Because of a recent thread about my negative density I did a test with my 5 y/o bottle of HC-110 and fresh HC-110. Density is almost exactly the same in both cases.
I developed both for 5 minutes, dilution B. 30 seconds initial agitation and 5 seconds every 30 seconds. I did it as consistent as I could. Even the shots are from the exact same roll as I cut off 4 shots, developed them individually and then took 4 new shots. (Same settings and light as well). Shot on 35mm HP5+
However the old HC-110 negative shows a lot more grain. Could this be because of the age of the developer or won't it affect grain in any way? It's quite a lot and I'm surprised why it happened.
Are these enlargements from a scan? The left image looks a little sharper to my eye. Is it possible the film on the right wasn't quite at the best focus in the scanner? That would hide some of the grain.
Agreed, the difference is almost 'digital', as if the image on the left had "clarity" slider on +15 and lost a lot of midtones, look at the jar reflections, they look like a painting.
The left scan seems to have boosted contrast in comparison to the right scan. Boosting contrast will emphasize grain.
Please post a photograph of both negatives side by side on a light table or something like that. I'd like to see the difference in contrast, which I suspect is there. This will impact the rendering of the grain after adjusting the image for the desired output contrast (whether digital or in the darkroom).
Yes these are scans, all extra sharpening is turned off. But even with the frsh bottle of HC-110 there is so much grain compared to my Tri-X 400 shots from a few years ago.
Is HP5+ that more grainy than Tri-X 400? Can't remember.
For a test I scanned my old Tri-X scans with my new scanner to rule out that the scanner might be the issue ... and the results are exactly the same. Tri-X 400 looks the same as my 3 year old scans and prints with my new scanner.
So it's HP5+... not sure what would cause this increase in grain.
I have not found older HC-110 to suffer bad grain at all. Also I am not keen on HP5+ at box speed in dilution B. Didn't work for me, but rating at ei200 and developing in dilution H made it look a lot smoother.