[pure-silver] Re: grain and focus

  • From: Shannon Stoney <shannonstoney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:04:47 -0500

I don't notice the problem so much with 120 film, even when I enlarge it by the same factor. But I shoot it in another camera. I wonder if the lens and camera can affect graininess? I also shot some FP4+ in that camera during the same period of a few days, and of course it looks less grainy. Somebody told me once that cameras from the thirties work better with slower film because that is all there was back then. Maybe I should only shoot FP4+ in my 1937 Leica. 


--shannon


On Apr 16, 2008, at 5:50 PM, Eric Nelson wrote:


I used to wish my skies weren't so grainy but once I
started using PMK I noticed that disappeared, esp.
with 120.

I can't speak to 35 so much, but with 120 I found that
PMK definitely made a difference.

Eric

--- Richard Knoppow <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



----- Original Message -----
From: "Shannon Stoney"
<shannonstoney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:48 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] grain and focus




I made some 35mm pictures last winter using an

ancient

Leica and mostly HP5+.  Some of the negatives are

pretty

grainy, even when they're only enlarged to 4x6.

The

graininess seems to happen in the out of focus

areas, of

which there are a lot because the aperture was

wide open

and many of the pictures were taken inside without

a

flash.  When I use this camera outside and

everything's in

focus, there is usually no grain to speak of.  Why

is

there this relationship between apparent

graininess and

out of focus areas?

--shannon



    I think this is an optical illusion, the details
of the
image tend to suppress the visibility of the grain.
Examining the negative through a strong magnifier or
using a
grain focuser on your enlarger should demonstrate
this.
    Now also grain varies somewhat with the density
of the
image being greater for higher density. This is one
reason
for the old recommendation to make negatives as thin
as
possible while retaining good shadow detail.
    I have not used any HP 5 for a long time and
don't
rememeber what its like but, if grain is an issue
you might
try either Tri-X (ISO-400) or 400T-Max both of which
are
quite fine grain for film of this speed. Xtol is a
good
developer for both for minimizing grain without
loosing
speed.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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