Re: Agfa SFX200

[George L Smyth <glsmyth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 16 Jun 1999, Barry Brevik wrote:

> I just shot some SFX200 in 120 and am ready to develop it.  Previously, the 
> only IR film I have used is Konica 750.
> 
> I've noticed that many people seem to think that Rodinal enhances grain, but 
> I've been using it at 1:100 dilution with Konica 750 (13 min @ 68 deg) and 
> with APX25 (17 min @ 68) specifically to achieve small grain.  I do not 
> understand B&W chemistry very well (Rodinal at 1:100 was recommended to me), 
> but I do achieve negs with microscopic grain doing this.

Most developers eat away at the edges.  This is normally a good thing with
higher speed films, as it makes the grain less apparent.  Rodinal,
however, leaves the grain alone.  This allows the film to achieve more
acutance.  With slow films, where the grain clusters are small, the grain
will not become more apparent and "sharpness" will be enhanced.  For this
reason, I use Rodinal with my slower films and Xtol with my faster films.

Grain is set when the film is manufactured, so you don't really achieve
"small grain" with the selection of your developer.  Actually, the grain
size determines the film's speed (although this may be different with
t-grain technology - I'm not sure).

If you want to learn more about this, I would direct you to an article I
wrote, "The Components Of Photographic Materials," in the Miscellaneous
Articles section of my Web site.

Cheers -

george

---
Handmade Photographic Images
http://www2.ari.net/glsmyth/

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