Delta 100 vs. Pan F+

I need a film / developer suggestion for 35mm format. I am using my Nikon as
a back up for 4x5 to shoot landscape. Eastern Sierras / Death Valley /
Salton Sea etc. In 4x5 I use Tmax with Tmax Rs 1:9. In 35mm I tried Tmax
with Tmax Rs 1:9, beautiful tonality but the sharpness is lacking
(perhaps due to rotary development). Next I want to try Delta 100 or Pan
F+. Which developer do you suggest with these films? I print to 11x14.
Everything is shot with tripod, remote release...

Thank you for your suggestions.
Regards

"Shawn H" wrote

I need a film / developer suggestion for 35mm format ...
a back up for 4x5 to shoot landscape. I print to 11x14.
Everything is shot with tripod, remote release...

Tech Pan
Technidol
Use a 25A filter

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 21:11:55 GMT, "Shawn H"
wrote:

I need a film / developer suggestion for 35mm format. I am using my Nikon as
a back up for 4x5 to shoot landscape. Eastern Sierras / Death Valley /
Salton Sea etc. In 4x5 I use Tmax with Tmax Rs 1:9. In 35mm I tried Tmax
with Tmax Rs 1:9, beautiful tonality but the sharpness is lacking
(perhaps due to rotary development). Next I want to try Delta 100 or Pan
F+. Which developer do you suggest with these films? I print to 11x14.
Everything is shot with tripod, remote release...

I'd suggest you also try Agfa's APX-100, and since you're using a
tripod, also Efke KB-25.

Which developer do you suggest for APX 100 or Efke 25?

"Andrew Price" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 21:11:55 GMT, "Shawn H"
wrote:

I need a film / developer suggestion for 35mm format. I am using my Nikon
as
a back up for 4x5 to shoot landscape. Eastern Sierras / Death Valley /
Salton Sea etc. In 4x5 I use Tmax with Tmax Rs 1:9. In 35mm I tried Tmax
with Tmax Rs 1:9, beautiful tonality but the sharpness is lacking
(perhaps due to rotary development). Next I want to try Delta 100 or
Pan
F+. Which developer do you suggest with these films? I print to 11x14.
Everything is shot with tripod, remote release...

I'd suggest you also try Agfa's APX-100, and since you're using a
tripod, also Efke KB-25.

"Shawn H" wrote in message
...

I need a film / developer suggestion for 35mm format. I am
using my Nikon as
a back up for 4x5 to shoot landscape. Eastern Sierras /
Death Valley /
Salton Sea etc. In 4x5 I use Tmax with Tmax Rs 1:9. In
35mm I tried Tmax
with Tmax Rs 1:9, beautiful tonality but the sharpness
is lacking
(perhaps due to rotary development). Next I want to try
Delta 100 or Pan
F+. Which developer do you suggest with these films? I
print to 11x14.
Everything is shot with tripod, remote release...

Thank you for your suggestions.
Regards

T-Max developer does not produce much acutance effect. For
that you want a Metol developer without hydroquinone in it.
You will get more grain but T-Max and Delta films are fine
grain enough to tolerate something less than the finest
grain development. Developers like Microdol-X at 1:3 or D-23
at 1:3 (have to mix that yourself) will produce lots of
acutance. Acutance is an optical illusion. The eye perceives
edge contrast as sharpness. Even when the _resolution_ of a
film is high it may not look sharp because the edge contrast
is low. The chemical effects which tend toward fine grain
also tend to prevent the effects which lead to acutance, so
some compromise must be made between fine grain and
acutance. This is not generally a problem with formats
larger than 35mm but certainly is for that format.
Conventional films, like FP-4 or Plus-X have thicker
emulsions than tabular grain films like T-Max and Delta so
are more likely to have acutance effects, again at the price
of more grain.
The reason for staying away from Hydroquinone containing
developers is that Hydroquinone tends to reverse the
chemical effects which lead to acutance, especially in
developers where it is active, such as DK-50 or T-Max.
Hydroquinone developers, where the Hydroquinone is inactive,
due to low pH, such as D-76 and ID-11, will produce acutance
effects when diluted to 1:3. However, I find these effect
unpleasant. D-23 is IMHO a better choice. There are other
developers especially formulated to exagerate acutance, but
they work best on old style thick emulsion films.
You will have to experiment to find which combination is
pleasing to you. Nothing is going to give you the detailed
look of L-F on 35mm film. Any negative larger than 35mm will
give you a noticable improvement in sharpness, fine grain,
and especially smoothness of tonal rendition. 35mm works
well for note taking but something else will work better for
a back-up.


--
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA

"Shawn H" wrote in message
...

I need a film / developer suggestion for 35mm format. I am using my Nikon
as
a back up for 4x5 to shoot landscape. Eastern Sierras / Death Valley /
Salton Sea etc. In 4x5 I use Tmax with Tmax Rs 1:9. In 35mm I tried Tmax
with Tmax Rs 1:9, beautiful tonality but the sharpness is lacking
(perhaps due to rotary development). Next I want to try Delta 100 or Pan
F+. Which developer do you suggest with these films? I print to 11x14.
Everything is shot with tripod, remote release...

Thank you for your suggestions.
Regards

I would use XTOL 1:2 dilution. This gives excellent film speed so you may
need adjust accordingly. Kodak no longer publishes times for 1:2 dilution,
but you can find times elsewhere or do your own testing (which you should do
anyway).

"Richard Knoppow" wrote

Nothing is going to give you the detailed look of L-F
on 35mm film ... smoothness of tonal rendition.

I find I can come awfully close with TechPan and Technidol:
if not enlarged beyond 11x14 and at normal viewing distance
it is very hard to tell them apart. The combination will
even hold up well at 20x24 but looks fuzzy when examined with
a 10x loupe -- a 20x24 from a 4x5 neg when examined with a
10x loupe reveals more detail and still looks sharp.

I also find a 25A red filter to be a necessity in order to sharpen
the image to LF standards (Nikon and Leitz glass, what can I say -
the stuff is just too fuzzy). And I often put a polarizer on top
of the 25A.

Dropping the contrast by using an ASA of 12 or 6 coupled with
a 10-20% reduction in developing time helps a lot when shooting
in the Southwest.

Alternately, it may be my LF skills are so poor that my 4x5
shots are no better than 35mm...

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 00:12:22 GMT, "Shawn H"
wrote:

Which developer do you suggest for APX 100 or Efke 25?

D23


Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email

On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 00:12:22 GMT, "Shawn H"
wrote:

Which developer do you suggest for APX 100 or Efke 25?

Like all developers, it's a question of trial and error and finding
something which *you* like. APX is an extremely "good-natured" film
and works well with many developers. Personally, I've found good old
"plain vanilla" ID-11/D-76 to work very well with it, as does Rodinal.

For the Efke, I've been pleased with the results I've obtained with
DD-X, but there is a caveat: I only use it in 120 format, where grain
is less of an issue than it would be in 35mm.

Subject: Delta 100 vs. Pan F+
From: "Shawn H"
Date: 4/1/2004 4:11 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:
I need a film / developer suggestion for 35mm format. I am using my Nikon as
a back up for 4x5 to shoot landscape. Eastern Sierras / Death Valley /
Salton Sea etc. In 4x5 I use Tmax with Tmax Rs 1:9. In 35mm I tried Tmax
with Tmax Rs 1:9, beautiful tonality but the sharpness is lacking
(perhaps due to rotary development). Next I want to try Delta 100 or Pan
F+. Which developer do you suggest with these films? I print to 11x14.
Everything is shot with tripod, remote release...

//////////////////////////

Go to Erwin's photo-site:

http://www.imx.nl/photosite/technical/BWinfo/BW-1.html

I tried D100 and Apx-100 in FX-39 ( 1+9 ) developer and was quite pleased, as a
matter of fact I liked both of these films in FX-39 better than X-tol. Of the
two films I must say that I liked the D100 best.

Regards.

Bob McCarthy