Hello there. I developed two rolls of HP5 today with HC110 developer using dilution B. I developed according to recommended times, temperature and agitation. Both rolls done in separate tanks both came out overly grainy and I have no idea what happened. The chemicals were mixed today as well. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Sincerely, Gabe Sachs. I can be emailed at egabe@earthli

-- Gabe Sachs (egabe@earthlink.net), October 31, 2001

Answers

Was the film fresh?
HP5 was replaced by HP5plus some time ago, so if it really is plain HP5, then the chances are it's out-of-date stock. Stale or badly stored film can get excessively grainy, especially fast films like HP5.
The other thing to check is that it really is grain and not reticulation, caused by a drastic change in temperature from, say, the developer to the stop bath, or from fixer to wash water.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), November 01, 2001.

incorrect exposure will also increase grain pattern as well as focus controls. However, Gabe has the most logical reason.

-- Ann C lancy (clancya@mediaone.net), November 01, 2001.

Maybe you and the person who started the thread entitled "How do I get grainy pictures" should switch techniques. Because frankly, I am tired of hearing about both your problems.

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), November 01, 2001.

Hi there,

I just came home from a 15 hour day, much of it spent trying to create peace between various parties who were not internally motivated to achieve peace. I was hoping to just enjoy reading some non-emotionally charged stuff about a really safe topic and hobby. I would really appreciate it if we can keep this forum civil. People have every right to ask about avoiding or creating grain. There is no need to censor these topics though any means. We can skip topics that do not interest us by simply not clicking on the link. Thanks in advance for keeping photography sane.

-- Paul Oosthoek (pauloosthoek@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

"Maybe you and the person who started the thread entitled "How do I get grainy pictures" should switch techniques. Because frankly, I am tired of hearing about both your problems."

I am sure that the poster above never experienced any problems in his hobby/profession, therefore he has no tolerance for those who experience problems or questins through their life. I would urge him to ignore the questions that are seemingly below him, but allow the rest of us the freedom to expand our knowledge base through constructive interaction.

-- JTR (jtriehl@netzero.net), November 02, 2001.

Obviously, some people are seriously impaired in their ability to take a joke, or see the irony in things. Lighten up.

If you are really, really interested in this subject, try the archives. If that does not suffice, I am sure that we would all be glad to expand on this subject, provided that the person asking the question supplies detailed information about their current technique that would allow someone to properly diagnose the problem.

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), November 02, 2001.

We have ALL screwed up at one time or another!! I would suggest checking you dilution rate.Try the same again and see what results you get.

-- Melvin (bramley@nanaimo.ark.com), November 02, 2001.

Gabe:

There are a few possibilities. Of course the first thing to ask is, Are you absolutely sure you mixed the HC110 correctly? We all can, and probably have, make mistakes there. Did you dilute it 1+7 from stock or did you mistakenly dilute it 1+7 from concentrate? Another possibility is reticulation from excessive changes in temp or pH. Did you use an acid stop bath and, if so, was it diluted properly? Were there any possibilities of drastic changes in the temp of the wash water? In some homes, flushing the toilet can take all of the cold water. These are some of the more common errors that can occur.

Next, do you have much experience using HC110? Was this your first try at it? HC110 is not known as a fine-grain developer. Many people who love D76 find HC110 objectionably grainy, especially for 35mm films. You might find it useful to shoot 2 test rolls of HP5 (exact same subject in exact same conditions), develop one in HC110 and the other in D76, and see which works better.

Just a few ideas.

-- Ken Burns (kenburns@twave.net), November 03, 2001.

I have had lots of fellows (mainly students) that have shown me really grainy pictures that they have achieved using materials and techniques that normally don't give too much grain. I still am puzzled and cannot come up with a logical explanation about how this can happen. Before I start believing in Gremlins, someone should help us all clear up the situation. If anyone has any info on the subject, please let us know more about it. An idea might be mild reticulation (as mentioned above) or other emulsion characteristics change, by chemical or physical causes...

-- George Papantoniou (papanton@hol.gr), November 07, 2001.