Grain

wfw · Jul 17, 2018

Hi,

Wonder if anybody might have a suggestion for 120 film/developer to give an "old-school" look? I'm seeing in my mind some of Bill Brandt's work, but that's not necessarily what I'm after. Hoping for heavy low values and an almost graphic sort of look. Grain is the icing on the cake.
Thanks~

Rudeofus · Jul 17, 2018

If I interpret your posting correctly, you want deep blacks, high contrast and some extra grain. All this can be easily obtained by extending development time.

jim appleyard · Jul 17, 2018

Try Tri-X at EI 3200 or 6400 in Acufine. For something a bit more moderate, try Rodinal.

R.Gould · Jul 17, 2018

try fomapan 400 at box speed in rodinal 1/50 for 18 minutes, llovely old world look to your prints, been doing it for years

Sirius Glass · Jul 17, 2018

First choose traditional grained films such as Kodak Tri-X, Ilford HP5+ or FP4+ and avoid tabular grained films such as Ilford Delta or Kodak TMax. Then select the developer for the type of grain that you would like. For example:

jim appleyard · Jul 17, 2018

R.Gould said:
try fomapan 400 at box speed in rodinal 1/50 for 18 minutes, llovely old world look to your prints, been doing it for years

Hadn't thought of Foma, might be a good choice.

Paul Howell · Jul 17, 2018

Also shoot somewhat wide and then crop it. I agree that Foma 400 at 400 developed in D76 is a good bet, it tops out in D76 at about 320 so it will a push with some loss of shadow.

wfw · Jul 17, 2018

Some good suggestions. Thank you!

wfw · Jul 17, 2018

R.Gould said:
try fomapan 400 at box speed in rodinal 1/50 for 18 minutes, llovely old world look to your prints, been doing it for years

I see Foma Holga 400 and Foma 400 "Action" on the B&H site. I'll have to try some of each....

awty · Jul 17, 2018

Orange or yellow filter maybe will help. Also if highlight and shadow detail is important then fp4 is a better choice of film slightly under exposed (working towards the highlights) or hp5 if the light is more even.....then learn how to edit.

alentine · Jul 17, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
First choose traditional grained films such as Kodak Tri-X, Ilford HP5+ or FP4+ and avoid tabular grained films such as Ilford Delta or Kodak TMax. Then select the developer for the type of grain that you would like. For example:

View attachment 204303

Thanks so much Sirius Glass for the provided table.
Had a photo of the table since long time, but could not find any reference.
If you have the reference, please post it.
Thanks.

removed account4 · Jul 17, 2018

wfw said:
Hi,

Wonder if anybody might have a suggestion for 120 film/developer to give an "old-school" look? I'm seeing in my mind some of Bill Brandt's work, but that's not necessarily what I'm after. Hoping for heavy low values and an almost graphic sort of look. Grain is the icing on the cake.
Thanks~

wfw
not sure but bracket yoru exposures a little and shoot a couple of rolls and bracket your development
in whatever you likes, print them like you like and compare the exposured and run with it ..
sorry for not being much help !

have fun
john

bdial · Jul 17, 2018

Try some Ilford SFX, to my eye it has a look similar to old Tri-X, it's quite grainy compared to most other modern emulsions.

ericdan · Jul 17, 2018

Delta 3200 120, 20 mins in stock Microphen.

that's how long you need to get decent highlights but by that time you also develop a lot of coarse grain.
shadows are going to stay dark if you expose at 3200 no matter how you develop.

aleckurgan · Jul 20, 2018

Try Foma Retropan 320 in the dedicated developer (or any other developer). Very old-school look.

David Brown · Jul 20, 2018

Ya know, back when "old school" was the present, we did everything we could to minimize grain! Just sayin' ...

Ko.Fe. · Jul 20, 2018

Those who asks questions like OP often needs to realize what they are looking at prints scans. Not negatives scans.

Once you start to print the "is it old photo?" question will be raised often.
Especially if you combine old stock single contrast paper and developer to make this paper works.
Old paper has some extra texture often and on scans it gives grain effect.

Sirius Glass · Jul 20, 2018

David Brown said:
Ya know, back when "old school" was the present, we did everything we could to minimize grain! Just sayin' ...

Yes, minimize but not eliminate.

wfw · Jul 22, 2018

Ko.Fe. said:
Those who asks questions like OP often needs to realize what they are looking at prints scans. Not negatives scans.

Once you start to print the "is it old photo?" question will be raised often.
Especially if you combine old stock single contrast paper and developer to make this paper works.
Old paper has some extra texture often and on scans it gives grain effect.

Maybe the OP wasn't talking about scans at all. Maybe the OP brought the question to this forum because it seemed the most appropriate for a film/paper dialogue.

Grain

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency