[pure-silver] Re: what causes graininess?

Are you using the same lens in the enlargers? You may just be experiencing
the difference between a lenses that has a sharper image passing through to
the paper. If you want to soften that grain up a touch but still have a good
sharp image, play with a very small amount of exposure with a diffusion
filter or some kind such as a fog filter to disperse the light for a very
small amount of time; sharp under printing with a soft glow. This can work
well with portrait type images best. 

Eric Neilsen Photography
4101 Commerce Street
Suite 9
Dallas, TX 75226
http://e.neilsen.home.att.net
http://ericneilsenphotography.com
Skype ejprinter
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pure-silver-
> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Knoppow
> Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2007 4:42 PM
> To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [pure-silver] Re: what causes graininess?
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Shannon Stoney" <shannonstoney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2007 11:19 AM
> Subject: [pure-silver] what causes graininess?
> 
> 
> >I was enlarging some negatives today (using the
> >ever-reliable Omega) and the prints look surprisingly
> >grainy.  The negatives are medium format and the prints are
> >only 7" square.  The ones I enlarged with the Devere before
> >it broke don't seem as grainy.  Does a condenser enlarger
> >make things look grainier?  What are the other factors?
> >These negatives are HP5+ with DDX 1+4, processed around 11
> >minutes.  (The longer processing time is due to the fact
> >that the diffusion head lengthens the scale on the Ilford
> >Warm Tone paper to about 1.2.)
> >
> > I don't like grain and I am thinking of switching to FP4+
> > more, the only problem being that in the Hassie you have
> > to shoot (hand-held) at 1/125 of a second, so there has to
> > be a lot of light for FP4+ to work. I have a flash but I
> > don't much like using it.
> >
> > I thought that DDX might be the problem, but I tried ID-11
> > and didn't see any difference. I think DDX is a fairly
> > fine grain developer, but I would be interested in what
> > other people think.
> >
> > --shannon
> >
>     Its possible the condenser is showing more grain than
> the diffusion head. Normally, this is compensated for by the
> lower contrast of the paper needed. A partially diffusing
> condenser system such as used in the Omega will increase
> appearant contrast by about one paper grade.
>     I have an Arista cold light head for my Omega D2V but
> seldom use it. I got it orginally because I thought the
> condenser head was not providing even illumination, in fact
> it turned out that the enlarger just needed to be aligned. I
> worked with the diffusion head a bit but went back to the
> original condenser system. I could see little, if any,
> difference in the prints made with the two.
>     I use this enlarger for everything from 35mm to 4x5. I
> suspect it my be that the increased edge sharpness that
> condensers can give is showing up the grain more.
> 
> ---
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
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