Digitaltruth Photo

I've heard stories about how it was was possible to increase the sharpness of your negatives by agitating less.
Anyone care to share some techniques?

The film/dev i am concerned with is TMY (sheet) in XTOL stock or 1:1, processed in a large tank.
People have complained that it looked too smooth so those people have tried developing in Rodinal 1:100. Since I have my 5 liters on XTOL already on hand, I would prefer just using XTOL.


Thanks a lot!

Yes, it is possible to increase adjacency, edge sharpness, in your negatives by using high dilutions of certain developers mostly compensating ones, like Rodinal and Pyrocat HD, with minimal agitation or stand development. I have not tried it with XTOL so can't report on that one. But, it also depends on the film as to how well it responds to this technique.

This is done a tank or tube with single negative developed at a time with the negatives in a vertical position, flat in a tray has proved to lead to uneven development. Don't use film hangers either as the developer that gathers in the groves will cause uneven development. Also, large areas without texture like a sky often show splotchy development. Doesn't happen all the the time but, it can be troublesome to get this development technique down.

The results can be amazing though.

Good luck.
JC

Forgot to mention, times are usually quite long up to an hour.

Indeed Rodinal, in higher dilutions 1+50 or 1+100 are typical for increasing edge sharpness.
European staining developers have the same effect e.g. Tanol from Moersch 1+1+100.

Agitation: 1X per minute.

How does one scientifically measure "increased edge sharpness" from one developer or dilution to the next?
Or is this just so much "Bolstered Syntax?"

With some subject matter it is truely something you can see, but in other cases a microscope is required. Most of my experimenting with this technique is with 8x10 and 12x20 negatives where it is more obvious where I would imagine it might be more difficult to discern, but that is just guess since I have not tried it with small negs and I doubt I will.

It is something you can experiment with using standardized methods and see results from film to film. Sandy King is probably the one who has done the most scientific study in this area.

And does anyone know Acros in XTOL? oh ho ho this should be interesting...

Acros 100 in Rodinal 1+100 is also OK and very sharp.

At the moment I am testing the new Rollei PAN25 film. No to much data available but interesting film with very fine grain so far.

Xtol I am not using. It's made on ascorbic acid base and reliability on longer stock can be a problem. Further Kodak is going out of analog business so it's no future.

Adjacency effects are generally most noticeable in enlargements made from small negatives, where they can be very obvious, and distracting. Dilute, acutance developers are the best candidates for this technique. Length of development time is not as important as the formulation and exhaustion characteristics of the developer. Tanning/staining developers offer some important benefits over non-staining developers in this application, and solvent developers are not useful.

Jay

Talking about sharpness and fine grain:

Here are the first results of that new Rollei PAN25 film: E.I. 25 iso, developer AM74, 5:30 Min. dilution 1+9 at 20 degrees C.

Just a bit to long in the developer: 0,74 logD on the greycard but not to bad.

http://www.photo.net/bboard/uploaded-fi ... d=25847684

The official introduction of these films will be next month in Europe.

All ot this is a "tempest in a teapot." If you want to increase image detail, SPREAD THE MID TONES with the developer, expose the film correctly and use the correct film for the application.

Just how does that increase image detail? spreading the mid tones? incraeasing mid tones has little to do with adjacency affects. You can often just increase mid tones of a film by using compensating developers, but does not mean you get the adjacency affects.

This is a specific technique not required by most photograhers, but those with an interest or need, it is a viable one, and proven one for specific films and developers. Search the APUG forum if you want more info.

I guess what I am talking about is detail and /or highlights. Most of this information is found in the Middle range (step 7 to 16) of most films, exposed and developed correctly. increasing the distance between steps adds to the increased definition of the image.

We were talking about increasing accutance, not maintaining detail by contrast adjustment.

The best way to increase edge definition is to use a high acutance film developer. Paterson Acutol is considered to be one of the highest acutance developers currently in production, and there are other published formulas that you can use to mix your own. For more information see Chapter 6 of Troop & Anchell's Film Developing Cookbook (available from our Books page located at http://www.digitaltruth.com/books.html )