast. It's also economical.

 

[Athiril]

Could you be more specific please?
Is this method involves two baths or just mix the chemicals?
It sounds very interesting.

Cheers
Edward

Mixed together in the one bath

http://www.flickr.com/groups/819042@N23/discuss/72157608659395488/
http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Rodinal/rodinal.html (ctrl+f and search for xtol)

Samples
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_honus_/tags/rodinalxtol/

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The finest grain combination, bar none, with conventional film is TMax100 in Microdol-X. The grain is of the same order as Technical Pan developed in Technidol. Diluting the M-X 1:3 has little effect on grain and does gain a bit of speed; you may want to expose at 64 if you use it full strength.

 

[eSFotos]

Okay, I think I get the drift ... thanks guys.
Indeed, Microdol-X gives very fine grains so does Perceotol but I found these developers produce flattish results.
I would thought a bit of sharpness would fit better for macros. At least that's my subjective taste. Maybe not generally.
That's why I am very interested in knowing the Xtol/Rodinal dilution. Fine grain of Xtol and sharpness of Rodinal.
Some skeptics however say that x reacts with y to produce z that makes the film stink ... basically.
Anyway I am going to try it.
cheers
Edward

 

[Bosaiya]

I'm a big fan of Type 55, it's what I use for my Angels & Insects photos. That's hard to come by these days, but there are some threads with suggestions on what the film might be and what to substitute with.