HP5+ Grain

[Nick Vezey]

Nick-I would try baking off a little on the developing time. Seems like you're getting a little too much contrast for such a small print. You should also try HP5 with HC-110. I can give you times for 4x5 film. Xtol is lovely at 1:1@75 degrees
for 8 minutes and HC-110 1:63@24 degrees celcius for 10 minutes. Lovely tonality with the HC-110. You know that TriX and HC-110 was the preferred look of Ansel Adams and many others for a long time. I think that this combo is even better. Hope this helped a little
Best, Peter

Peter,

Thanks for the help - As somebody fairly new to this I must admit I've stuck to listed time and dilutions (I also like liquid as there's less for me to mess up). Tri X is a film that crops up a few times as being good, but I think I may try FP-4 or Delta 100 to give myself a good baseline before I start "branching out". Still, your help was greatly appreciated.

Nick

 

[Nick Vezey]

Nick, welcome to the board.

I have used HP5+ quite extensively and as fschifano has stated, you can get vastly different results with different combinations of exposure and developer.

As a general rule I expose HP5+ at 320 ASA and depending on the look I wish to get, I develop it in different dilutions of D76, which is virtually identical to the Ilford ID11 developer.

With undiluted developer, I get smooth almost soft negatives. With 1+1 dilution, I find this is the nicest setting with grain noticeable but not obtrusive. When doing 1+3 dilution, grain starts to show more but it isn't overbearing either.

I use a diffused enlarger head, if you are using an enlarger with a condensor head this may show grain a bit more.

Experiment a bit and ask more questions, you'll get there.

Mick.

Mick,

Thanks for this. Have you used HP5+ with concentrated liquid developer
(like DDX) - I've not ventured into mixing powder based developers yet (I'm trying to keep it simple to start with).

I'm using a Meopta enlarget which I believe is a condensor head.

Nick

 

[John Bragg]

Mick,

Thanks for this. Have you used HP5+ with concentrated liquid developer
(like DDX) - I've not ventured into mixing powder based developers yet (I'm trying to keep it simple to start with).

I'm using a Meopta enlarget which I believe is a condensor head.

Nick

Hi Nick,
From my experience when changing to a condensor head from diffuser some years ago, I had to back all my dev times off by a factor of 20%. My lovely negs that had printed so easily became more grainy and contrasty overnight ! Many recommended dev times assume the use of diffuser and hence these times are too long for condensor printing !!!
Regards J.B.

 

[rjas]

I've found that 35mm hp5+ shot at 250iso with a medium-high dilution hc110 gives beautifully rich negatives. The grain was apparent but not objectionable at 8x10.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Nick, I have used HP5+ developed in Ilfosol S at the 1 + 9 dilution, with excellent results.

This is a liquid developer which is available in 250ml bottles (and larger ones as well) made by Ilford. You can also do 1 + 14 dilutions according to the instructions, but I've never done that dilution.

Mick.

 

[Paul Howell]

I shoot HP5 and develop in 777 and Edwal 12 which is carried by Photographers Formulary. I don't know if you can mail order either developer, but both give very fine grain and with my 35mm cameras and enlarger I get full box speed. I use DDX with Timex 400, some grain but really sharp negatives that are easy to print.

 

[timeUnit]

Here's an example of HP5 (rebranded to Adox CHM400Pro) shot at 800 ISO and developed for 17 minutes in XTOL 1+1. Agitation fist minute, and then 10 sec every 2 minutes.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Nick Vezey]

HP-5+ Grain

All,

Very many thanks for the help and advice passed on regarding my question. I've got a few things to try now to see if I can get the "look"
I'm hoping for (but that's difficult to express in words - I guess I'll know
it when i see it !).

I'm going to persevere with HP5 + and maybe try different developers - I suppose I should try the Les McLean method to identify the speed and dev time that suits me as well!

I'll keep at it!

Thanks

Nick

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I can hardly add anything to what's been said. I think however, that it's wise to continue with the HP5 until you know its strengths and weaknesses.
My own experience is more with Tri-X than HP5, from my understanding the main difference is in tonality rather than grain, with the HP5 being the more linear representation of tones than Tri-X. Each are good films, but what I want to point out is that with following Les' method of finding accurate film speed, and then also trying different agitation patterns for developing your film (generally very active agitation generates a more visible grain). I think both HP5 and Tri-X have relatively fine grain. Up to print size 8x10" I can get rather fine grained prints, but prefer to print them slightly smaller. It took a lot of practice with developing technique and experimentation before I reached that point, so I urge you to keep trying.

Good luck,

- Thom