Recommend developer for grain enhancement

Lachlan Young

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
4,873
Location
Glasgow
Format
Multi Format
Rodinal is not intrinsically grainy; it's just honest; it has no solvent action and makes for sharp edged grain that appears more conspicuous to the eye.

It actually isn't as sharp with many modern emulsions as D-76 because of the lack of solvency not releasing edge sharpness enhancing iodide from the emulsions - and the larger visual granularity destroys fine detail resolution faster. A lot of what people describe as higher 'sharpness' is actually stronger granularity (possibly just below the threshold of perception) in relatively small enlargements. The lack of solvency also may be part of why Rodinal seems somewhat less likely to shoulder highlights with many emulsions. If you like Rodinal's 'look', the old 'Universal' type of film/ paper devs (at appropriate dilution) can do the same sort of thing, but in slightly different directions.
 

Bill Burk

Subscriber
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Messages
9,185
Format
4x5 Format
Hooray! Pen F is your ticket! That is the best way to get more grain!


Hold it vertically to get the traditional horizontal (landscape) orientation.
 

Todd Niccole

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
59
Format
35mm
I played around with Caffenol C on HP5 a few months ago, really grainy and fogged base. Even more grainy than print developer like Dektol.
 
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…