Michael Hiles Posted November 10, 2016 Share #1 Posted November 10, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) Good morning, I have acquired a small book titled “Champlin on Fine Grain”, by Harry Champlin. First Edition, otherwise nothing special. Published 1936. It deals in great detail with the chemistry of fine grain developing, with special formulas for developers. It is very much out-of-date, since it is dealing with the films of that era, and techniques that appear to me to be long since superseded. However. If anyone wants it I can send it along. Abebooks says it s worth about $5, but you can have it for the low, low price of free. I would like to be paid something for S&H – likely $5-10. Get back to me by PM within 24 hrs – after that it goes to recycling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 10, 2016 Posted November 10, 2016 Hi Michael Hiles, Take a look here Book on Fine Grain Developing (Old and Free). I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
EoinC Posted November 10, 2016 Share #2 Posted November 10, 2016 Not quite my cup of tea for bedtime reading, but I hope your efforts find this book a good home, Michael. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted November 26, 2016 Share #3 Posted November 26, 2016 We are fortunate today to have a superior selection of B&W films with good latitude, and RC paper that Ansel Adams did not have. Fine grain developers are well known today, and in his day they were just another strange mix that made little difference. The short-course for 35mm photographers is to remember that T-Grain films behave in an entirely different way than traditional films. If you use old, traditional films keep in mind that 'fine grain' usually means a developer that has a solvent to dissolve grain edges. An old example was to add a 15% of sodium sulfite to the developer. Microdol-X was the worst, but it was targeted to films that were already so slow that few noticed or cared. IMHO it is/was an abomination. My preference is probably not important, but grain is my friend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hiles Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share #4 Posted November 27, 2016 For a while, I used slow films (much Panatomic-X) and initially Neofin Blue. This is a compensating developer that holds highlight detail. Then I switched happily to Rodinal. Coarser grain (with slow film it didn't matter much, and excellent sharpness and accutance. In those days the goal was fine grain and sharpness - partly to demonstrate that 35mm could compete with larger formats. Today - Ilford XP-2 Super, commercially processed in C41. Very fine grain and excellent sharpness and tones like a Welsh male choir. I am tempted by Ilford Delta 100 and 400, developed in something from Spur. This seems to be pretty impressive, by what I have seen. But I am most reluctant to abandon XP-2. BTW - the book went to a good family in Oregon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted November 27, 2016 Share #5 Posted November 27, 2016 Yes, Panatomic-X was my favorite, for the same reasons, but I developed in UFG. For me PanF has taken its place, in Rodinal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotohuis Posted December 5, 2016 Share #6 Posted December 5, 2016 Traditional films are reacting in a different way then Tgrain type films on ultra fine grain developers. Best example is Kodak 5222 Double-X. Putting it in Microdol-X, Windisch W665 or CG-512/Rollei Low Speed gives a big improvement in grain. However the type emulsion is from 1959. Working with TMY-2 you can better use a modern Ascorbic Acid type developer like Xtol/Fomadon Excel W27 or PC-TEA. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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